The History/Purpose of Music Videos

Lyrics Analysis

"Sleeping alone on the streets at night

Facing all of your fears

Trying to find somewhere to stay

So you can wipe away all your tears

Nobody knows what you've been through

And nobody dares to ask

People talk trash everyday about you, they all laugh

Homeless man who are you

and what's happened to your soul

Homeless man who are you

And what's happened to your soul

Trying to find somewhere you'll fit in

To fill an empty hole

Finding somewhere to live your life

Has always been your goal

Troubled man where are you running too

Why are you hiding in fear

Homeless man what's going on

Are you scared to talk to me

Troubled man where are you running too

Why are you hiding in fear

Homeless man what's going on

Are you scared to talk to me"

These are the lyrics from my chosen song in which I am going to make a music video out of. They are taken from my friend's band called; Joker and the song is called; Homeless Man which they created themselves from scratch via the use of instruments such as the electric guitar and then going onto software and editing the song. I have chosen this song as it is original and there is no music video yet so I can be as creative as I want and really explore the lyrics. I am going to analyse these lyrics to find out their true meaning and to help me decide what to do for my music video.

My Chosen Song

Language Essay

Every medium has its own language, that it uses to communicate meaning. Television uses verbal and written language as well as moving images and sound. They use familiar codes and conventions that are generally understood.

Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules. Each form of communication (television etc.) has its own creative language: scary music heightens fear, camera close up convey intimacy, big headlines signal significance. Understanding the grammar, syntax metaphor system of media language, especially the language of sounds and visuals which can reach beyond the rational to our deepest emotional core. It increases out appreciation and enjoyment of media experiences as well as helps us to be less susceptible to manipulation.

Charles Sanders Peirce (1931) says "we only think in sings". Signs take the form of words, images, sounds, colours, flavours, acts or objects, but such things have no intrinsic meaning and become signs only when we invest them with meaning. However, "nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign" says Peirce. Anything can be a sign as long as someone interprets it as 'signifying' something - referring to or standing for something other than itself. We interpret things as signs largely unconsciously by relating them to familiar systems of conventions. It is this meaningful use of sigs which is at the heart of concerns of semiotics.

Linguist Ferdinand de Saussure offered a dyadic or two - part model of the sign. He states that there are three different types of sign...

1. Icon/iconic: a mode in which the signifier is perceived as resembling the signified (looking, sounding, smelling etc like it) - being similar in possessing some qualities
2. Index/indexical: a mode in which the signifier is not arbitrary but is directly connected in some way to the signified - this link can be observed; e.g. natural signs (thunder, smoke, echoes) and medical symptoms (pain, itching)
3. Symbol/symbolic: a mode in which the signifier does not resemble the signified but which is fundamentally arbitrary or purely conventional.  

Denotation and connotation are terms described the relationship between the signifier and its signified, and an analytic distinction is made between two types of signifieds: a denotative signified and a connotative signified.

As Roland Barthes noted, Saussure's model of the sign focused on denotation at the expense of connotation and it was left to subsequent theorists to offer an account of this important dimension of meaning. It suggests true meaning comes from the audience. Barthes argued that in photography connotation can be distinguished from denotation.

John Fiske puts it "denotation is what is photographed, connotation is how it's photographed".

Related to connotation is what Roland Barthes refers to as a myth. Barthes myths were the dominant ideologies of our time. Denotation and connotation combine to produced ideology - described as a third order of significance by Fiske & Hartley.

Paradigms & Syntagms

Roman Jakobson and later Claude Levi-Strauss, emphasised that meaning arises from the differences between signifiers; there are two different kinds; syntagmatic (the positioning) and paradigmatic (substitution - changing things around).

In film and television, paradigms include ways of changing the shot (cut, fade). Medium/genre also paradigms and particular media texts derive meaning form the ways in which the medium and genre used differs from alternatives.

Evaluating media language is the evaluation of all micro elements (cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, sound) and how they have created meaning to inform us about genre, narrative, representations/ideology, target of audiences. It requires us to use semiotic terminology to explain our encoding of elements and coding & conventions within texts. The preferred meaning is based on Hall's theory, want the audience to decode based on what we encoded.

Genre Essay

Genre is a category of something that help us study texts and audience responses to texts by dividing them into categories based on common elements. Industries use genre to sell a product to audiences. Media producers use familiar codes and conventions that very often make cultural references to their audiences knowledge of society.

Steve Neal Theory
In 1995 Neale stressed that genres are not systems, they are processes of systemization, i.e. dynamic and evolve over time. Traditionally, genres tended to be regarded as fixed forms, but contemporary theory emphasises that both their forms and functions are dynamic.

Jason Mittell Theory
In 2001 Mittell argued that genres are cultural categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry, audience and cultural practices as well.

Rick Altman Theory
In 1999 Altman argued that genre offered audience a set of pleasures. These pleasures included; emotional, visceral and intellectual.

Emotional is offered to audiences of genre films that are particularly significant when they generate a strong audience response. Visceral is to do with the internal organs, it is a 'gut' response, defined by how the films stylistic construction elicits a physical effect upon its audience. Intellectual is to do with puzzles. Certain genres such as thriller often pleasure in trying to unravel a mystery. Pleasure from deciphering the plot and forecasting the end/being surprised by the unexpected.

David Buckingham Theory
This theory argued that genre is not simply "given".

Narrative Essay

Bordwell and Thompson Theory
Bordwell and Thompson offer two distinctions between a story and a plot. These relate to the diegetic to the diegetic world of the narrative that the audience are positioned to accept and that which the audience actually see. They never did come up with a full, complete narrative, but came up with specific ideas. They believed that chain of events within a media form cause effects on a relationship occurring in time and space and the narrative shapes this material in terms of time space such as where and when things take place. They based their theory on a Russian film theory:

• Fabula – this is the story, it is all the events in which happen and what the audiences sees. The fabula is defined as the chronological order of events that are represented.
• Syuzhet – this is the plot, it is everything that is visible and audibly present. Syuzhet is considered to be the order, manner and techniques of their presentation in the narrative.

I am going to discus how my chosen artist and their music video; Beyoncé – Partition, conforms to Bordwell and Thompsons theory.

This music video is in media res; we know this as Beyonce is a very successful artist who has had a good life/career before shooting this video. Whilst actually watching the video, we see her reflection in a mirror and also her reflection when she is in the club; a double image represents she has two sides to her and in this case she has the innocent side and the more seductive side in which we see both sides in the music video. We believe that this whole music video is a fantasy, as at the beginning she is seen starring at her husband, possibly imagining doing all this with him. Yet at the end when he has ignored her all the way through reading his paper; we see by her eyes that possibly this isn't just a fantasy, this could be what she has been getting up to due to her husband not giving her the attention she wants. Therefore she has been getting up to this to take her mind off.

 

Tim O'Sullivan Theory

O'Sullivan's theory suggests that all media texts tell us some kind of story. Through careful mediation, media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves - not usually our own personal stories, but the story of us as a culture or set of cultures. Narrative theory sets out to show that we experience when we 'read' a story is to understand a particular set of constructions, or conventions, and that it is important to be aware of how these constructions are put together.

This theory does not conform to my chosen video as there is no real story and neither doe it offer a way of telling us a story about ourselves. The video is more a performance and narrative, rather than telling a story.

Pam Cook Theory
Pam Cook came up with a standard Hollywood narrative structure back in 1985. She believes the structure should be set out like:

• Linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution
• A high degree of narrative closure
• A fictional world that contains verisimilitude especially governed by spatial and temporal coherence. 

My chosen video does apply to Pam Cooks theory because of the way we see Beyonce trying to get her husbands attention yet he gives her no attention therefore this causes an effect going on to her fantasising or possibly thinking about what she has been up to with other men whilst she hasn't been getting his full attention as she would like to. We also see signs of hedonism as we know that via her actions and the camera angles, she is confident in her body and literally living purely for pleasure, pleasure from herself and also to please other men presumably.


Sven Carlsson Theory
Carlsson suggests that music videos in general, fall into two different groups; performance clips and conceptual clips. When a music video mostly shows an artist singing or dancing, this would be known as a performance clip. Although when the clip shows something else during its duration often with artistic ambitions, it is a conceptual clip.

This theory does conform to my chosen video as we see a lot as Beyonce enters the club, she is performing for a man in provocative ways. As well as many performance clips, we also see conceptual clips when we see abstract shapes within the video.

Todorov Theory
Tzvetan Todorov came up with his own theory in 1977 which consists of five different stages.

1. Stage 1: a point of stable equilibrium, where everything is satisfied, calm and normal
2. Stage 2: this stability is disrupted by some kind of force, which creates a state of disequilibrium
3. Stage 3: recognition that a disruption has taken place
4. Stage 4: it is only possible to re-create equilibrium through action directed against the disruption
5. Stage 5: restoration of a new state of equilibrium  The consequences of the reaction is to change the world of the narrative and/or the characters so that the final state of equilibrium in not the same as the initial state

This theory does not apply to my video as in the video it does not follow the same five stages as Todorov's theory suggests.

Audience Essay

Stuart Hall
Stuart Hall claimed that media texts go through stages of encoding and decoding; his theory states that media texts are encoded by the producer and that the texts contain only the ideologies of the people who made the media text. Decoding is when an audience views the text and interprets their own ideologies into the text. Not all audiences will respond in the same way, and in some cases, not how the producer intended. Hall included three different types of audiences decoding text:

• Dominant/preferred
• Negotiated
• Oppositional

Dominant; this is how the producer wants the audience to view the video.

Negotiated; the audience agree with the text but also disagree with other areas they have different views on.

Oppositional; audience rejects the meaning and creates their own meaning for the text as they fully disagree with the message that is being portrayed.

To properly understand this theory, as a class we analysed the music video for 'Smack My Bitch Up' by The Prodigy. This song caused a serious uproar as it appeared to promote violence against women and actually was seen as the most controversial music video of all time in a 2010 UK poll. Due to it's explicit content, the music video was actually originally banned throughout the UK and US, it was also banned by the BBC and only a lyric-free version was played on Radio 1. Here are some of the notes that I wrote down relating to the different types that I listed earlier.

Using Hall's theory in relation to my video - the dominant aspect of this video is that if the audience love Beyonce then they will love her video and song and will want to watch it purely because they love her as an artist. Whereas the negotiated aspect, the audience could say that they enjoy watching the video as it is creative etc. however it is not realistic and no one from the audience is going to perform any of the actions that Beyonce has carried out in this video making it not relatable. Finally, the audience can reject this video as I said earlier that is not seen as realistic and also they could say her actions are not suitable for her audience that she performs for.

Dominant/Preferred

• a change of gender roles
• assumptions that only males have this lifestyle
• shocks an audience
• gender roles changing in society
• impact of alcohol and drugs is negative
• this lifestyle breaks stereotypes as it could be either gender shown in the video
• assumption based on young people
• negative impact on drugs makes people not want to do them
• drugs/alcohol makes a person delusional
• women can behave as bad as men
• representing equality of gender
• challenges the male stereotype
• it is a true representation

Negotiated

• true men fit presented stereotype however women can also adhere to this, in this video the stereotype is reversed therefore this causes an audience panic
• willing to consume message, enjoy stereotypes being switched
• understands message, doesn't like the drugs/alcohol/violence
• uncomfortable to watch, supposed to come across like this so the audience will know not to act in this way
• people may have experienced one element (drugs/alcohol/violence) therefore it is relatable, but unrealistic as it is shown extreme
• the main character is a woman, audience misinterpreted the message as it is shown from a males point of view, intended message missed
• realistic as women do fight, yet the drama is unrealistic
• we understand the implied meaning although we haven't experienced drugs/alcohol meaning it can be hard to relate
• if the audience doesn't watch the full video, they won't understand the preferred reading
• understanding of implied meaning, desirable for young people, people from other cultures can be 'warned'
• stereotypes are challenged, therefore the audience becomes interested, extreme messages need to be extremely showed
• females may find offensive
• not a true representation of women; not all women act like this

Oppositional

• reject message because we don't feel women are capable of such violence
• don't agree with drugs etc. as they are unhealthy
• creates moral panic due to the extreme adult scenes
• upper class could accept reading as they know what lower class can be like whereas lower class could reject the reading as not all lower class people act in this manor
• women have oppositional point of view because they are angry, religions offended as can go against most cultures
• reject message because her actions are only like that because of her taking the drugs
• seen as offensive or upsetting, bad behaviour could affect religious people or the upper class
• a reject of sexuality, as some people do not agree with homosexuality

Blumler and Katz Theory
Blumler and Katz came up with the uses and gratification's theory which is a popular approach to understanding mass communication. The uses and gratification's model represented a change in thinking, as researchers began to describe the effects of the media from the point of view of the audience. The theory asks "what people do with the media", rather than "what the media do with people".

The model looks at the motives of the people who use the media, asking why we watch television/films in the way in which we do, why we bother to read news-papers, why we find ourselves so compelled to keep up to date with our favourite soap or consume films. The theory makes the audience as they choose what they want to consume, they are not forced in to consumption e.g. you only watch the films you want to watch; you're in control.

The theory argued that the audience have social and psychological needs which generate certain expectations about the mass media and what they're exposed to. In this context the audience means the active participant, it allows them to make choices in relation to what they consume. The audience is in control of their own consumerism.

The 4 needs include:

• Surveillance
• Personal Identity
• Personal Relationships
• Diversion

Surveillance

This is based around people feeling better having the feeling they know what is going on in the world around them. We watch the news because we believe it is a reliable source of information and makes us feel secure as we know what is happening. It is all about awareness, uses mass media to be more aware of the world, gratifying a desire for knowledge and security. Social media influences how this concept works as fake stories are created giving a sense of security.

Personal Identity

Personal identity is how being a subject of the media allows us to confirm the identity and positioning of ourselves within society. When consuming a media product, it allows us to associate and relate to the product directly making us feel gratified and able to relate to a product. Different genres allow people to identity in different ways to different elements. It explains the use of the media for forming personal identity which can be seen in music videos. Different genres allow people to identify in different ways to different elements.

Personal Relationships

Personal relationships relates to relationships with the media and using the media within relationships. All of us form relationships with the mediaas many people use the television as a form of companionship as the television is quite an intimate experience, we feel close to the characters as if we know them and become attached. Using media within relationships is good as you can discuss your favourite television programme to start a conversation, or the television can be a stimulate a conversation for families whilst they are watching the television, this is building relationships.

Diversion

Diversion describes escapism; we watch the television to forget about our problems and daily lives to think about something else. We watch music videos/television to take our minds off our lives and to distract ourselves from our problems. We want to see that we are normal and that people do experience the same things as us.

Discussing this theory in relation to my chosen music video; in this case surveillance isn't anything to do with Partition due to this part of the theory focusing around news.

However we can discuss personal identity; the audience that watches this video may consider themselves a big fan of Beyonce and really enjoy watching this music video due to liking her so much as an artist. The audience can also see Beyonce's personality being portrayed and this may make them want to be like this and have more confidence in themselves as she does in her video.

Personal relationships  can be formed due to fans talking about her music video via social media websites such as Twitter or Facebook or even face to face communication. They could really enjoy parts of her video or either disagree with how she is portraying herself, either way this is building strong relationships.

Finally discussing diversion; people may watch this music video to escape. When the video firstly comes on we see grounds and grand buildings, the audience may see this as escapism. But not only this, they may escape in the way that they are wishing that they could be Beyonce or imagine themselves living her lifestyle; this is showing that they are escaping form their own and focusing on 'better' ideas.

Hypodermic Needle Theory
The hypodermic needle theory implies that mass media has a direct and immediate response on its audience. It was considered the most powerful media theory when it was first created back in the 1920's to 1930's; it was very influential to its audience. It influenced and changed peoples behaviour, when they were injected with all of this information we could see that there was a change in behaviour. The theory acts like a needle due to the fact it is saying that the media acts like a needle as it shoots information into the audiences brain.

Due to the fast rise in radio and television, this is what influenced the theory and put it together. It is basically saying that 'what we see is what we believe' however now we know that this theory is dated as we do not now believe everything we see as we are all more educated. The theory suggests a very large group of people directly and uniformly by 'shooting' them with the appropriate messages designed to trigger a response. It expresses a view that media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the receiver is powerless to resist the impact of the message.

People would be seen as passive and end up believing anything that they were told as they had no other sources of information to check to see if the information they received was really true or not.

There are many cons to this theory, these include;

• the theory is out of date and invalid
• not everyone consumes media in the same way
• audiences not simply passive, their are up to date theories that prove this theory isn't 100% true as shown in Stuart Hall's theory
• as technology changed and became more modern, there were more sources available
• nowadays we are more aware if society and how institutions operate
• we understand conventions and know when to reject messages nowadays

A famous case which showed that this theory at the time was very much true was the War of The Worlds case. This is where people assumed Mars had invaded planet Earth due to a radio announcement and the American's believed it straight away because there was no other sources to check if this information was truly reliable. This case demonstrates a passive audience and how an audience believes exactly what they hear on the news as they see them as a reliable source of information, however sometimes this can lead to misinterpretation, as shown in this case.

Relating to my chosen music video; Beyonce - Partition. Parents may watch Beyonce's provocative video and believe that their children may want to look up to Beyonce and do whatever she does and in this case, that isn't the best idea as we see Beyonce perform in a sexual manor for a man and also enter a club and begin to dance provocatively around a pole. Parents may think that Beyonce is a bad role model/influence to their children and maybe even think that they may want to act like this. 

Representation Essay

Representation covers three different theorists; the male gaze, star theory and stereotypes. Laura Mulvey discusses the male gaze, Richard Dyer covers the star theory and Tessa Perkins produced the star theory. I am going to discuss each theory in detail and also relate each one to my chosen artist and music video.

Laura Mulvey's Theory
Laura Mulvey came up with the 'Male gaze' theory back in 1957. She suggests that the male gaze occurs when the audience is put into perspective of a heterosexual man. The scene could focus on a woman's curves and you as a viewer are in the eyes of a male. It also suggest that the male gaze denies women human identity, relegating them to the status of objects to be admired for physical appearance this masculines the audience. The female character has no real importance herself, its how she makes the male feel or act that is important; she believes women are there to be seen not heard.

However, there is also criticism that comes along with the male gaze theory. People argue that some women present themselves in a provocative way for themselves and to feel confident, some women also enjoy being looked at i.e. women that enter beauty pageants.

I have studied Beyoncé's music video - Partition and analysed it in relation to Laura Mulveys theory; how it conforms and rejects it.

We are introduced to the music video via an opening fade in of a vast castle and establishing shots of the grounds and inside the castle. Beyoncé is seen to be wearing glasses and red lipstick to be seen as sexy. We see a close up of Beyoncé's breasts; this is provocative and revealing which conforms to Mulvey's theory as she states that the male gaze could focus on a woman's curves. There is a maid placed in the background wearing a short black dress and heels, looking like she is placed there to impress a man and only wearing those clothes to look good. As Laura Mulvey states in her theory, women are only there to be seen not heard, this conforms to this maid as she doesn’t speak in the video or have much of a role but stands there looking ‘pretty’.

There is an over the shoulder shot of in a mirror in sequin jeweled outfit exposing her body and her curves, again she is wearing this outfit to impress the men; this again conforms to Mulvey's theory as she is dressing in a particular way to get male attention. We see a medium close up of Beyoncé with a mask in front of her face which shows her to be mysterious and sexy. An upwards tilt/pan is shown going from her hips up to her breasts. She is revealing her body in an almost naked fashion. Her actions are going against women being the submissive to the man as in this situation she is being the dominant character in charge as we see a long shot of her walking in front of a car which represents dominance, whilst doing this she is presented in a PVC jacket and a body suit, again wearing a raunchy outfit. A long shot of her is displayed with her posed in a sexual manor and a hand gesture telling the driver to ‘come here’.

The camera is then placed in the back of the car showing Beyoncé and a man touching each other, this conforms to Mulvey’s theory as Beyoncé is presented her to be a sexual object in which satisfies the man and the camera angles used are also focused on her curves to entice the viewer and  emphasize the sexual scene.

Beyoncé is performing a dance in front of a man to impress him, a point of view shot is used here to put the audience into perspective of a heterosexual man, we know this because an over the shoulder shot is used later on and we see Beyoncé still performing for the man. This again conforms to the theory as Mulvey says the female character has no real importance herself, however it’s how she makes the male feel or act that is important. There is a medium close up shot of Beyoncé and hands around her touching her/feeling her body which comes across as ‘sexy’, feeling her breasts and stomach.

We then see Beyoncé sat down showing an image of her back and bum which is shown for the visual pleasure for the viewers. Mulvey says men focus on the sexual features and see women as an object; they focus on the curves and other parts of their bodies and don’t always value them as a valid role. This conforms to the Partition video as Beyoncé is just placed there for the male viewers benefit.

She then places herself on a pole and begins to pole dance, again performing for the man; making sure he is satisfied. The editing on this scene has been highlighted by using slow motions which enhances the sexual mood Beyoncé has created.

Overall I believe that Beyoncé’s partition video is a great video to represent Laura Mulvey’s theory, as I have mentioned throughout my essay, the video perfectly conforms. Mulvey’s theory suggests women can not only watch a video from a secondary perspective and can only view the video from a man’s perspective, which is true to this video. The only criticisms I could make about how partition rejects her theory is that Beyoncé has previously said that she enjoys being looked at and does sometimes perform in a sexual manor to feel confident and sexy for her; otherwise I believe it totally conforms. 

Richard Dyer’s Theory
Richard Dyer developed the idea that the viewer’s perception of a film/video is heavily influenced by the perception of its stars and that publicity material and reviews determine the way that audiences experience a media text. With this idea in mind, Dyer analysed critics writing, magazines, advertising and the films themselves, to explore the significance of stardom.  A star according to Dyer is an image, not a real person. They are constructed using a range of materials ad methods i.e. advertising, magazines, films/music products.  

Stars create a person that is desirable but not actually a true representation of themselves. They are a constructed identity and ideology to make society want to consume them. The theory has four key components; stars as constructions, audience and industry/institution, ideology & culture and character & personality.

Dyer also suggests that there are two paradoxes; there are stars that are ‘ordinary’ and ‘extraordinary’. He states starts need to be like us to relate to their audience and offer something that we don’t have in order to deem them special enough to be stars. If stars presented themselves in a normal way, they would not be desirable to us. They don’t act like they do in films and music videos all the time however if we did not see them as desirable hey wouldn’t be different therefore they’d have no star qualities. 

I have studied Beyoncé's music video - Partition and analysed it in relation to Richard Dyer’s theory; how it conforms and rejects it.

As we all know, Beyoncé is a successfully worldwide female who can be seen as one of the biggest stars on the planet. Seeing as she reaches out to a wide audience, many people around the world are going to watch her music videos and listen to her songs as she has a vast fan base. Her video was published on YouTube on 25^th February 2014 and since then has had 98,861,388 views… and counting. The reason she is so popular as a star is because of the wide audience she reaches ranging from her types of songs she produces, what she is like as a person and how she acts towards her fans. Not only this but Beyonce is very talented therefore stands out.

Beyoncé has social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram, just like the rest of us. Her posts are always presented in a normal way, just like we would present ours. She even posts pictures on Instagram with no make up on and showing her followers what she is doing, this makes us feel as her audience like she is like us and that essentially, we are like her. This is her showing herself as ‘ordinary’/ However, when she is in her music videos i.e. Partition she presents herself in a very unrealistic way via the choices of costume, make up, settings etc. which shows her to be ‘extraordinary’, all of this makes her desirable and gives us something to strive for to say that she is a star and we do want to be like her, as all these things she is showing us are unachievable therefore we want them as we know Beyoncé has got them.  She is showing her self as desirable but not actually a true representation of herself, as Dyer suggests in his theory. Therefore, Beyonce as a celebrity conforms with Dyer’s theory.

Tessa Perkins Theory

Tessa Perkins theory is based around the idea of stereotypes. A stereotype is when a person has a particular idea about someone/something and what they’re going to be like. They make assumptions about their appearance, social class and how they are perceived. We tend to stereotype people as we think it is easier to categorise people and easier to point them out. We as a society tend to base our assumptions on what the media says.

Perkins came up with five different assumptions, these include: 

1. Stereotypes are not always negative
2. They are not always about the less powerful
3. They can be held about one’s own group
4. They are not rigid or unchanging
5. They are not always false

Stereotypes are not always negative, although we tend to assume they are. For example the newspaper usually writes about ‘young troublesome youths’ ‘hoodie culture’, however the youth can be seen as positive.

When celebrities are in the media, it usually is a really good or really bad headline. For example some celebrities give donations to charities and are then portrayed as role models for the younger generation. Although some celebrities can be in the media for alcohol or drugs which is obviously seen as someone younger people should not look up to.  When celebrities are in the media for bad reasons, their fans usually do stick up for them though as they have a strong, wide fan base.

Once a stereotype has been created, it is very hard to change however Perkins states that over a period of time that can change. For example Miley Cyrus was once seen as a ‘Disney princess’ and a ‘pop princess’, although now the tables have turned and she has totally gone against this stereotype of her old self.

Stereotypes are not always false; there can be some truth within them. We witness and read many stories in the media that help us to shape and understand stereotypes.

I am now going to refer to my chosen artist and music video; Beyoncé – Partition and analyse how in the video she conforms to her stereotype and also how she conforms to it when she is not performing for her music videos.

Beyoncé is a pop singer, therefore we expect her to be a role model for younger people, an overall nice person and act quite sexually in her music videos to appear as a sex symbol. Beyoncé conforms to this stereotype as there is evidence from previous interviews she has been in where she has been genuine and nice, the majority of her music videos are quite provocative and she is a role model to all ages of people as she empowers women and makes them feel confident in themselves.

Beyoncé is seen as a positive person as she comes across really nice and happy all the time and she also shows to be within a happy family with her husband Jay Z and child Blue Ivy. She is never in the media for the wrong reasons or portrayed in a negative way. In her music videos she tries to conform to the sexual/provocative stereotype, however when she is not filming she conforms to the innocent, genuine person stereotype, as the majority of pop artists usually do.

As I have mentioned earlier, pop artists tend to perform quite sexually in their music videos and her partition video definitely conforms to this from her choice of mise-en-scene, costumes, editing and cinematography. We see revealing outfits whilst have a slow motion close up on her curves. There is also a scene where she is dancing around a pole, which reinforces the sexual mood.

However, from looking at her Instagram and seeing her in the media on a daily basis, she is expected to act like a ‘normal person’, like me and you, to make us feel like she is just like everyone else. This is what we would expect pop stars to act like.

Overall, I believe that Beyoncé does strongly conform to her expected stereotype due to her actions.