Analyse the representation of gender in the music video for “The Man” by Taylor Swift and “Riptide” by Vance Joy (800 words)

In both music videos women are represented as victim of abuse and bullying from the opposite gender. In “Riptide” one of the main themes is obsessiveness, the male cast, who are the band members and film makers in the video are following the main female character. There are various of shots filmed from her back, which expresses this feeling even more. As well there is a scene where is repeated over 3 times, with every followed shot the female lead gets more bruises and even blood coming from the back of her head. In later scenes we see how she sings the song’s lyrics wrong, which can connote that she is being forced to do it. This emphasises how she is being victim of domestic abuse. In “The Man”, the main character is shown as a rich, egoistic businessman, who thinks that women are less powerful than males. We see him in a tube, sitting next to women from all ages and an old man. He is smoking in the public transport, making the woman next to him coughing, he doesn’t care even if the other passengers look disturbed. The man is sitting with spread legs, suggesting that he has power. The man is reading a newspaper with the title- “For men with real thirst”, and subheading- “It’s men against boys and no ladies around”. This emphasises how women are not seen as powerful figures in this music video. We can refer this point to Stuart Hall’s representation theories. His theory includes the idea that stereotyping tends to occur where there are inequalities of power, as subordinate or excluded groups are constructed as different or “other”. In both videos, men are represented as the higher figure. In Riptide men are the one who film the woman, and she plays the role of the actress, which later on leads to an obsessive and abusive relationship. In “The Man” the male is shown as someone who can get whatever he wants and how with money he can buy respect and control.

 In both media texts, women had been sexualised in different ways. In Vance Joy’s video, there is a specific scene where the women is seen 'seductively' removing the straps from her shoulders as the camera zooms in closer. Removing the straps would mean that she would be revealing her chest which is a main attraction to men. However from the audiences perspective all we see is the women’s back recognising what she is doing. In Taylor Swift’s music video, she is disguised as the main male character and the audience can see many examples where women have been sexualised. After the chorus we see him, getting up from his bed, an attractive woman is lying next to him, suggesting that they slept together. He leaves her before she is awake, which shows that he used her only for pleasure. There is another scene on his yacht, where he walks while he talks on his phone, clearly not interested although there are over 10 beautiful women in bikini taking a sunbath. This suggests how the male character is used to females attention and sees all of them as an ordinary beautiful woman. It emphasises how with money he can get any attractive female he wants. This sexualisation of women expresses the Liesbet van Zoonen’ s theory of women representation. The idea that in mainstream culture the visual and narrative codes that are used to construct the male body as spectacle differ those used to objectify the female. In both media texts women are being represented as the beautiful and attractive figure with scenes where they show parts of their bodies, which sexualises and objectifies their parts in the videos. 

Even though “Riptide” and “The Man” have sexists and harmful interpretations in their videos, both media texts challenge certain stereotypes. In “Riptide” the main character, who is shown mostly through out the video is woman. She has been the leading figure in this music’s narrative. This challenges the usual gender stereotypes in film and media industry because males are the one who take the main role- actors in movies or in music videos. Vance Joy is shown only a few times, in music industry is not typical for artists to not include themselves in their own video. Here we see how the artist prefers to express the message of his song in the best way possible, even if this includes not showing him or his band for long time, which can help with promotions. In “The Man” different stereotype has been challenged, which is the male role in the music video. The clip includes the singer Taylor Swifts dressed as man, and at the same time she plays the director of this video. At the end, he approaches the music video director and asks her how was his acting, she is telling him to try and be sexier. In film industry usually film directors are men, with Taylor’s role of being the one in control shows how she challenges the stereotypes about film industry. In the context of “The Man” mv, this is ironic because through out the whole media text women are the one who had been sexualised.