Underline the key terms
How do the representations in the music video to Formation you have studied and the video to Alright by Kendrick Lamar show the values, attitudes and beliefs of the producer? You should make reference to
How these beliefs are encoded through media language
consider the similarities and differences in the representations
make judgements and draw conclusions about how far the representations relate to relevant media contexts. [30]
Knee jerk reaction
Bot of these music videos demonstrate the ideology of the producer to a massive extent
Plan
Ideology
Postcolonial theory
Paul Gilroy
Stereotypes
MES
Identity - David gauntlet (pick and mix)
Establishing montage
Binary oppositions
Narration
Atypical
Stuart Hall - representation
Representations construct reality
Construction
Stereotypes reflect an imbalance of power
Othering
Diegesis
Diegetic non diegetic
Semiotics
Hermeneutic
Symbolic
Referential
Proairetic
Hyperreality - where the representation is more real than the thing it is representing
Polysemy
Binary oppositions
Feminist - van Zoonen (men and women represented differently)
bell hooks - intersectional feminism (the representation of women is far more complex than we normally think)
High contrast black and white
Intertextuality
Film like
Introduction
DAC - definition, argument, context
Representation refers to how issues, events, ideologies and groups of people are re-presented by the producer. It is important to note that representations always reflect the ideology of the producer, and that representations always exist to somehow manipulate the target audience. Additionally, representations always utilise stereotypes, and therefore will always depict and reinforce an imbalance of power. In this essay, I shall argue that both of these music videos essentially exist for the sole purpose of reflecting the ideology of the producer, and that both of these music videos present a radically ideological perspective that seeks to address working class black emancipation in america. In order to explore this idea I shall refer to the video to Formation by the huge multi-million record selling pop star Beyonce, who has continuously reinvented herself throughout her career to explore issues of social justice, and the video to Alright by Kendrick Lamar, that takes an altogether more dark consideration of social justice issues.
Paragraphs
PEA - Point, evidence, argument
Alright begins with an establishing montage of high contrast black and white images of rippling water and vast, empty seascapes. This bleak mode of address is further anchored through the slow based and miserable editing, that is further reinforced through the use of slow motion. This combination of elements constructs the representation of a deprived working class location, that establishes the key themes of this music video .
A shocking hard cut to an almost abstract shot of the interior of a tunnel is emphasised through the diegetic sound of the performer screaming. We then cross cut to an alarming worm's eye view tracking shot of tall and imposing skyscrapers. The combination of these two images constructs a binary opposition, and functions as a hermeneutic code, and presents a deeply mysterious, confusing and upsetting mode of address for the target audience. This reinforces and emphasises the ideological perspective of the producer that presents a pessimistic and deeply anti racist consideration of the representation of working class black communities in America.
The video to alright constructs an almost unbearable sense of tension, with slow paced editing contrasting with sudden rapid fire montages that positions the target audience in a confusing mode of address. The final montage of a group of aggressive young black men drinking and fighting in a tunnel constructs an alarmingly stereotypical construction of black masculinity. The MES of ECUs of faces covered in blood combined with the destructive mES of firebombs, broken glass and the sudden shift in the genre of music to hip hop constructs a powerful consideration of the stereotypical representation of working class black men and the issues that they face.
However it can be argued that even well meaning stereotypes can reinforce hegemonic perceptions that exist around certain groups of people, largely for the purposes of power and profit