Men, Women and Relationships in Music Videos
To gain information on how men and women are portrayed in music videos I watched three music videos that were made in three very different periods of time. The first video was Criminal by Fiona Apple, this video was released in 1996 and sparked a lot of controversy. The second video was It’s My Party by Leslie Gore, released in 1966. This is not a true “music video� in the sense that the other two videos are, but nevertheless adds information to the lyrics of the song. The third video was How Many Licks Lil’ Kim, released in 2000. All three videos provided a piece of information as to how men, women and the relationships between the two are portrayed in popular music.
Fiona Apple
The song Criminal is one that I remember singing along to as a teen, however I now realize that I never understood it’s meaning. I always thought it was about women being in charge in relationships and breaking hearts like men often times do. I thought that the lyrics
“I’ve been a bad bad girl,
I’ve been careless with a delicate man.
And it’s a sad sad world,
When a girl can break a boy
Just because she can�
(http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/fiona+apple/criminal_20053670.html)
reflected the fact that the girl took the mans role in the relationship and played the more aggressive part. Now the girl is feeling bad for doing what she did to the man and breaking his heart. Now that I have actually watched the music video that accompanies the song and read the song critique (http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue05/features/fiona2.html), I realize that I have it all wrong. In this case the music video gives more information as to the meaning of the song lyrics. The song that I thought was about a girl, who hurt a guy actually depicts the male rape fantasy. The song critique does an awesome job of breaking down the video frame my frame and explaining the meaning. Fiona Apple is made to be very sexual in the video, not to be confused with sexy. She is extremely skinny, has messed up hair and in barely dressed in most shots. Many of the camera shots in the video are high angle shots that make Fiona look vulnerable. This video and song does not portray men, women and the relationship between the two in a very positive light. In fact women are made to be objects to be abused by men and there is a male dominance non-equitable relationship. This video left be wondering if 18 year old Fiona really meant what she was portraying in the video, or if it was intended to draw attention to the issue as a type of public service.
Leslie Gore & Lil’ Kim
Both of these songs portray women as needing men in some way. Leslie Gore’s song It’s My Party portrays a woman who is consumed by a man and is upset that he is with somebody else. The amount of control that this man/relationship has over the girl is not uncommon but certainly unhealthy. Even more unhealthy than It’s My Party is Lil’ Kim’s How Many Licks. This song and music video portray women as merchandise that can be bought. She goes even further and gives the message that women want to be treated like things and enjoy the sexual promiscuity that come along with that. Although the two videos have similar messages (to different degrees), the videos are extremely different. The women in the Leslie Gore video are fully dressed and dance very conservatively. The women in the Lil’ Kim video on the other hand are barely dressed and dance as if they are in the act of having sex. The camera angles in this video included both low and high angled shots, giving the message that Lil’ Kim is vulnerable (enough to have sex with anyone) and also grand (she can have sex with anyone she wants). It is obvious that music has changed in the time that these two videos were released (1966-2000). In 1966 innocence and monogamy was valued, by the year 2000 experience and making yourself happy are valued by many. The analysis of these two songs makes me wonder where future music will take relationships. It is hard to believe that music and videos can get more graphic than How Many Licks, but who knows? I also wonder what people who grew up listening to Leslie Gore (and others) think about current popular music.