THE SECOND ASSIGNMENT - the original and nice looking one is in my SkoleKom portfolio
Any culture is defined by the major signifiers and their signification. The signifiers become standard for a particular group of people and can be inherited for generations. These signifiers could e.g. be our traditions, our food, or the way we interact with each other – this is part of what we define as our culture.
We also find cultural signifiers in art. E.g. the Danish Skagens painters had a special way of painting which is considered very Danish. Danish furniture designers have their own “language” and Danish design is known for having their own style. Danish architects are used worldwide to build monuments in a certain style.
These are the dominant signifiers and their signification in Danish society. The dominant cultural inheritance.
Street art could be one of them. An example in Copenhagen could be the OEPS Crew. They are a small group of anonymous people, presumably only two girls, who have made it their métier to decorate the streets of Copenhagen (and now also other major cities in the western hemisphere) with plastic bead street art. They make funny and sometimes thought provoking figures in beads and put them up on signs and buildings in the city centre.
But they are in a way being absorbed by the dominant art culture. Over the past few years they have been invited to do exhibitions in galleries, their bead figures are stolen from where they are put up and they are often mentioned in assignments on subculture and street art.
I presume that this is what often happens – subcultures provoke for a while, the dominant culture takes a small turn I another direction and absorbs the subculture, leaving a small change in what used to be “normal”.
Pulp Fiction – an amazing motion picture.
I remember when I saw it for the first time I was truly fascinated by the way the story started in the restaurant, developed in a very drastic way to make ends meet in the same restaurant at the same time, but at another table….just to continue from “the beginning” you might say.
The plot in Pulp Fiction is a set of different life stories which are strangely connected over a three day period. We start off with the two young robbers in the restaurant, then the story of Jules and Vincent reveals, and this story is connected to Butch’s story through the formers’ employer.
There is a constant dialogue in the film about almost anything from the taste of burgers to accidental murder and drug abuse. Especially the hitman Jules has his moments where he combines high ranking speech of philosophy and religion with his deeds. The mis-en-scene in the apartment is an excellent example of this. In this particular scene killing is almost poetic – Jules is preaching while executing a group of young men.
To me there are two major themes in the movie – causality and you always get a second chance.
As for causality – there is always an effect or aftermath in what you do. Take the burger scene again – the young men have committed a crime and are being punished. Vincent doesn’t take his responsibility to take care of the boss’s wife seriously and he ends up having to save her from an overdose. In the car Vincent is pointing his gun at the man they have taken prisoner, and he ends up accidentally shooting the guy. There are a lot more scenes to illustrate this cause and effect theme.
To me the movie also gives examples of why it’s necessary to grab the second chance you are offered. Jules have an opportunity to quit the hitman job and he ends up being the nice guy in the restaurant who stops the young robbers. Butch gets a second chance after he mistakably kills his opponent in the boxing ring. And the two young robbers get a second chance to leave the scene without having their lives ruined by a robbery they obviously couldn’t handle.
Poetically said the story is about having the opportunity to change things no matter whether your narrative is complicated. If you grab the second chance you’re offered you can change things to your own benefit.
I never really thought about this because I belong to the white race.
People are judged by how they look, where they come from, what language they speak, dialect and sociolect, what they eat….that is if they are not white skinned.
The white people are the human race, the center of the world, normal - other skin colours are races.
Take for example the Americans – there are Irish-Americans, Polish-Americans and then there are black Americans! The latter is judged by his/her skin colour and the first two by their culture! Where is equality in this respect?
I really don’t understand why whites are so self-sufficient. The Chinese culture is far older than the white man’s culture. When white man hunted and killed with stone axes, the Chinese had a well developed medical system and their arts were already very delicate. Culturally we are way behind many other cultures.
We “discovered the world”, drew a map of it, and put ourselves in the center of this universe. If you see a map of the earth you will most probably see Europe in the center of the picture. We the white travel to gaze, discover, enjoy and help other cultures and races. We provide knowledge and democracy to the lesser fortunate. Like rulers of the world we intervene whenever we feel like it or when we think there is a need to squeeze our fellow human beings into our conception of democracy. Take for e.g. the last three wars that Denmark has been part of – Afghanistan, Iraq and now also Libya. We intervene without hesitation because we think that our conception of democracy is the only existing, decent way to have a society.
As Dyer writes in his article “The Matter of Whiteness – The Power of Invisibility” we need to make the known strange. We need to consider the white skinned people a race too, if we want equality in this world.
But I see signs of change and it’s all based on economy. China is becoming a major financial and politically factor to be considered. Via their rapid economic growth they are a threat to whites and their identity. We must face that money has a huge influence on the distribution of power in the world, and for centuries the white western industrial societies have been leading economically. We have been fortunate in the financial respect and no other culture/race/people has challenged us.
“Times they are changing” as Bob Dylan sings, but we will see no real change until we see ourselves as a race too and remove words like integration and assimilation from our language.
In computer or video games you design the narrative as you move inside the game, in film and literature the narrative is fixed from the beginning.
When you play a computer game like Deus Ex you start by creating your own character. You can choose abilities and characteristics as you want. Like in other computer games you may choose if your character is good or bad. If he/she is making his/her way through the game by killing or by just fighting and keeping you combatants alive. The hero can actually be motivated by compassion to keep his enemies alive.
In Deus Ex you are allowed a surprisingly pacifist approach to conflict, if that’s what you want. The kind of character the player creates enhances the style of play the gamer prefers. You create the game as you progress by the choices you make. You may say that this is a non-fixed narrative.
In film and literature the narrative is fixed when you start to either see or read the text. The scriptwriter and director have already decided on the narrative when you find your seat in the movie theatre and the author decides the storyline when he writes the book. There is nothing you can do about the narrative when you play / watch / read the text.
Those are the most obvious differences in narration in connection with computer games and film/literature. But I can’t help wanting to mention one similarity though, that neither comes alive until you play / see / read it (Ole Løw, Fantastiske Forbindelser, 2006). A computer game does not exist till you play it / create the character and storyline. A film is just a piece of celluloid (at least till the DVD came along) till you watch it and a book is just and number of pages with black ink till you read it. You might say “does it really exist till you interact?”
Paradise. What is Paradise like to us? What is our conception of Paradise? Is it the same all over the world? Do the Burmese/the people of Myanmar dream of the same kind of Paradise as I do or is our perception of Paradise vitally different? And is what we consider Paradise really Paradise when we dig deep into or behind the scene?
Does Paradise in fact exist outside our imagination?
The advertisers tell us that Paradise is somewhere out there, showing us pictures to make us dream of a nice, warm, sunny, and cozy place when we are covered in snow to our knees. But is it only the façade they show us, what about the things behind the curtain that we ought to see?
Let’s have a closer look at how Paradise is represented in advertising and the two images provided.
What do I see
- when I look at the images with my objective glasses?
To the right I see two young, white, suntanned people playing / resting in the shadow of a palm tree on a white sandy beach. They are both wearing bathing suits. The sea is light green and the sky is “heavenly” blue. There is a fisherman’s boat placed in the water to the left. The sea is calm and there are only a few clouds far in the horizon (no signs of a devastating tsunami approaching).
(There is a badge stuck to the upper left corner of the image, but I will disregard it in this text as I think the visual signifiers are more important – the sticker doesn’t really say much)
- and when I look with my “feelings”?
I see Paradise! I see white sand, I feel the heat and yet the shadow is there to protect me. I see original / local culture and living (the fisherman’s boat) alongside me relaxing as a tourist. I am shown that this is the place where I can have the most precious of all gifts – Time!
I can relax and enjoy myself and have no worries, but a lot of time to spend as I want. This could easily be the western perception of Paradise.
When we are presented to visual texts, this could be either film or photography, we immediately produce a narrative to go with it, to be able to construct meaning. We seek meaning in all the text we are surrounded with and when I look at the picture I quickly imagine my own story about the scenery.
Being who I am, carrying my cultural inheritance with me in everything I do, I look for signifiers and their signification to support my narrative, my life story. I look at the sand and imagine long hot childhood summer days at the beach, no worries and everything provided for. I imagine my skin being suntanned and my image in the mirror being so much nicer.
My curiosity for foreign cultures is being awoken by the fisherman’s boat, which to me is a signification of old mysterious cultures to be explored. The light green sea, the heavenly blue sky and just a vague line on the horizon shows ultimate freedom and undreamt of possibilities.
My narration of the picture could go on and on, and I would tell my story of the Paradise in my imagination.
But reality bites! The façade will crackle when I leave the golden, sandy beach and take a closer look at the other text / image you have provided us with.
When analyzing the image I still have to bear in mind that I am a middle aged white female living in the center of a Scandinavian capital. This is very important – especially the age and the fact that I belong to the white race.
But what does the other picture show me?
I see four pictures of what the advertisers consider important for the tourist gaze. Leisure, food and cultural inheritance.
Image 1: Leisure – long sandy beach, palm trees and no other people than the photographer. A real “Bounty Land”.
Image 2: Food - A woman carrying bananas to the market, in two obviously very heavy baskets.
Image 3: Food – The market place. All vegetables lined up in neat and orderly rows for the customers to be attracted to buy.
Image 4: Culture – A beautiful house or pagoda built in the original oriental style with roof corners where the evil spirits, when falling from the sky, will subsequently on hitting the roof, be swung or glide up into the sky again. A beautiful yellow coloured house which matches the green palm leaves in the upper left corner perfectly.
When I look at the pictures in the second text I come to think of the image of Paradise being the longing for the original. That in our industrial society we are so far from the “original” life of human beings that we can be. We are under a lot of pressure to perform, to develop physically, mentally and proceed financially upwards in society. We are striving for financial security, because a healthy and stable economic situation is vital to survive in our western hemisphere. There is a lot of self applied public pressure in our part of the world. I wonder if we just want to let go of this responsibility and dream of a place where we can live and be male / female as we were originally thought to be.
The pictures signify to me the tourist gaze. We don’t want to know what is behind the scene. We don’t want to know that the people in the pictures are striving as hard as we (or even more) to survive. We don’t want to know that they work for a minimum of salary and they are only earning just enough to have their family survive – either as a fisherman or by selling vegetables in the market place.
We don’t want to know that their government constantly violates the Human Rights Act by not allowing freedom of speech. Remember the Buddhist monks who in 2007 protested against the dictatorship I Myanmar? Maybe not – because we don’t want to remember. We need to have our perception of Paradise intact to survive ourselves. We are not concerned with politics when we are tourist gazing into Paradise…….
Masculinity in hip hop is homophobia and homo erotica. It's display of violence, money, killing, physical strength and fear. Not forgetting gay bashing and bitch smacking. All wrapped up to give street credibility.
What in the two texts provided give me signs and codes of that?
Let's start with image no. 1. This is an American rap/hip hop artist called 50Cent. He is black of course; the only white artist in this genre that I know of, is Eminem. There might be others, but obviously they haven’t been recognized by the rap / hip hop community. As M-1 Dead Prez says in “Beyond Beats & Rhymes” : “White boys can’t identify with hip-hop – it’s like for them to put on a baseball cap that fits – that’s all they get!”
What in the two texts provided give me signs and codes of that?
Let's start with image no. 1. This is an American rap/hip hop artist called 50Cent. He is black of course; the only white artist in this genre that I know of, is Eminem. There might be others, but obviously they haven’t been recognized by the rap / hip hop community. As M-1 Dead Prez says in “Beyond Beats & Rhymes” : “White boys can’t identify with hip-hop – it’s like for them to put on a baseball cap that fits – that’s all they get!”
Back to the picture – 50Cent is sitting in front of a metal background, wearing long black trousers and nothing on top, flashing his muscular upper body. Around his head he wears some kind of band to not have sweat in his eyes. He is looking directly into the lens and just in front of the camera he is dropping a large number of white bullets from one hand and holding the rest in the other. His arms are all tattooed. I can’t quite see what kind of tattoo it is, but it’s neither a tribal tattoo nor an ordinary sailor’s tattoo, more like some kind of pattern to go with the very large tattoo I happen to know he has on his back.
The artist is well known in the hip hop community for his aggressive style. He had a film and supporting soundtrack / album out called “Get Rich or Die Trying”. He has a background in drug dealing and his name “50Cent” is a metaphor for “change”.
Let’s have a look at the signs and codes in the text, and we might as well start from behind the artist.
The metal background is a signifier for the rough neighborhood, populated with hard working blacks and Hispanics, but might also be the signified for the history of the black people in America. The metal plates are riveted and look like the walls of a ship (slave transports).
Then we have the artist, flashing his naked upper body to the camera. Homo eroticus showing off. Males at the bottom of the social ladder with no real power, using their physical strength and superiority. When you don’t have real power as a black, poorly educated male, all you have is your body to show that at least you are physically powerful.
Closets to the camera we see his hand throwing bullets at the spectator. Bullets are for killing, and it’s been in the American identity for centuries to kill or to display the violent man. “Do you watch movies?”, Jadakiss asks in the “Beyond Beats and Rhymes”, and if we look at Hollywood movies they are packed with males shooting and killing more or less innocent others. Hip hop was created in the war zones of Bronx, among blacks & Latinos and here you had to fight your way through life to survive. Homicide is the leading cause of death for black men between 15 and 34 years of age. You might say that 50Cent is displaying or even supporting reality in the black neighborhoods by his attitude.
Hip hop reinforces stereotypes and we need to go back to the beginning of the era around 1987-92 where there was a diversity in black male expression in hip hop culture, to make any changes in this tough image that this style has developed over the last decade.
The 5oCent picture is very serious and fear evoking, but if we look at the other photo with Snoop Dogg and his girls we get a somewhat different picture of what hip hop is all about.
We see Snoop Dogg sitting in a soft white sofa with two Latin looking girls on his sides. They are all looking directly into the camera, not smiling, but not looking angry either, as we saw in the 50Cent picture.
The girls are wearing as little as possible, displaying naked body parts without being intimidating to the viewer. Snoop Dogg on the other hand is wearing quite an outfit. German or Austrian lederhosen, a long sleeve white button to the top shirt, a hat to go with the trousers, and knee high stockings. This outfit is not usually seen outside the Octoberfest in the southern part of Germany, unless you want a certain narrative to be told. Around Snoop Dogg’s wrist and neck we see gold flashing. A long, heavy gold necklace hanging in front of his chest. In his hands he is holding an award from MTV (the picture is from his 2007 hosting of the MTV Europe awards in Munich).
Now what may I read from the various signifiers and codes in the picture.
White is purity and innocence, but in this picture it is also part of a traditional dress from South Germany, so I would not take it as signified for anything particular. Let’s rather look at it from a gender point of view.
In hip hop culture men are the stronger sex and women are just eye candy or play things for the males. Women are portrayed only through mans desire. The girls in the picture have this sweet, innocent pussycat expression on their faces and they signal that there is no danger for the male gazing. Man can still be the stronger part and there is no harm done to his masculinity.
The girls are situated behind Snoop Dogg, mainly because he is the most important participant in the picture, but also to signify male dominance. “You stay behind me and I’ll protect you!”
In this image I mostly see the girls signified as eye candy. They are wearing very little clothes, they flash this baby look at the camera, and they have their long black hair in front of their shoulders to kind of frame their baby doll faces.
There is a lot of ancient tribal codes in hip hop culture. There is a lot of “back to basics” in the artists’ attitude towards the sexes.” Me and my brother are flashing our physical power to show that we are physically superior to those white guys who rule the economy, to the “bitch ass niggaz” whom they despise, and to the rest of the world who might not count us in”.
After analyzing these two images the next question I find interesting to investigate is why the hip hop expression has become so much more violent than it was at its beginning in the late 1980’ies. What in our society has caused such change?
Brian Longhurst, Introducing Cultural Studies, 2nd edition, (2008) ISBN 978-1-4058-5843-4
David Gauntlett, Media, Gender and Identity, (2009) ISBN 0-415-39661-1
Gillespie & Toynbee, Analysing Media Texts, (2006) ISBN 0-335-21887-3
James Paul Gee, What Video Games……, (2007) ISBN 978-1-4039-8453-1
Byron Hurt, “Beyond Beats & Rhymes”, YouTube 15th July 2009
Peter Grønlund, Subkultur, (2010) ISBN 978-87-9229-436-4
Teaching material for Justin Bieber’s music video ”Baby” |
The Hollywood Model | Advertising | Gender Roles |
While viewing activity: Focus on narrative · How is the story told and notice what happens when | While viewing activity: Focus on hidden advertising · Notice the labels you are exposed to | While viewing activity: Focus on gender roles in the video · Notice similarities to modern and past times representation of gender roles |
After viewing activity: · Put the narrative of the video into the Hollywood model and explain your choice | After viewing activity: · Why do you think they use hidden advertising? · Name some of the labels you notice in the video · How do you think it affects what you buy? | After viewing activity: · Do you see any signs of “modern” gender roles? · Do you see any similarities to ancient gender roles? · Why do you think that King Kong is shown at the beginning and at the end of the video? |
Bonus info: The Hollywood Model is often used to understand the narrative of a movie picture, but it can be used at a number of music videos as well. | Bonus info: · Hard Rock Café · Starbucks · Sketcher’s · Jullian’s · Nike, Vans & LaKia · Levis · G-Shock watch · 59FIFTY caps · Corpse tickets (only JB & Ludacris) (they were very popular in summer 2010 especially with teen girls) | Bonus info: · “Modern” gender roles – the girls are competing equally with the boys in the dance battle · “Anciet” gender roles - dance battle = African tribal dances - male hunting prey - girl playing hard to get |
Learning outcome: · To show that instead of using a whole movie you might use a music video to teach film and observation on texts. · If you have a limited number of lessons for this subject I find music videos relevant to work with. They are short and easily handled in a few lessons. · Films are a big mouthful to start with for the less experienced pupils. Movies are filled with signifiers and signified and demand a good portion of background knowledge before working qualified with the text. · Music videos are authentic material for the children to work with. MTV is an integrated part of the pupil’s lives and I find it relevant to teach them critical observation. | Learning outcome: · To teach them to be observant when they watch music videos and to be aware of various signs that might affect the forming of their choice as consumers. · Critical analysis of visual input. | Learning outcome: · Awareness of representation of gender roles in the visual media and on the influence it has on forming of the young people’s identity. |
The film Like in literature the Hollywood model is used in film to get an overview of the film composition. Most films present a conflict (or several conflicts) which is intensified as the film unfolds. This way of telling a story can be drawn as a curve.
1. Anslag – Opening scene
The theme is shown, the atmosphere of the film is revealed and the genre is presented. We become curious.
2. Præsentation – Presentation of the main characterThe theme is shown, the atmosphere of the film is revealed and the genre is presented. We become curious.
We identify with the main character and are presented with background knowledge of characters and relations.
3. Uddybning – Presentation of the conflict and history of the characters
The theme unfolds and the conflict (conflicts) are presented.
4. Point of no return
There is no way back for the main character. The story has taken a fixed turn or direction.
There is no way back for the main character. The story has taken a fixed turn or direction.
5. Optrapning – Intensifying the conflict
The conflict intensifies.
The conflict intensifies.
6. Klimaks - Climax
The final test and the conflict comes to an end.
The final test and the conflict comes to an end.
7. Udtoning – Fade out
Law and order is reestablished.
_______________________________________________________________________________
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…
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
Law and order is reestablished.
_______________________________________________________________________________
THE ASSIGNMENT - the original and nice looking one is in my SkoleKom portfolio
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 -
- have a look for yourself -
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
