Theories - Representation

Rihanna - Where Have You Been

Rihanna uses her sexuality to attract heterosexual men in her music video "Where Have You Been". The provocative imagery including the costumes, nudity, and dancing represents the sexual aspect of women. This video is unique because Rihanna chose to present herself in this form. Men did not force Rihanna to represent herself in this form.

The Male Gaze Theory – Laura Mulvey

The male gaze is a concept coined by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey. It refers to the way visual arts are structured around a masculine viewer. It describes the tendency in visual culture to depict the world and women from a masculine point of view and in terms of men's attitudes.

The Male Gaze Theory – Rhianna Where Have You Been

The male gaze only occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. In this music video Rhianna is looking to allure men in different locations “I’ve been looking everywhere”, so as the song is to attract men Rhianna dances provocatively and wears revealing outfits to fit the song, this therefore is conforming to the Male Gaze Theory as Rhianna is presenting herself as an object for heterosexual males to admire. The theory suggests that the Male Gaze denies women human identity; relegating them to the status of objects to be admired for physical appearance this ‘masculinises’ the audience. The theory suggests women can more often than not, only watch a film from a secondary perspective and only view themselves from a man’s perspective. Often a female character, in this case Rhianna has no real importance to herself; it is how she makes the male feel or act that is the importance.

In this music video Rhianna is choosing to dance the way she does and choses to wear revealing outfits she is therefore conforming. Rhianna wants to be sexualised by men so she acts seductively. What rejects Laura Mulvey’s theory is the fact that Rhianna not only has male back in dancers but also has female ones, traditionally men would use women as objects in an male singers music video, but instead Rhianna is using the men to show that she is a power figure - objectifying the men Rhianna has chosen to present herself as an object through the use of her sexuality to promote and sell the product. Her costumes throughout the video support the convention that she is a sexual object, and so does the dancing. She dances very closely to her female back up dancers, and they are continuously touching throughout the video. Although, this is used to appeal to her male audience, it could be used as a point of feminism, the women in the video are fighting but instead coming together with not one male insight.

Rhianna is presenting herself, as a strong woman who is trying to allure a male. Her strength throughout the video could be seen as challenging the convention that females are week, and need a dominant male in their lives to keep them stable as a main male is not featured in the video. This is a way that Rhianna attracts her young female audience whilst at the same time attracting males into watching her music video for this very reason. There are intertextual references present in the music video, towards the end Rhianna is multiplied and made to channel the Hindu god Shiva. This reference connotes that Rhianna is a strong, powerful female with God like qualities, and again appeals to her young female audience that she is a good role model.

There are various settings in the video, at one point Rhianna dances in a desert with middle eastern men closing in on her, which quickly switches to a mud hut in which Rhianna contradicts the Male Gaze Theory and dances with a group of women, however they are all wearing barely nothing, but this could be seen as typical for a Pop/R&B music video. Furthermore, it shows how Rhianna can appeal to both sexes, as her female fans may appreciate the male back in dancers and the male fans the female dancers. Rhianna appears to be in control in the video as she is the main focus, which is stereotypical in mainstream artist’s music videos. The ideologies expressed from this music video are explicit, that as mentioned Rhianna is a strong powerful women that can still lure men at the same time. This will appear to her young audience, and although Rhianna is also presented as a sexual object, she combats this by telling her female fans in this video that they do not need a male to be happy, as in the end of the video Rhianna does not find a man.

The pace of the cutting speed in the video speeds up when the beat of the song does, the camera cuts between close ups of Rhianna and her back-up dancers performing choreography. In this sense, the music video correlates well with the speed of the song, which makes the video professional looking. For the rest of the song panning and tracking is used to show the surroundings in which Rhianna is in and also to show who she is with. Various lighting techniques are used in the video, for example the lighting is dark when Rhianna emerges from the swamp which connotes a mysterious feel, and then suddenly she is in a light desert which contrasts with the last scene, and shows the audience that Rhianna has moved location. Technology has been used in this music video extensively, especially when Rhianna is multiplied to channel a Hindu God. This shows how much technology has impacted music videos and especially how it is used to correlate with Pop/R&B music such as this song.

In conclusion it is arguable that this music video agrees and contradicts The Male Gaze theory, in some aspects it agrees as Rhianna wants to be desired by men as she wears revealing outfits and dances provocatively. But it also contradicts as she is appealing to not just a male audience but also a female audience, it does not take into account that gay men or women may be watching not only heterosexual men limiting the argument. Also this theory is dated as women use their sexuality to gain power.

Richard Dyer - Representation

Star Theory
Richard Dyers star theory is the idea that icons and celebrities are manufactured by institutions for financial gain. He believes that stars are constructed to represent 'real people' experiencing real emotions. Stars are manufactured by the music industry to serve a purpose; to make money out of audience, who respond to various elements of a star’s personality by buying records and becoming fans.

His theory is split into sections:

1.       Audiences and Institutions

2.       Constitutions (Stars as constructions)

3.       Ideology and culture

4.       Character and personality

1)Audience and Institutions

Stars are made for money purposes alone. Increasing the brand identity benefits the institution as they become a household name increasing sales in all of the media platforms they are in. The institution then models the artist around the target audience they choose. For example Lady GaGa, according to Dyer, was modelled around fashion forward people so the audience can relate to her as a person and also her music.

2)Constitutions

This is more or less the same as the audience and institution part of his theory. Stars are constructed, artificial images, even if they are represented as being "real people", experiencing real emotions etc. It helps if their image contains a USP so that they can be copied and/or parodied because of it. Their representation may be metonymic (image associated) —Madonna's conical bra in the early 1990s or Michael Jacksons glove.

Popstars have the advantage over film stars in that their constructed image may be much more consistent over a period of time, and is not dependent on the creative input of others (e.g. screenwriters writing their lines).

3)Ideology and culture

Stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes to promote a certain ideology and this is also what makes them a ‘star’ by having such a powerful influence on an audience. By making an audience want to mimic stars qualities and conform to their ideologies and promote their attitude.  Having a dominant desirable ideological it allows the audience to see their star qualities and make them more desirable. Conveying their beliefs and opinions outside of music and film helps to create a star persona, Stars promote their culture to make them more consumable. 

4)Character and Personality
Dyer says stars provide audiences with ideas of what people are supposed to be like and because of this audiences feel the need to conform to these constructions. A star creates a character based on themselves and what they feel the audiences want to consume, they promote an image of what they feel desirable.

Maintaining Stardom
Richard Dyer insists that true pop-stars have lasting significances if they make sufficient sociological or cultural impacts if not they will be forgotten by all but their most avid fans within a few years. 

Applying Richard Dyer to Rihanna's music video 'Where have you been'. 

Rihanna has a charity what has made impact, The Believe Foundation (founded by Rihanna in 2006) outlined goals of aiding 10,000 people in need of bone marrow transplants, the foundation also wants to recruit and register donors; with the help of Rihanna the foundation gets raised awareness. The foundation would leave a lasting effect on people after her fame making her a 'true pop star'.    

As Richard Dyer states in audiences and institutions, stars are made fundamentally to make money. The music institution then models the stars image around the target audience. Rihanna is modelled on what trends are being set; her persona's, character and personality are based on what are the 'right now' trends.    

Dyer's theory suggests that stars are made to make money and for that purpose alone. Although the star starts as a 'real' human in the institution they are transformed so they can provide an image of their time and culture. Audience can see how Rihanna went from being curvy to skinny as the trends have changed as time has. The audience tend to read them as not entirely fictional, as being are very much of their time and culture, the product of a particular generation. The star provides the audience with an idea of what they are meant to be like.     

Dyer suggests that there are two paradoxes and that the star is both 'ordinary' and 'extraordinary'. He states the star needs to be like us to be able to relate to the audience but also offer something that we do not have in order to deem them special enough to be stars.    

If stars presented themselves in a 'normal' way they would not be desirable or unique and different. As an audience we understand the image they present to us is probably not how they act all the time. However if they did not have an over exaggerated or a desirable character they would not be seen as different so therefore they would not have star quality. 

Construction of a Star

The star is built solely for an audience, not the person. Rihanna was constructed by Def. Jam Roc Nation with hair styles, fashion trends and other USP’s to differ from others.

Rihanna not only is a product for selling music by her record label, she is also a fashion icon and has appeared in many magazines, and has her own clothing line in high street shops. By not only been a music star she is also making a name for herself in the fashion industry.

Hegemony in the star theory is that we (as the audience) can relate to the star as we admire or share what their experiences. This develops into idolisations, as previously mentioned. Rihanna has a massive following in magazines; social networking sites etc., the audiences can see her actions everywhere. Some attempt to replicate what they like about the star, but this can be negative to the stars as they are seen as role models. Rihanna can be seen as a role model to 13+ females, but as a ‘bad girl’ she is a bad influence because she is spotted smoking drugs, abusing alcohol and taking nude photos as well as staying in a relationship with alleged abusive boyfriend Chris Brown. As a role model the people idolising her can start copying these actions as she is has a big impact on influencing individuals and groups.

Tessa Perkins - Stereotype Theory

A stereotype is an idea that is adapted about specific types of individuals/groups of people. The thoughts may not always actually reflect reality.

Stereotypes are assumptions we make based on groups of people.

1. How do we come to such conclusions? Because of the way the media portrays certain individuals. 
2. What do we base our assumptions on? People we see in the media, the way they dress is labelled as a style or the way they act so we relate this to people around us.
3. Are we always correct when we categories people in such ways? Not entirely, this is because we haven't met the person properly, we make judgement s based on what we see of them.

Tessa Perkins

Stereotyping is not a simple process and contains a number of assumptions that can be challenged.

Perkins identifies five such assumptions:

1.  Stereotypes are not always negative, e.g. The French are good cooks.
2.  They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful, e.g. 'Upper class twits'.
3.  They can be held about one's own group.
4.  They are not rigid or unchanging.
5.  They are not always false. 

They are not always negative

People assume that stereotypes are negative, for example: young troublesome youths 'hooded culture', however youth can also be seen as a good thing. An example of this is the riot that happened in London 2011. A lot of people were involved in this and methods included; rioting, looting, arson, mugging, assault and even murder. Everyone put the blame on the youths but in fact it was the shooting of 29 year old Mark Duggan when he fired at a police officer, who then shot him that started it all off. Therefore, it wasn't actually the youth's fault but they took the blame.

They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful

People assume that stereotypes are aimed at and targeted towards and less powerful but this is not always the case, we can make assumptions and stereotypes about upper class minorities in the same way they would make assumptions about lower class people.

They can be held about one's own group

In our own group we stereotype people, demonstrating even though we all belong to the same institution and hold the same ideologies as a whole, within the groups we stereotype based on our assumptions. This make each of us feel part of the larger community. 

They are not rigid or unchanging

Once a stereotype has been created it is very hard to change it. However, Perkins states that over a period of time it can change and develop, For example; Miley Cyrus.

They are not always false

We witness and read many stories in the media that help us shape and understand these stereotypes. We may witness it first hand or second, however there must be some truth in a stereotype otherwise the ideology behind them would not have existed in the first place. 

Rihanna is a stereotype of her music genre R&B, before Rihanna got signed she was seen as a 'pop princess', but after the record deal with deaf jam she changed her image for the music video Umbrella, by cutting her hair and dressing differently. Now she is an R&B star and is seen differently by audiences. Now she is seen as quite rebel shown in the music video for Pour it up.

Other artists within the R&B genre are not always seen as positive they can sometimes be seen as negative for example, doing drugs and drinking etc. Before when she was seen as a pop artist and still is by a minority, she would have portrayed herself as innocent, pretty, and well looked after etc. sometimes not all of the time she still does.

Rihanna has a huge following of fans and people who aspire her as a role model. Many young children look up to her as well as teens. She can be seen as a positive role model as she has her own charity and donates to a lot of sick children. However, she may be seen as a bad influence on younger people as she stayed in an abusive relationship and is known to do drugs.

These stereotypes may be true if audiences compare her to other artists within her genre, she isn't always seen as positive within the media, and she has been seen in a negative light before. When the news broke out about her abusive relationship with singer Chris Brown, she got mass criticism from the media and also her fans and her stereotype changed to be negative. An audience believe a stereotype when they know little of that person but if they had known more about them, what they see and read in the media would make them have different views and opinion on Rihanna. However, it is easier for us to believe what we see and read, so we don't have to form our own stereotype.

However, to break away from the 'good girl' label the negative image (stereotype) she gets from the media, she may live/play up to that label in her music videos, to make her stand out among other artists within the same genre and to remain popular with the public and her fans.

A2 Media Transition Project - Young Paper Kites