Representation Essay

'Representations in media texts are often simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so that audiences can make sense of them.' Evaluate the ways that you have used/challenged simplistic representations in one of the media products you have produced.

      I am evaluating the representations within my music video and I feel that must videos often use ideologies according to their genre in order to relate and appeal to a certain audience. Often stereotypes are reinforced and the aesthetic will be very recognisable. My music video was in a rock genre and during the research stage of the project I looked at a lot of conventions.
     The character in my music video was female meaning that there was always a risk of adhering to the male gaze theory though because of the genre the character wasn't the 'typical' female character. I think it would be more likely for other females to look up to and relate to the character rather than her being used in a voyeuristic way. This challenges the stereotypical view of females within music videos but it fits with the way females in rock are usually seen more than they are in pop, as an artist rather than as an object. The costume and the personality we tried to portray helps to make this character fit the more 'alternative' genre.
      My representation of the rock genre (in terms of aesthetic, mood and personality) was quite conventional. All three of my characters we were wearing dark colours and the female especially was also wearing eyeliner and had a very grunge look. The mood, which was chosen because of the song, was negative which could fit the stereotype of 'emo'. Also the fact that I used both a narrative and performance within my music video means that the format was quite conventional for rock genre music videos. The idea that the front woman is the focus of the music video and the males of the band are just in the background is a feature of many female fronted rock bands such as Evanescence, Paramore and Flyleaf, whether this is intentional or not. This was used in my music video as the narrative followed one individual character and it made sense to use the singer.
     I think a lot of the representation used in my music video was conventional and I used the dominant ideologies that audiences relate with. This was probably mainly because when researching and planning I spent a lot of time looking at the conventions used in rock music videos in order to make my own realistic and as professional looking as I could.