Inspiration

This was a video i particularly liked and appealed to the idea that we wanted to get across to our audience. The idea of the female being in control and taking over the males place in society.


This music video can be seen as one which presents males as dirty and vile creatures. It takes this stereotypical view of the "street" and subverts it showing the females to be in control. This can be seen by the continuous use of a church as a setting, the "street" has the same set of beliefs as a religion in which there are rules which cannot be broken, therefore seen as hedonistic. There is a continuous use of close up shots of different peoples facial expressions including a substantial amount of close ups of the main singer. This can be interpreted as what the street can be seen as, an intimidating battle field at which no one is welcome. Jessie J's face comes into focus and out, and at most times when out of focus it appears that she is creating a male like expression or one which is not associated with a lady. The use of focus shows how the female is changing from one who is innocent to one which is an extrovert, loud and at times rude.
At the very beginning of the video there is an initial "hey hey hey" repeated and continues throughout the video. this allows the audience to establish the theme and provides them with the knowledge that the portrayal of females within this video is rough and upfront. It continues to maintain this viewpoint throughout.
The costume throughout provides an insight into the male dress code on the "street", yet the females have adopted this dress code and shown how they can rule the "streets" and "do it like a dude". This portrayal of women is different to that which is seen within society and media. Women are suppose to be elegant gentle and well dressed showing off their body in a way which cannot be seen as inappropriate. Where as this video provides everything but the stereotypical view. The women here are viewed as brash in their movements and actions as well as provacative in their dressing and the way they dance. In addition to the clothes the use of a piece of meat in which a female attempts to eat shows the vulgar side in which men a portrayed therefore the women are portrayed in this way. Men can be seen as hunter/gatherers and here it is clear that the female is the bread winner, and sticks up for herself. The use of a cigarette and a lighter to ignite both the cigarette and the music suggests that she first of all has a dirty habit which may have led to the way in which she acts. in addition the use of the lighter to start the music suggests that this life they lead is one which has only just started just like how the portrayal of women has changed and only just started.
Throughout the song the lyrics "grab my crotch, wear my hat low like you" is repeated, this is certainly reflected within the visuals of the video as she dances them out. This relates to Goodwin's theory on the link between lyrics and visuals.
In conclusion the views of women within this video are shown as animal like and is something we want to reflect within our video to a certain extent as i believe that this may be a bit to far.


Yussra.