Music Video Styles

Representations - Gender

Britney Spears - Toxic

• A typical representation of air stewardess is that they're sexy and flirty. In this music video Britney conforms to this convention as her costume is a very short dress with a low cleavage cut. This reinforces the idea that all women are good for is their looks, rather than their brains. Although this portrays women as having a job, this job requires them to simply serve drinks and help the 'rich, important men'. 
• In another section of the video Britney is dressed in a full body, glitter, beige cat suit. This is revealing her 'perfect celebrity body' which is presented by the media, this influences girls opinions about their bodies as most music videos have this element to them. 
• There are lots of close up shots of Britney's face and revealing body areas, this shows number 6 of  Goodwin's Seven Theory, which is frequent reference to the notion of looking. This again reinforces that women are mainly for looking at and not their intelligence or personality. 
• A representation of women is that they're caring to children, Britney shows this when she places a blanket over a little boy and kisses him on the head in a loving manner. 
• Another representation of women in music videos is their characteristic of manipulation. In this video Britney manipulates a man into following her to the bathroom to steal his phone.This reinforces the stereotype of manipulating women only thinking about themselves.  

Major and Minor Record Labels

The Goodwin Seven Theory

1. Music videos demonstrate certain genre characteristics
2. There's a relationship between lyrics and visuals
3. There's is a relationship between musics and visuals 
4. The demands of the record label require many close up shots of the artist    
5. The artist may develop motifs or iconography that are seen in multiple aspects of their work
6. There is frequent references to the notion of looking and voyeurism of the female body
7. There are often intertextual references, mostly film, television and popular culture.

Iconic Music Video of the Past

Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror

- Michael diverged from his normal pop, dancing music videos and clearly saw this as an important opportunity to influence and educate millions of his fans as to the current state of the world.
- This song reflects Michaels contributions to social change and his impressive break through as a black artist who lived through the huge transformation of the civil rights movement. It is very sentimental, idealistic and has gone on to provide the push needed to change individuals behaviour for the good of society.
- Although 'man in the mirror' has a very clear symbolic concept it also shows some iconography, he's wearing his universal red jacket, which link this video to his other music videos. Wearing the red jacket also personalises the message he's portraying to make it more intimate with his fans, which therefore increases the likelihood of them listening to the deeper meaning rather than simply enjoying the song.
- There's a range of camera shots in this video although there's very little use of editing, however I think this makes the footage and message more sentimental, as it's not been dramatised it's simply realistic which is what makes it so devastating.