This document analyzes the representation of gender in the media product and compares it to conventions in real media texts. It discusses how the media product conveys stereotypes of women as naïve and emotionally needy. This aligns with representations in songs by Little Mix and Taylor Swift. It also examines the portrayal of the rebellious male protagonist, which mirrors characters in songs by The Killers and The 1975. While some artists like Justin Bieber and Adele challenge stereotypes, most media continues to promote male superiority and the sexual objectification of women.

1. EVALUATION
QUESTION 1

2. In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Our production uses and challenges
conventions from real media products…

3. Aspects of our Narratives Aspects of
Real Media
Narratives
Challenges of This
Representation
Conveys a gender stereotype of women.
The female character takes on an emotional
and needy role, that conforms to a societal
expectation of women. This can appeal to a
mainstream audience that seek comfort and
normality in a accepted representation of
women. The lyrics adapt the narrative to convey
this, ‘one moment I was tearing off your blouse,
now your living in my house’ gives evidence of a
fast moving relationship and suggest a physical
relationship with sexual nature. The reference to
sex is common in indie pop genre songs,
despite the target audience being mainstream
accepted young adults. However this could be
appealing and relatable to young adults, as an
often typically described struggle is separating
physical from emotional responses. Prop would
be surprised by these character roles however
as he would of described a main female role
being a ‘Princess’ the connotations of this would
be a innocent (non-sexualised) picture, it
suggest a much more fairy tale Narrative then
the one more commonly represented in more
modern mainstream media. Modern indie
genres do suggest a much more sexualised
representation of media, however both
representations seem to promote naivety of
women, with an emotional response. Todrov
described emotions to be something that often
caused the most interesting narrative conflict
and engages the audience.
Gender stereotypes of
women.
The little mix music video
to ‘Black Magic’ portrays
females as needy and
desperate for attention.
They sing about how they
intend to manipulate magic
in order to make males fall
in love with them. This
conveys a very similar
stereotype to the women in
our video. Laura Maulvey
would say this is because
of the ‘Male Gaze’ she
suggest media is created
through the eyes of males.
Even for a band such a
little mix who heavily relay
on a female audience, their
video is clearly giving the
male superiority as they
attempt to make them fall
in love. Maulvey would
suggest that media just
openly accept the
superiority of males even
when targeting females.
Gender stereotypes of women.
The challenge of representation of women to be
both naïve and needy is in Taylors Swifts ‘Blank
Space’ music video. She is fliting and attempting
to attract the polished male. She is further
describing males as ‘players’ in a similar way to
which the male character in our video is
represented. However she describes herself to
‘find out what you want and be that girl for a
month’ the time limit put on her attempt to seduce
the male is similar to that described by the males
in the 1975. It promotes an suggestion of a
physical relationship with an expiration date. This
again creates a narrative bases around the
difference between sexualisation and physical
interaction to emotional relationships. The
repetition of further ongoing sexual relations, is
where the difference lies from our media text.
Swift however challenges this by evidencing the
female ability to manipulate men within this video
by promoting short term sexual relationships,
however within our 1975 video, the female
appears to be the victim. This could be because
of the difference in target audience. Taylor swift
has a mostly typical female following and
therefore would appeal more to an audience by
promoting a positive influence of females.
However the indie genre of which the 1975
belong tend to be more realistic and harsh
regarding the treatment of genders and promote
male sexual power of females.

4. Our male lead
protagonist
A male lead protagonist
in real media
Challenges of this
representation
Our presentation of the male
protagonist
Our male protagonist is represented to
be slightly rebellious against the
expected norms of society. It is common
within the indie genre of music as they
often appear to want to be different and
stand out from mainstream society.
However the otherwise polished look of
the character suggest that is still
attrative, which is an important aspect of
the narrative. However the slightly
rebellious attitude is stereotypically what
attracts the females. However Props
character theory challenges this by
suggesting that a typical attrative ‘hero’
is not relebellious. However in an
updated pop culture this is now the new
norm. The switch of gender roles here –
from the male chasing the female to the
other way round. Shows an evolotion of
gender and attitudes to women. Despite
women now commanding more respect
in many other ways, within the media it
is clear that male sueriroity is still
common.
Real media representation of a male
protagonist
A similar representation of a rebellious
male is evident in the music video for Mr
Brightside by The Killers. He describes
the female being corrupted and
influenced by a male. The lyrics suggest
‘He’s having a smoke and she’s taken
his drag’ whilst the girls are painted pale
much like Georgian ladies, the image of
them to be ladies is juxtaposed with his
description of her corruption, as she is
taken away from him by what appears
to be a much more exciting and
‘rebellious’ male. This conforms to the
societal expectation that women are
attracted to ‘bad boys’ and are expected
to give up genuine lovers for them. The
representation of women as naïve and
easy influenced is again echoed in our
music video as the lead protagonist
initiated his relationship with her before
changing his mind. The Killers video
Prop would say conforms to a character
theory of the Princess being corrupted
by the Villain, whilst our video goes
further by combining the two lead roles
and creating a complex character that
has aspects of both hero and villain.
A Different male representation
In the music video for ‘One Less Lonely
Girl’ Justin Bieber is presented in a much
more sensitive and understanding role to
the typical persona of males in music
videos. This is reflected in the mise-en-
scene colours such as bright green and
orange create a bright colourful scene
common in a pop genre music video.
Bieber alters his image to appeal to a
female target audience and conveys
innocence by challenging the typical
rebellious and authoritative representation
of males. However his clean cut looks still
applies to our music video as it is clear that
a dirty personae does not sell the pop genre
of music. If we where to look beyond the
pop genre of music into artist such as ‘JME’
or ‘Kano’ who do not dress smartly but
instead offer a much more untidy and less
mainstream look to their music. This opens
a completely different target audience and
creates a new genre of music. There is also
evidence of female corruption in the song
‘Sing’ by Ed Sheran he describes the
female to give him ‘a bottle of water filled
with tequila’. He then describes himself as
getting drunk. This is evidence of how
females can again be presented as
manipulating by media as well.

5. The Sexualisation of
females in our video
The continued
sexualisation in real
media texts
The Challenging of this
Sexualisation of females
We use a medium close up camera
angle on the female character walking
away. The shot displays the bottom half
of the female body and objectifies and
sexualises the female character. This
conforms to gender expectations as the
male continues to focus on the
sexualisation of the female while she
clearly is emotionally involved with him.
The objectification of females is common
in popular culture especially within
mainstream music. We felt including
features such as this would appeal to the
same target audiences.
Sexualisation of females
The manipulation and corruption of
females is evidenced in Justin Biebers
music video ‘What do you mean’. He
conveys himself in a somewhat gangster
context by handing over lots of cash to a
male on the street, he then asks that ‘the
girl is not hurt’. This is clear evidence of
how the involvement of a rebellious male
can corrupt and manipulate a female.
The show the female to be on a bed and
continue to sexualise her with camera
angles such as a medium long shot
displaying her body spread on the bed
whilst he sits in front of her displaying his
authority and promoting male power of
genders.
A non sexualised representation
of females
Artist such as Adele are famous for taken
a much more conservative role to their
music and videos. In her video to ‘Hello’
Adele is wearing a scarf and jeans and a
large jacket. This is contrasting to Justin
Beibers music video where the female is
wearing a small t-shirt. There are
influences on this such as the age and
body type of the women involved
however it suggest an ideology that only
women with a certain body shape are
desirable within the music industry. We
took this into consideration with our
music video and decided to stick to the
norms of the pop genre.