My representations research for my A2 Media Studies courswork.

2. Age
-In the video, there seem to be a lot of scenes that link to the
conventional, adventurous view of teenage life.
-There are scenes of drinking and the last part of the music video
features the people in the music video riding and running
around a giant fire, this could be a representation of teenage
recklessness and could be correspondent with the rebellious
image that teenagers are often associated with.
Ethnicity
-In the video, all of the main people featured seem to be white.
-Although there are no Native-American people in the video, at the end of the
video, Lana is seen wearing a Native-American headdress, this could be a bad
representation as, in society, a white person dressing like a Native-American is
seen as racist and derogatory towards the Native American culture. This could
also link to age as it could represent the reckless actions of teenagers and could
also link to the stereotype that teenagers do not think about the consequences of
their actions.

3. Gender
-Woman seen hanging around
with older men: seen as a
stereotype for most women,
women like that are seen as
whores looking for attention. -
Could be seen as representing
women as subordinate. Seems to
represent the common view that
some women seem to engage in
the ‘slut’ image.
-In one scene, one of the
older men is seen brushing
Lana’s hair while she is
sitting on a bed with a giant
bow in her head, which
could represent the image
of a doll, which in itself is
often criticized for giving
people unrealistic
representations of what
women should look like.
-The men in the video seen to
represent the epitome of
manliness; buff, older, scruffy
men riding around on motorbikes
seems to represent the buff male
stereotype. It could also be
representative of the fact that in
society, it would be much more
acceptable for ‘manly’ men to be
doing stuff like riding around on
motorbikes, rather than men who
are seen as more feminine.
Class -Although there is nothing blatantly
obvious that shows class in the
music video, the settings including a
club and a gas station, which could
be linked to the industrial, unclean
nature that is often attributed to the
lower class image. This could also
link to age, as, stereotypically, lower
class children are often left to their
own devices and are usually allowed
more freedom than an upper-middle
class or higher class child.

4. Age
All of the women within this video
seem to be within the age group of
20-40, with all women being
considered ‘fit’ or appealing to an
audience. The representation of age
also seems to conjoin with certain
stereotypes of age, for example, all
of the women in the video can
definitely be considered athletic,
which is a trait that is often seen as
typical for younger/slightly middle
aged people. All of the women in
this video attribute to this
stereotype as throughout the video
they are all seen doing different
athletic activities such as boxing,
riding motorbikes and fighting; all
things that are considered youthful,
tiring activities better suited to
younger people as they can,
stereotypically, deal better with the
pressure and excitement of these
activities.

5. Gender
In this video, there seems to be a contrast with the actions of the women in the video and the clothing
worn by them. The video features an all female cast, possibly cementing female power and could be
possibly trying to re-imagine a society where being female is not as criticized. Female seems to be the
more dominant gender in this video, which completely disregards stereotypes as majority of music
videos, especially male rap videos seem to focus of presenting male as the more dominant gender and
the females in these videos are often objectified and seen as possessions.
Despite the video strengthening the female image and rejecting stereotypes, most of the outfits of
the women in the video seem to contrast with the non stereotypical female image and almost seems
to set women back. The outfits are shown to be quite skimpy and very tight when being worn by the
different women and it seems to implement the ‘male gaze’ meaning that the tight outfits purpose is
to show the women in the video in a way that is purposely meant to be pleasing to an audience, which
would stereotypically consist of young male teenagers. The outfits, although are meant to be show as
professional, seem to do the opposite and show women through sexualizing stereotypes; therefore,
possibly defeating the purpose of having an all female dominated video and also possibly causing
confusion to the audience as they may debate on how Taylor Swift presents the women in her video.