Class Notes

09.30.02

by Charlotte Duggan

Schedule for today:
1) Attendance sheet was passed around
2) Quizzes from Friday were returned
3) Resource report 2 due Monday, Oct. 7
4) Resource report 1 revision due Monday, Oct. 14
5) Movie shown in class: “Dreamworlds II: Desire, Sex, and Power in Music Video.” We were given a handout explaining how the graphic content of the movie may trigger strong emotions and we were encouraged to leave the class if viewing the movie was too much. This handout also included several contacts for dealing with the emotions or memories of past pain that viewing the movie may invoke.
*Dr. McBride was not in class today and therefore her office hours were cancelled.

Notes from the movie: “Dreamworlds II: Desire, Sex, and Power in Music Video.”
- Primary focus was on images of women in our music videos and how their sexuality is portrayed. How does this portrayal of women’s sexuality affect our societies own ideas about sexuality?
- Videos were created as advertisements to sell CD’s, but now what else are they trying to sell?
- It is difficult to tell the difference between music and commercials nowadays. Both use sex to sell their products.
- The difference between music videos and commercials is that while commercials are mostly filled with clutter, music videos use powerful, shocking sexual imagery to break through that clutter and grab the full attention of the viewer.

Who tells the story? (the story of sexuality in the video):
- Almost all music videos are directed by men.
- Music videos depict the sexual dreamland of men. Some common themes of video include schoolgirls, older men and younger women, strippers, and largely nude and available women in great numbers.
- Men control a female's sexuality and make it into what they want.
- Who is ignored? Women and their actual feelings on sexuality have no voice in music videos.
- The same story of female sexuality as told by men is seen on TV, commercials, magazines, movies, and virtually all types of media.
- Why is this story dangerous for women and girls and how does it affect sexual relations between males and females?

What do women do in music videos?
- They act as musicians, back-up singers, dancers, or just serve as a presence near the artist.
- Their main purpose is always to be looked at.
- Only women willing to submit to the confines of the story (and those who fit the mold physically) should apply.

How do women behave in music videos?
- All women are portrayed as being interested in sex with any available man- they are nymphomaniacs.
- They attack men; their female desire devours men.
- Women compete with each other for men; they fight each other in the typical male fantasy of the “catfight”.
- Women greatly outnumber men and serve men willingly. Therefore, men can freely choose among them just as they can easily dismiss them.
- It is a world where women are so driven by their primal sexual instincts that even the handyman gets her sexual attention.
- Women are so desperate and dependent on men that in men’s absence substitutes must be found (poles, and other phallic imagery). Without men they slip into a deep despair (they are shown moping) and only the attention from a man (no matter how brief or meaningless) can rescue them.
- Women are in a constant state of arousal, they are in a perpetual search of a way to satisfy this need.

What are women’s activities in music videos?
- Women are constantly undressing and dressing; they are always ready for sex.
- They are looking for sexual opportunity everywhere (phone booths, photo booths, etc…)
- They flash strangers.
- They leave the blinds open to encourage peeping toms (voyeurism is a popular theme).
- They attend wild parties and dance for men and with men (women dancing on tables is a redundant image).
- There are lots of women available and those who display uncooperative behavior with the story are dealt with swiftly and harshly. They women who stay know that they must submit their bodies to the desires of men.
- Women are so desperate for male attention that they will share the man with other women.
- Women are often shown showering and bathing. This satisfies the male fantasy of the wet t-shirt contest.
- Women where lingerie, bikinis, or nothing at all. No attire is too bizarre in this dreamworld.

What are additional roles of women in music videos?
- Women are often strippers or exotic dancers. They can be a prostitute or a dominatrix.
- Women can be schoolteachers (young boys’ fantasies), schoolgirls (old men’s fantasies), female prisoners, playmate nurses, cheerleaders, bored/oversexed housewives, and lesbians.
- The role of the lesbian is to be watched (voyeurism). This also stems from pornography.

Female artists:
- The story has greatly influenced individual female artists and all female groups.
- The challenge is to try to tell a different story without losing the audience.
- Many women performers are pressured into the conventional roles of the story. (ex: Janet Jackson and her transformation)
- Video images conflict with women’s lyrics.
- Madonna also told the conventional story, but acted as if she was doing good in the name of female sexuality.

Ways of looking: Gaze and Objectification
- Women in music videos are posed explicitly for the gaze of a male audience.
- They are positioned in front of the camera in a way that invites the viewer to watch them.
- The women enjoy being on display and perform openly and willingly.
- Women revel in this kind of attention.
- The images are never innocent or accidental.
- The women are set up as a passive thing to be consumed by watching males. This is seen in the typical panoramic shots that survey women’s bodies. The message is that women like to be leered at.
- Women are broken down into body parts. Maybe their legs are shown or maybe their breasts. They point is that women are not human; they are a series of disconnected body parts that can be easily used by men.
- Women are objects and nothing more. They are often shown as shadows and silhouettes to illustrate that the female form is not a person, just a shape of men’s desire.
- Women are not unique or important. They are interchangeable. “One thing is as good as another.”“Dreamworlds II” will be continued on Wednesday. However, we were cautioned that the second half of the video is about violence done to women and that we should choose for ourselves whether or not to view it.