How far do the music videos of Rihanna and Ludacris portray contemporary representations of women and men?
For my media research investigation, I will be asking the question ‘How far do the music videos of Rihanna and Ludacris portray contemporary representations of women and men?’ I will be exploring how music videos objectify women and I will apply Mulvey's theory of the Male Gaze to determine how the camera is used to present a masculine view of women. The Male Gaze theory states that 'women are typically the objects, rather than the posessers, of gaze because the control of the camera' (11). I will also be looking at how the Uses and Gratifications theory is used to give the audience pleasure and entertainment. The Uses and Gratifications theory 'assumes that members of the audience are not passive, but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media in to their own lives' (12). The Male Gaze theory will focus on how women are being shown in the videos to please the males watching, and Uses and Gratifications will show how the audience reacts to what is shown in the video, and how they can gain pleasure from it and how they can be part of social integration from it.
Rihanna's music video Rude Boy (1) is not the first Rihanna video to be infamous because of how raunchy it is; We Found Love (3) and S 'n' M (4) proved very controversial because of the video and lyrics. The video consists of her dancing around, occasionally with some men. The Male Gaze was obviously a key element in the making of this video. The camera shows her making lots of sexual facial expressions and the way the camera zooms onto her face and body shows her in a provocative way. The video shows her in a dominant position over the men involved, because she is walking round them and standing above them in some scenes, yet she is still doing things like dancing provocatively, and it seems she is doing this for the men, and heterosexual men would usually and stereotypically enjoy this. 'The audience's voyeuristic phantasy is encouraged by the contrast between the darkness of the cinema and the changing patterns of light on the screen' (15) this theory could have been put to use in this video; it contains lots of different, bright colours, making it stand out on the website or television being used to watch this video. The music industry is still mainly run by men (5) so they know what other men want to see in music videos their sons and daughters will most likely be watching. "...every person I have come across in this business in any position of power have been men - and even more, they have been white men." This is a quote by Speech Debelle in source 5. By encorporating the Male Gaze, the children can enjoy the music and can idolise the singer in question, and the father can watch and enjoy watching the singer dance around. Uses and Gratifications comes into it now, because whatever age you are, the chances are, if you are a girl, you will idolise this singer. She is a mainstream singer with lots of talent and lots of money and good looks, which is what girls can easily aspire to. Also she can be seen in the video dancing with topless muscly men, which older girls will like because they will be getting to, or they will be at the age where they start looking at males in a sexual way.
Despite this, some people believe that she is still a bad representation of modern women. As well as being a talented idol for many, 'instead of using her fame as a platform to become a role model, Rihanna would rather post revealing photos and passive-agressive messages online' (6). Even respected artists such as Will Young have quoted 'I don't think Rihanna is a massively great role model for women, her lyrics aren't empowering.' (7)
Act A Fool by Ludacris (2) does not have constant examples of the Male Gaze but still has examples occasionally, dotted throughout the video, and it links in with Uses and Gratifications at the same time. A good example of this is at the beginning of the video when some attractive women not wearing a lot come out of some expensive modified cars. The males watching will enjoy the women and cars, and will maybe aspire to have their money and cars. Females watching could also aspire to have their money and lifestyle as well, and maybe even the women's looks. Despite this, it shows women are second to the power of the men, because the men will do what they want around the women and the women will be passive and allow it to happen. This video though portrays both genders in a bad light. Firstly, they are all breaking the law by speeding and crashing through things, and then evading the police that catch them doing them. Then before breaking the law some more by racing in the streets, a woman shouts at an elderly woman. This video overall could easily be effecting small children's minds. If they are watching this video, they may not know much better than to look to adults to see whats right. It also gives young black men and women bad representations, and this representation could be passed on to others who have not even watched the video through speech and social interaction. Ludacris has had other controversial videos; His video Pussy Poppin' (8) was banned, and Ride (9) and Jingalin' (10) are also infamous. Although many critics praise him for his 'lightning-quick phrasing and cutting wit' and 'witty wordplay, Neil Drumming of Entertainment Weekly was quoted as saying that he has 'too many cuts are simply one note jokes stretched out to 3-4 minutes' and that the sexual nature of his album(s) are 'cringe-worth misogynistic snorefests' (16).
Through this research, my views have slightly changed. My view was that Rihanna was a good role model making good music, but I never realised that she was involved in so much controversy. This has all made me think that parents should be careful when they let their child watch music videos on the internet, because if this is a correct representation of other music videos, children are in danger of being exposed to things of an adult nature too early in their lives. Ludacris' video is similar in the way it is harmful to young children's minds, and his lyrics in other songs can be offensive as well.
1. Rihanna - Rude Boy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e82VE8UtW8A
2. Ludacris - Act A Fool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA7gnSyuIik
3. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2064474/Rihanna-isnt-fazed-saucy-video-banned-France-posing-sexy-new-photo-shoot.html
4. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1657144/rihanna-s-m-video-banned.jhtml
5. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/aug/02/nme-krissi-murison-louise-wener
6. http://hollywoodlife.com/2012/04/19/rihanna-bad-role-model/
7. http://www.heatworld.com/Celeb-News/2012/03/Will-Young-Rihanna-is-not-a-good-role-model/
8. http://www.contactmusic.com/news-article/ludacris.-x.rated-video-banned
9. http://www.rnbmusicblog.com/ciara-ride-music-video-official-premiere-ft-ludacris/12225/
10. http://idolator.com/6767491/ludacris-jingalin-video
11. http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/faq-what-is-the-“male-gaze”/
12. http://www.slideshare.net/zlorhenley/uses-and-gratifications-theory-6933502
13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rude_Boy_(song)
14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_a_Fool_(Ludacris_song)
15. 'An introduction to cultural theory and popular culture' by John Storey (book)
16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken-n-Beer
16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken-n-Beer
