Sven E Carlson (1999) discusses how music artists can be represented in three ways: as a commercial exhibitionist who sells their appearance as a brand, as a televised bard who performs for mass media audiences, and as an electronic shaman who uses technology to connect to the spiritual. Roland Barthes (1977) describes how denotation, connotation, and myth/ideology combine to produce dominant ideologies. Stereotypes in media provide simplistic representations that define our understanding, allowing quick identification of "good" and "evil" characters. Feminist theory examines the dominant masculine point of view and objectification of women's bodies for male erotic pleasure, known as the "male gaze", as

1. REPRESENTATION
Sven E Carlson (1999)-
Media theorist.
Music artists represent:
• Commercial exhibitionist
• Televised bard
• Electronic shaman
Commercial exhibitionist –
Presenting themselves as a brand, selling their appearance as well as their talent. Their face, clothing style, and lifestyle.
Roland Barthes
Related to connotation is what Roland Barthes (1977) refers to as a myth. For Barthes a myth was the dominant ideology of our
time. The 1st and 2ndorders of signification called denotation and connotation combine to produce ideology – which has been
described as a 3rd order of signification by Fiske and Hartley (1982).
CONSTRUCT
 Denotation –describe / what it is.
• Connotation– concept
• Myth / Ideology – self reflective

2. STEREOTYPE & FEMINIST THEROY
O’Sullivan and all (1998) –
details that a stereotype is a label that involves a process of categorisation and evolution.
We can call stereotypes shorthand to narratives because such simplistic representations define our understanding of media texts. Like being
able to tell who is good and who is evil in a video by the way they appear as a stereotyped character.
Examples of music videos that use stereotypes include:
 Calm Down – G-Eazy (2016)
 Jungle – Professor Green (2010)
Feminist Theory and Stereotype Theory
FEMINIST THEORY
The male gaze –
•Objectification of women’s bodies in the media has been a constant theme.
Laura Mutvay (1975) argues that the dominant point of view is masculine, the female body is displayed for the male gaze in order to provide
erotic pleasure for the male (voyeurism).
• Women are objectified by the camera lens and whatever gender the audience is positioned to accept the masculine point of view.
Examples of music videos that use the male gaze include:
•Wrecking Ball – Miley Cyrus (2015)
•California Girls – Katy Perry (2010)
•Call Me Maybe – Carley Rae Jepson (2012) – although this one uses a ‘Female gaze’ by objectifying the male body to provide erotic
pleasure for the female audience.