Analysing representation

Introduction
On surfing the internet to find an area in contemporary media which appeals to especially teenagers I came to think of how strong an impact visual art seems to have on pupils’ memory. Last autumn we did a trial exam on South Africa with a Danish 9th grade and I found that the images which had been printed into their minds through the film “Goodbye Bafana” were far stronger than the knowledge they had achieved from reading various textbooks.
Music also has a major influence on all of us (quite a few of us have a song linked to major events in our lives). So a combination of music and video seemed to be the ultimate area to investigate.

I made a choice to focus on the Canadian/American teenage music phenomenon Justin Bieber whose career has exploded within the last two years. From being a 14 year old boy singing to his mother's camera in their living room, to being a mega start with so much hype around him that it makes you dizzy.

Media around the world are talking about “Bieber Fever” and I would like to investigate how he uses media (especially the internet and social networks) to promote his music and especially himself.
Furthermore I would like to look into what kind of culture he represents (the American Dream?), what narrative he wants to tell, and how his representation of gender roles is displayed in his music video to the song “Baby”.

The real narrative so far
You might say that the story of Justin Bieber is a fulfillment of the American dream.
His great grandparents were German and French immigrants to Canada. His mother was pregnant with him when she was 18 and the father had run away and married another woman. As a single mother she had to make a living taking low paid office jobs.
Four years ago Justin Bieber (in the following mostly named JB) was just an average teenage boy who was fond of singing and playing his guitar at home. In his hometown Stratford, Ontario, Canada he had participated in a local singing competition and came second. His mother had recorded his singing and put the video clip on YouTube, primarily for the family to see.

Many teenagers today make use of YouTube to expose various kinds of their performances (singing, playing, sports etc), so there was nothing extraordinary about this. What was extraordinary was that the clips attracted much attention on the sight and was fairly quickly viewed thousands of time. Justin Bieber was becoming a product of the YouTube-era. His life was taking a drastic turn.

His video clips had also attracted the attention of a man named Scooter Braun who set up a meeting with famous R&B artist Usher for him to see JB perform. So he did and events snowballed.

This 17 year old Canadian boy is now:
• the mentee of one of the biggest contemporary R&B performers, Usher
• the owner of a million dollar record contract with Island Records
• the beholder of more than 23,7 mill Facebook “friends”
• being followed by more than 8 mill people on Twitter
• the most viewed artist on YouTube - ever
• the owner of an internet store for his merchandise and concert tickets
• the proud receiver of 19 music awards in 2010
• ...and much, much more.

This truly amazed me. That he, in less than two years, had come that far in his musical career (his first single One Time was released 17th July 2009). This had to be investigated.

Research question and basic info
The Canadian/American music phenomenon Justin Bieber - how may we read him?
Semiotics, signifiers and signified in his music video for the song “Baby”.

• How is the representation of gender roles?
• What culture does he represent?
• His use of Facebook and Twitter to promote himself.

A phenomenon like this must have a tremendous impact on the forming of identities with the teenagers who are “Beliebers” (a fan-expression for being a JB fan).
With such an influence it’s vital to investigate what culture he represents and what representation of gender roles are in his videos.
As a teacher to be I find it interesting to see if I can use his music videos in my EFL teaching. Especially when teaching culture and identity, but also teaching observation on semiotics and text, and on analysis of representation.
For a subject as awareness of exposure to visual advertising it would be natural to analyze his “Baby”-video. There is so much hidden advertising in it, which affects especially the young people watching it.

Also from a teacher's point of view I think I may learn from his use of ICT (the internet and social networks). An analysis of his intensive twitting, chatting and use of Facebook and YouTube to profile himself, will also give me an insight into a teenage world where adults are not usually admitted.

Analysis of the 2010 music video Baby (streamed 18th January 2010)

Video genre and summary
It's a traditional homodiegetic (1st person is telling/singing the story, Lennart Hoebjerg, 2000) narrative music video. A performance video where the subject (the star) integrates sound and picture. This means that the singer is also the actor, and while singing he tells the story.

In all visual media the viewer will always try to construct some kind of meaning in the narrative told. In this video the spectator will try to predict if the singer wins back the love of his life.

The narrative is constructed in a very easy going fashion, so that the hero (JB) does not have too many obstacles in his way. From the start it is obvious in which direction the narrative takes us. E.g. in the beginning there is a giant illuminated figure of King Kong displayed in the background, and to me this signifier signifies a male’s struggle with multiple dangers trying to deserve the affection of a beautiful woman – he is victorious. King Kong? – No, not at the end…but that’s another story.

If we have a look at the text - JB lost his first love and will now try to win her back.

First verse - JB surrounded by city lights pulls his jacket around him. He is waiting for his friends to pick him up and they are heading for the bowling alley. Accidentally his former girlfriend happens to be there and they immediately notice each other. JB starts singing that he knows she loves him and wants him back. He goes to her, drags her to him, but she pushes him away. This goes on for the first verse and chorus. In between are clips of him singing in the street, arms out, unprotected.

Second verse – JB heartshapes his hands, makes a beating heart and the girl seems to give in a bit. Gender dance battle starts.

During the dance battle - Ludacris sings about his first love and how he lost her.
Dance battle continues and ends with JB embracing the girl in front of their friends. They leave alone together, hand in hand and surrounded by the city lights – and with King Kong in the background.

Gender roles at display
When analyzing the video I found it interesting how gender roles were displayed in a very traditional way. Boy hunting girl – girl playing hard to get (morally she has to even though she would want otherwise) – boy trying harder (displaying himself as vulnerable and with no defenses) – girl giving in – boy got his way and is now taking care of girl!   Very traditional and in some respect old fashioned.

On the other hand girls are not only represented as the weaker gender. During bowling JB first has a strike and then the girl does the same. This attracts JB and he walks to her.
A situation like this signifies to me that it is okay for the sexes to be equally skilled, and it sends an impression of modernity to the viewer.

But then again – after the “strike episode” we see the male hunting his prey and the girl acting hard to get. This is a common scene in visual art. In 1992 Schwichtenberg expressed it like “Action in the story is dominated by males who do things and females who passively react or wait for something to happen”. Traditionally women are the weaker part in a relationship – publicly.

It struck me that gender roles displayed in an old fashioned way attract so many young girls. The women’s movement has for two generations tried to equalize genders in society. Is the next generation attracted to previous time’s gender roles where the male was the provider and protector of the female? If so – what in our society would cause such a change, or lack of change? Haven’t we really come further than our grandmothers?
Or has the many challenges for females today (having a career, being a perfect mother and an adorable wife) become too much? Do we need to let go of some of the responsibility? Do we need to let the man take over and just follow and let him be the sole provider again?

When I come to think of it – Justin Bieber is very popular in the US, Ireland and Great Britain. In those countries it is still vital for a girl to get married and have a husband to support her. Maybe there’s a connection between his popularity and traditional values in those countries.

It is a difficult situation for girls today. They are in an ambivalent position. At school they are expected to do at least as good as their fellow male peers and in work life they are expected to both have a career job and do well, and to take care of their family and home. Are the girls in their longing to be an object for the male hunt striving to let go of some of the responsibilities in their lives? Are the girls longing to get back to old fashion values and traditions where gender roles were clear and fixed from birth?

The representation of culture
We must face that almost all of the 495 million viewings of the video has probably been done by teenage girls, and no matter for what reason the girls are viewing the video time and time again, there is a narrative of longing for something better. A wish for a happy life filled with love for the object of his/her choice.

If we take a closer look at the narrative we may see that the producers display the traditional gender roles and the viewers immediately accept and feel comfortable with the story. What is it in the video narrative that they recognize? Is it the longing to be adored by the handsome boy next door? Is there something in the representation of culture that we recognize?

In my opinion we should take a closer look at The American Dream and the cultural signifiers in the video.
The American Dream tells you that if you work hard and are dedicated enough you will succeed in life. No matter where you come from.
Justin Bieber is the boy next door who is dedicated to music and who is now working terribly hard to succeed in life.
He is a good Christian, brought up by a mother who goes to church regularly and who still takes care of raising her child, even though he is now a celebrity.
He shows compassion towards the lesser fortunate – he has established a company which produces and sells nail lacquers for the awareness of charity. On his Twitter account he asks his readers to pray for the victims in the recent Japan earthquake and to donate whatever they can afford to helping the Japanese people. On his Facebook profile he has uploaded a video to support the same charity.

We shouldn’t diminish the effect this kind of twitting and facebooking has on a vast number of people. With his appeals he reaches millions of people, he “provokes” other celebrities to do the same appeals and he creates an awareness of the disaster with people who might not notice if he hadn’t told them. This I think is very important – the word spreads very fast and help will be provided faster, for the benefit of the victims.
He is the “boy next door”, a good boy, every mother’s dream and the kind of boy the American girls are allowed to go out with. He is innocent and absolutely not dangerous. He keeps to the Western (American/English) standard rules in young relationships – Look, but don’t touch!

Critics (Bill Lamb, about.com) have also claimed that he is an outstanding musical role model for children. He has also been compared to Michael Jackson in especially his stage performances and his videos (MJ’s “The Way You Make Me Feel”). Billboard reviewed a video, saying, "Those new dance moves he's showing off can only mean one thing: all over the world, tweens' hearts are melting right now."
If you have a closer look at his performance at a recent Music Award show his dance steps are similar to Michael Jackson’s dancing and his clothes make you think of that late musician too.

I found the following on his Twitter today (here a copy past of the page is missing).
I can’t help thinking if the producers want Justin Bieber to take the place of Michael Jackson and make him the icon of admiration for millions and millions of people around the globe. It would come in handy now that the American darling of pop music is well away in whatever heaven he might want to be in.

His use of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook
Justin Bieber is incredibly active on social networks. He’s on Twitter several times every day and twits about anything from world affairs to normal teen problems and teen chatting. He expresses gratitude towards his millions of fans who retweet him whenever he makes a remark.
A fan had counted that he is retweeted 10 times every minute! It makes a total of more than 5 mill notes a year! There’s a lot of activity in there.

His profile on the social networks is that of an innocent young boy who is always happy and who has a lot of friends. His Twitter and Facebook profiles give the impression that he is popular in Hollywood and the music business.
When releasing his music film “Never Say Never” in Europe, the film company live streamed the event on his Facebook profile. The whole evening was broadcast time and time again over at least the week where I observed his account.
The broadcast showed several famous people being interviewed in connection with attending the movie premiere. The whole scene seemed to me very much like the hype there is when a major Hollywood movie is premiered. Total glamour!

He also uses his FB profile to promote and profile himself.
As you can see to the right he both says thank you to his fans for an incredible concert in Manchester, promotes the release of his movie “Never Say Never”, and takes the opportunity to profile himself as a compassionate human being by asking his 23,7 mio followers to pray for the victims in the Japan earthquake. To me this is intensive use of social networks, what more could you ask?

But for Justin Bieber it all started on YouTube and I even found a link directly to his activities and videos (www.youtube.com/justinbieber). Here you can find the first videos of his performances 3 years ago. A very young boy brilliantly singing at a song contest in his home town, and in the background you can here just a few people clapping. Things have changes – today you might not be able to hear him sing because of the screaming fans.

In my search for the boy’s relations to various more or less famous people I found a video clip by Mike Tyson (the boxer) where he sends his regards to Justin Bieber.
To me it seems like media people who have lost some of their fame, are trying to hook up on Justin Bieber to get some publicity. Like they are trying to have some of the JB hype and popularity rub off on them. And he is already so popular that he can easily share.

Reflections
And he is constantly professionally moving upwards. During writing this assignment I constantly had to update the figures in the text. And it doesn’t seem to stop.
This spring he will do a concert in Denmark and all teenage magazines have been filled with pictures, interviews, articles, and you name it of Justin Bieber for weeks! I look forward to seeing how the media, both the tabloid and TV, handles his appearance in Denmark.
He is popular with the tweenies in Denmark but when I watch MTV he really doesn’t appear that much. I wonder if he is not cultural enough for them. Has he come up too fast for the trendsetters to follow?
There might be another explanation – MTV is aimed at the 18-35 year old and Justin Bieber is popular with a much younger target group. He is a product of YouTube and maybe we see a trend here – that to find the music stars of tomorrow we need to look at the social networks and media.
To me this thought or reflection you might say is very important when I want to become a teacher. It is vital for me to be well acquainted with the social media, because it’s there my future pupils start their adult lives. A process which I as a teacher and role model have great influence on. I need to know and understand the media to be able to help the youngsters well on their way into adult life.

Among my daughter’s FB friends there is an ongoing conversation about who has concert tickets for his DK performance and who has not been fortunate or quick enough to be a proud participator. Some love him and some hate him – but everyone knows who he is…
  

and it takes a guy like Ozzy Osbourn to not know who Justin Bieber is
- have a look for yourself -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jiN0pLTSe8&feature=related

List of literature
David Gauntlett, Media, Gender and Identity, (2009) ISBN 0 415 39661 1
Brian Longhurst, Introducing Cultural Studies,(2008) ISBN 978 1 4058 5843 4
Gillespie & Toynbee, Analysing Media Text, (2009) ISBN 0 335 21886
Rybacki and Rybacki, Transcultural Music Review, (1999) ISSN:1697-0101
John Fiske, Madonna article 1 & 2, from the course articles
Justin Bieber’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace profiles
Wikipedia, English version
Various articles on music videos found on the internet