Gender Representation in a Music Video

This music video conforms to the theory of ‘Voyeurism’, which is a theory based on a feminist, who believes that female artists are more objectified then men’s. This is most evident in the music video when we first denote a mid shot/high angle shot of Snoop Dog, this connotes that he important because he is dominating the shot. This conforms to the theory of voyeurism because Snoop Dog, a male is represented as being dominant, which is a typical representation of the male gender. However, we could also argue that it subverts the theory because the use of high angle connotes that he is inferior.

The mis en scene of the music video is conforming to the idea of ‘Voyeurism’, for example

at 0:06, you could denote a extreme close up shot of Snoop Dog’s hand. The rings on his hand connotes that he is wealthy, powerful, which portray him as a king. When he removes his hand from the shot, we could denote Katy Perry placed on the board game, this connotes that Katy Perry is being manipulated like a toy/game and that Snoop Dog is in control of her, which conforms to the theory of ‘voyeurism’ because it puts a message across to the audiences that women are manipulative by men.

On the other hand, this music video subverts the idea of feminists, which is represented through editing, for example the duration of Katy Perry in the music video is longer in comparison to Snoop Dog, this connotes that she is important and is more dominant over Snoop Dog because she is the audiences main focus. Which contrast with the opening of the music video, that has mislead the audience to think that Snoop Dog is our main focus.

The mis en scene is used to conform to the feminist theory, for example at 0:55 to 1:06, you could denote Katy Perry with no clothing on, this creates a seductive star persona, which conforms to the feminist theory because the theory states that women is being objectified and exhibited. In contrast to Snoop Dog in clothing and is completely covered, which conforms to the theory of men’s being less exhibited in comparison to women.

The narrative of the music video subverts the feminist theory, for example at 3:32 you could denote a long shot of Snoop Dog with his hands up, which illustrates to the audiences that he has surrendered to Katy Perry and the use of long shot allow the audiences to see that he is by himself in the shot, which signify that he inferior. Within the long shot it also allows the audiences to clearly identify that his costume subverts his usual star persona, for example he would conventionally wear casual clothing as a rap artist. The pink colour the costume also subverts the conventions of the feminist theory because pink is a colour that symbolises feminine.