ANALYSE THE REPRESENTATION OF GENDER IN THE VIDEOS ‘THE MAN’ AND ‘RIPTIDE’

ANALYSE THE REPRESENTATION OF GENDER IN THE VIDEOS ‘THE MAN’ AND ‘RIPTIDE’

Gender, (as a whole) within “The Man” and “Riptide” are very different in terms of their representation, but they do have some similarities with their representation of women. In both music videos, women are both shown as victims of either severe or mild crimes. While men are allowed to get away with (for “The Man”) smoking on the train (as well as in someone’s face), public indecency.

In the videos “Riptide” and “The Man”, women are both shown in sexual manners which shows that women are often represented as victims of sexualization. This can be seen in “Riptide” where the female was seen taking off her swimsuit using a center-shot from behind which could also represent dehumanization as the women’s face is not shown but her bare back is, this could show that this woman does not have an identity but is only seen for her body; the center-shot would make her the main focus of the scene which reinforces the idea of her body being the main focus of people's sights. The fact that this was shot from behind could also show that the women were unaware of someone videoing her which also could show the dehumanization as she doesn’t have a choice and is recorded without consent. As well as this, in “The Man” a woman is seen laying on the table wearing skimpy, skin-revealing clothes making her be sexualized; she is also dehumanized as she is literally used as an object (table), another woman is also wearing the same outfit and is serving the men. Both videos include a woman where they are shown in vulnerable positions, in "Riptide" the woman shown undressing from behind, and in "The Man" the woman laying on the table surrounded by many men (most likely higher-up due to the money being thrown around and their clothes e.g. suits). This links with Liesbet van Zoonen's Feminist theory that men and women are represented differently in media and that women are objectified which is shown in "The Men" where the female is shown emotionless on the table surrounded by men throwing their money and someone takes a shot from her belly and in "Riptide" a woman recorded undressing without consent.

Secondly, in "The Man" there is a constant reminder saying that men are powerful and dominant and are unaffected by the law. Also, that men can do what they want while women can't, men don't have any restrictions and that don't need to care about others due to their power. In "The Man" the main character is shown doing many things that would most likely be frowned upon if done by the opposite gender. In the starting scene, the main character is seen fawned over by all the workers as he disrespects his employee by destroying his work and is cheered for and women are seen fighting over the scrunched piece of paper he throws. After, he proceeds to pose as a cross and is given a standing ovation/cheered, (e.g.Jesus dying on the cross), this could compare to high-status men being worshipped by lower-status people as gods are worshipped by their followers. From this, men could be compared to being on the same level as a holy being. Soon after, he is seen on public transport doing many illegal things and annoying such as smoking on a public train, tipping ashes into a lady's bag and having no regard for anyone's personal space as they have a higher status. Further on, he urinates on the wall which is public indecency which is quite a severe crime. This supports the fact that high-status men are unaffected by the law. This could also relate to animalistic imagery as animals pee on areas to marks their territory as the main character is doing. This could show men's power and dominance as they don't even act humanly anymore but more like a savage and powerful animal. A scene further shows a lady laying on a table surrounded by high-class rich men throwing their money around. This shows two things, it shows how men can do what they want to women if they have the money and the power and dominance they have with it and that women are forced to use these men's help using their bodies even if they don't like it shown by her emotionless face. The men's power compared to the woman's is shown by how all the men surround the woman, so literally power in numbers. The positioning of the men, how the woman is lower down on the screen while the men tower over her. The background red color also is a tone that often refers to dominance. 

Thirdly, in "The Man" there is a scene showing gender inequality as a convention representing women as being under-appreciated which also includes a stereotype of male fathers and how they do not interact with their children. In this scene, the main character is shown at the park with his child interacting and playing with her. As a result, all the women at the park with their children give a look of shock and start to cheer. From this, you can infer that women are definitely under-appreciated as they don't receive any rewards/congratulations the main character gets for taking care of their children and that is now a social norm that women are the ones to keep their children entertained as well as just, in general, taking care of them.  This could link George Gerbner's cultivation theory as women have been taking care of children since the 1900s due to the wars meaning the men went away. From seeing this and living this every day it became a social norm that women would take care of the kids without the father's help. The stereotype that men don't really take part in raising their children is also there. This could link to Stuart Hall's representation theory to make men look more cold-hearted and-powerful as they don't interact with their own children.

Finally,  in "Riptide" it represents women as powerful and confident as well as being weak and helpless. This is shown by two scenes where a woman is shown posing confidently from a low angle making her bigger to the eyes of the viewer and where the woman is standing on the balcony with a pair of binoculars staring back at the camera. This gives the women a strong sense of power as she is looking down at you seemingly either catching you spying as you are outside looking up or spying on the viewer, either way, she seems to have a more powerful sense as she towers over and looks down at the viewer directly. On the other hand, the binary opposite of them seeming powerful is them being completely helpless and weak. Throughout the video, a woman is seen constantly dragged away by unknown forces, is seen slowly deteriorating which is the only thing which sort of has a narrative. The singer starts off zoomed in on the screen with bright lighting and perfect make-up to show confidence and perfection. Slowly her make-up/face becomes more distorted, the brightness gets dimmer and the camera gets lower and further away to represent the difference in power and how much confidence was lost. The deterioration of the singer gets so bad that she starts bleeding from the neck and her helplessness is represented by the fact that she is still singing even with these injuries.  The colliding binary opposites of confidence and helplessness could represent that women don't have a defined spot within powerful roles and or shows that they are both oppressed and uplifted at the same time, that their stance within a usually male dominant society is fluctuating meaning that they are sometimes in positions of power and some times hopeless and weak.