Task 2 response to music video work in the context of media language and representation
Essay Question: Desire, sex and power have become a common theme in music videos today. Consider how these narratives shape individual and cultural attitudes about sexuality and the roles of men and women through representation.
- Discuss task and marking criteria
- Start planning, research and draft essay
- View Dreamworlds 3 Documentary on cultural symbolism of Music Video over three lessons
- Discuss the issues raised in the documentary and analyse music videos in the context
o the process of constructing representations in music videos
o link representations to the values of mainstream and subcultural audiences
o How music videos distort representation of men and women
o Reason and value for sexualising videos
o the effect of using stereotypes in music videos
o the impact of technologies on music videos
o the evolution of technologies used in music videos.
TASK
Take a look at this compilation of video clips, how does it make you feel? Can you see a common thread? Why do you think artists like to narrate their music in this way? Does it make you consider the lyrics differently? Post your thoughts to the blog after our class discussion. |
|
DREAMORLDS 3 SYNOPSIS
Dreamworlds 3, the highly anticipated update of Sut Jhally’s groundbreaking Dreamworlds 2 (1995), examines the stories contemporary music videos tell about girls and women, and encourages viewers to consider how these narratives shape individual and cultural attitudes about sexuality. With new narration and hundreds of up-to-date images, Dreamworlds 3 offers a unique and powerful tool for understanding both the continuing influence of music videos, as well as how pop culture more generally filters the identities of young men and women through a dangerously narrow set of myths about sexuality and gender. In doing so, it inspires viewers to reflect critically on images that they might otherwise take for granted.
Dreamworlds 3, the highly anticipated update of Sut Jhally’s groundbreaking Dreamworlds 2 (1995), examines the stories contemporary music videos tell about girls and women, and encourages viewers to consider how these narratives shape individual and cultural attitudes about sexuality. With new narration and hundreds of up-to-date images, Dreamworlds 3 offers a unique and powerful tool for understanding both the continuing influence of music videos, as well as how pop culture more generally filters the identities of young men and women through a dangerously narrow set of myths about sexuality and gender. In doing so, it inspires viewers to reflect critically on images that they might otherwise take for granted.
Jhally’s primary argument is that music videos, not unlike other forms of advertising and popular culture, represent the pornographic imagination by offering a degraded and limited view of female sexuality based on narrowly defined adolescent heterosexual male fantasies. Locating the stories and images of music video in a wider context, the film explores how American popular culture, more generally, encourages and excuses men’s violence against women, and argues that we need a wider range of stories about femininity, masculinity, and sexuality.
We will be viewing the Documentary by Sut Jhally called Dreamworlds 3. This will be a confronting film that will effect they way you interpret music videos of today. Opposite is a small excerpt from the film, please be aware the video features graphic, sexualised violence and we will be taking time in class to process and discuss the impact of these images.
|
|
Here is a copy of the PowerPoint presentation with all the key points from the documentary along with our discussion questions. This maybe helpful when researching your essay
|
|
Statistics
Do you think the sexualisation of women across various media has contributed to the "normalisation" of male dominance and power over women?
Below are some statistics published by The Australian Governments Department of Social Services.
The research shows that men and women have different experiences of violence against them and while men do experience sexual violence, the number of women affected is much higher.
Where violence happens – the Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey in 2005 found that for women who experienced physical assault by a man in the past 12 months, they were most likely to be assaulted in the home.
How many women are affected – one in three Australian women has experienced physical violence and one in five has experienced sexual violence since the age of 15. Women are close to three times more likely than men to be sexually assaulted before they turn 15.
Who is involved – for those who experienced physical assault in the 12 months to 2005, men were more likely than women to be assaulted by a stranger.
Reporting – while the survey results suggest there has been an increase in reporting of violence between 1996 and 2005, the majority of physical and sexual assaults are still not reported to police.
Homicides – the National Homicide Monitoring Program shows that women are more likely than men to be victims of domestic related homicide. In 2006-07 in forty-three per cent of homicides between intimate partners there was a domestic violence history with the police prior to the homicide incident. Nearly three-quarters of all women killed were killed by an intimate partner or family member.
Indigenous women – the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) study, Family Violence among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, 2006 found that Indigenous women were 35 times more likely than other Australian women to be hospitalised due to family violence. Eight out of 10 hospitalisations were the result of spouse or partner violence, and Indigenous women were 10 times more likely than non-Indigenous women to die due to an assault.
Children – 49 per cent of men and women who experienced violence by a current partner reported that they had children in their care at some time during the relationship. An estimated 27 per cent said that these children had witnessed the violence.
https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/women/publications-articles/general/fact-sheets-womens-issues/improving-womens-safety
Below are some statistics published by The Australian Governments Department of Social Services.
The research shows that men and women have different experiences of violence against them and while men do experience sexual violence, the number of women affected is much higher.
Where violence happens – the Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey in 2005 found that for women who experienced physical assault by a man in the past 12 months, they were most likely to be assaulted in the home.
How many women are affected – one in three Australian women has experienced physical violence and one in five has experienced sexual violence since the age of 15. Women are close to three times more likely than men to be sexually assaulted before they turn 15.
Who is involved – for those who experienced physical assault in the 12 months to 2005, men were more likely than women to be assaulted by a stranger.
Reporting – while the survey results suggest there has been an increase in reporting of violence between 1996 and 2005, the majority of physical and sexual assaults are still not reported to police.
Homicides – the National Homicide Monitoring Program shows that women are more likely than men to be victims of domestic related homicide. In 2006-07 in forty-three per cent of homicides between intimate partners there was a domestic violence history with the police prior to the homicide incident. Nearly three-quarters of all women killed were killed by an intimate partner or family member.
Indigenous women – the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) study, Family Violence among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, 2006 found that Indigenous women were 35 times more likely than other Australian women to be hospitalised due to family violence. Eight out of 10 hospitalisations were the result of spouse or partner violence, and Indigenous women were 10 times more likely than non-Indigenous women to die due to an assault.
Children – 49 per cent of men and women who experienced violence by a current partner reported that they had children in their care at some time during the relationship. An estimated 27 per cent said that these children had witnessed the violence.
https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/women/publications-articles/general/fact-sheets-womens-issues/improving-womens-safety
Female Artists setting new standards
TASK:
Take a look at the websites for alternative female artists such as Patti Smith (http://www.pattismith.net/intro.html), PJ Harvey (http://www.pjharvey.net/), Cassandra Wilson (http://www.cassandrawilson.com/), Ad your thoughts to the blog about how these artists have carved out their own personas and created an alternative vision of femininity. |
dreamworlds_3.pptx | |
File Size: | 1238 kb |
File Type: | pptx |