The Big Issue

 

Analyse the representation of gender in the music videos for "The Man " by Taylor Swift and 
"Riptide " by Vance Joy  ( 30 marks / 800 words minimum)

 

The Riptide music video was released in 2013 as one of the first singles of Vance Joy’s that were trying to break into the American market, whereas The Man by Taylor Swift was released in 2020, therefore the 7-year gap has influence on the representation of gender as many gender-based movements such as the MeToo movement have happened.

In “The Man”, Taylor Swift is disguised as the main male character to show how society would treat her differently as a man. In terms of costume, the male character (Taylor Swift) is dressed in professional clothes, wearing suit and a tie; this encourages the audience to take him more seriously. The choice of costume implies that the character is important, and the blue costume is reinforcing his masculinity as blue is stereotypically a colour associated with men. The boat scene shows "the man" wearing golden patterned shirt and white trousers, as well as golden shoes, sunglasses and a golden necklace. The gold colour palette could be there to imply that he's wealthy; the use of accessory could be challenging stereotypes that men don't pay attention to their appearance or the use of costume is there to reinforce his wealth and power. Even though in the office scene, everyone is wearing business attire and the women seem to not be sexualised, the boat scene does exactly the opposite. The women are all wearing the same yellow bikini and are very underdressed compared to the male character; the yellow stands out and draws attention to their bodies. There is a sense of uniformity as all the women are dressed the same and could imply that they are inferior to the man as he is the only one that stands out; this sense of uniformity further implies that these women are “working” and their duty is to be there and look good. The video also implies that he is the one that is paying for the boat and the drinks. In comparison to Riptide, the women are more openly sexualised, whereas Riptide is more enigmatic and suspenseful. The blonde woman is taking the straps of her swimsuit off, however she is not facing the audience, therefore anticipation is created in the audience, especially men, whether or not she will turn around. There are many shots of women's feet throughout the video, and shots of the woman running where her face is not shown. By not showing her face, this dehumanises her and according to Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory, she becomes the object of the male gaze through all the ways she has been sexualised. The shot of the woman on the balcony is shot from a lower angle that appears where she does not see; this voyeuristic approach is also used when she is taking her straps off. A similar scenario is happening in “The Man” when we are presented to the naked sleeping woman lying in his bed, as she is not aware of the audience seeing her. In Riptide, there are a few references towards the looks of the character, comparing her to Michelle Pfeiffer and saying that she can be a star like her too. Although, we do have some shots of female empowerment. For example,  at the beginning of the video, when she is tied to a tree she manages to free herself; the shot that accompanies the line "you're the magician's assistant in her dreams" is shot from a lower angle that puts the female character in a superior position, and she also has confident body language. The balcony scene could also connote superiority as she is physically higher than our point of view and seems to be wealthy. In both video wealth seems to be a reoccurring status of power, regardless gender. Another one of “the man’s” costumes is the one he wears at the park with his chid; he is no longer wearing a suit, but rather casual and comfortable clothes. The fact that he is not wearing his business attire implies that he has time for his child and that he could be a caring father. Swift is exposing the double standard that being a good father is admirable, but being a good mother is normal and necessary. The persona of the character is one that is remarkably familiar in media, and that’s the wealthy misogynistic man. The stereotypical idea of average men who get well paid jobs and work hard deserve model looking, conventionally attractive younger women is portrayed in the music video. There is nothing special about the male character, but he still gets a lot of women just because he has a profitable job. Hollywood has continuously portrayed that idea and made average man heroes and aspirational figures to make the male audience believe that they can achieve that lifestyle too. One example of that is Transformers, where the lead male character played by Shia LeBeouf ends up with Megan Fox, or any Adam Sandler film. "The man" is portrayed as being noticeably confident, but that maybe is meant to irritate the audience as his confidence would be interpreted differently if he was a woman. While he is walking around the office talking to his employees, he is very aggressive and uses very open body language; later he opens his arms and everybody starts applauding him. They act as if he's superior and they are worshiping him; Swift could've done that on purpose and represented him as if he has a God Complex in order to mock a majority of men who claim to be above women. As she is the one playing the man, she over exaggerates the male behaviour. Another example of him having a God Complex is him having his own portrait in his hall in the shot where he runs down high fiving every hand that comes out the wall. The colourful hands seem like a part of the interior design and they further exaggerate his God Complex as he needs validation from other people. His behaviour during the tennis game is purposely over exaggerated and Taylor shows how men react to loss; the stereotypical toxically masculine man that is being portrayed cannot handle loss as he is told that he is the "alpha male" as stated in the song, and that he always should win. After he does badly in the game, he throws a tantrum like a young child and lashes out at the jury, starts throwing the tennis balls and then lies on the floor crying. The over exaggeration shows how men in society cannot handle loss and rejection, and some often resort to violence.

In Riptide, the theme of violence is very definitely explored through many film references. If the lyrics and video were separated, it would just be a compilation of random shots, but the fact that the music video and lyrics are linked creates synergy, meaning that themes and motives are created to convey a deeper meaning. The motives could possibly be entanglement and dread, as we can see in the many horror/ thriller like shots that that slightly resemble nightmares, for example being pulled out of bed and under the bed. For example, in the line "I was scared of dentists and the dark", the shot is of a woman has a metallic contraption in her mouth and a horrified expression; this over exaggerated interpretation of a very common fear in society could possibly used so the audience feels that fear as well. The shot has a sadist tone and further contributes to the representation of violence against women in this music video. This video could reflect the work of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali in Un Chiel Andalou (An Andalusian Dog), as the surrealistic film explores violence and sexual desire the same way as the 1929 film. In that film, the aesthetics of surrealism are combined to some of Freud's discoveries. In Riptide, there is no clear narrative, and it uses dream logic, yet again reflecting Un Chien Andalou as they used the Freudian free association idea for their narrative. The producers have not only used that film foe their narrative but also as a distant reference for one of their shots. The hand stabbing shot in Riptide could be compared to the infamous eye-cutting scene in Un Chien Andalou.

However, Riptide definitely victimises women through their use of media language. Many shots in Riptide victimise women, for example her being tied to a tree, being dragged out from her bed, etc. All of these scenarios fit into the conventions of thriller/horror films, as the female character tends to be one of the first victims. The video uses high camera angles, terrified facial expressions, low key lighting in order to add to the representation of women being fearful. The shots are not supposed to be enjoyable for the audience, they are there to make the audience feel uncomfortable and see the victimisation of women as undesirable. Finally, the shots of the woman singing are left on screen for the longest. Throughout the video we keep going back to the shots of her singing and each time her makeup gets worse, starts sliding off her face, her facial expression gets more horrified and she loses her initial confidence. These shots shock the audience and create enigma about what is happening to her and also emphasises the violence against women. To make us feel scared for her, the female character continues to watch sideways, as if she is in danger; she also has bruises and blood on her neck, implying that she definitely has been attacked, not just crying. The mise en scene and her facial expression encourage the audience to sympathise with her and worry for her. In later shots, when a hand grabs her neck, she starts to sing the words wrong and therefore the subtitles appear on the screen. That could have two interpretation, maybe that she is lip-syncing badly because she is panicked and emotional or that this is a cry for help by mistaking the words and acting differently from the beginning.

Postmodernism techniques have definitely been used in the video. For example, there are clear links o Wes Anderson in terms of cinematography and mise en scene; for example, in Riptide we see a Romanian passport in a suitcase, that could be a reference to Anderson's Grand Hotel Budapest, also the shot from above is a technique of Anderson's as well. The distressed singer that is has experienced a form of assault, could be a reference to David Lynch's Blue Velvet, as the storyline is about a singer that's being abused. Vance Joy could be trying to raise awareness around gender based violence, although with such an upbeat song the message could come off as using violence for aesthetic purposes and make it seem entertaining.