Practice Essay Question 1

"Contemporary music videos are merely elaborated adverts with little artistic, social or moral integrity."

The definition of a stereotypical music video is changing throughout the years, with the ever-developing society and generation the entertainment system is constantly altering in order to appeal to the consumer. Highlighting on the 'cliché image' Michael Shore says is seem throughout the music industry, they face the problem of losing the authenticity and meaning in music videos, thus ends with 'little artistic, social or moral integrity' in comparison to music videos released 10-20 years ago.

The promotion of the ideal 'party life' is evident in most pop music videos, when talking about music videos such as Ke$ha's 'Tik Tok' we are bombarded with scenes of alcoholism and rebelling against her parents. As we are shown the perspective of Ke$ha the younger generation might be influenced to follow this kind of behaviour and also linking in with the life style that some teenagers and adults live - this goes by Richard Dyer's ideologies of the artists representing the norms and values that the audience has. However, when taking the statement into consideration, we lose all artistic integrity as it has a negative impact of the younger generations lives; they might follow Ke$ha's actions which has no moral value. On the other hand. when faced with songs such as Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off' we are shown different social groups in each shot but in the same scene, this in indicating that not all pop music videos show images of alcoholism or a general party life, but this suggests that all social groups, with the use of mise-en-scene, are equal and should not be looked down upon. even though most popular music artists are contrasted in order to fit the audiences liking - Arguably, we should not generalise and criticise contemporary music videos if they are merely going by what the majority are entertained by. This, again, relates the Richard Dyer as he mentions artists incorporating things that the audience likes, overall going against the statement shown.

Going on form the previous point, the commercialized music industry in recent years has presented us with the image of overly sexualized, and some argue, self objectified women. In R Kelly's 'Cookie', we are shown several women dressed up in revealing maid costumes and are serving the artists, the audience are constantly shown an image of a women in a state of submission, highlighting on the fact that the entertainment system wants the us to see male power and influence in music videos. Furthermore, by objectifying women they are gaining interest from the consumer - the male audience. This links in with 2 of 6 points Andrew Goodwin mentions that are evident in the majority of music videos - reflecting iconography related to the genre and heavy voyeurism of the female body. In the RnB genre it is a key factor to have the female body on display in order to enhance the power the men hold, however, even in female RnB music videos we are presented with women wearing minimal clothes, some my argue this is to please the male audience, which goes with theorist Richard Dyer's belief that artists are pushed to do what the consumer appeals to. Other than Richard Dyer, Sven Carlsson's ideologies of commercial exhibitionist highlights the understanding of having the artist sell themselves in order to create an image that the audience will aspire to be links in heavily with the Rn B genre as artists very much are selling themselves, in a sexual or dominant way, to please the audience. This further highlights the push to emphasis male dominance in the music industry and, overall, loses all genuine meanings in music videos.

Contradicting the statement, music videos like Sia's Chandelier is overflowing with meaning and depth and has been a huge hit in the past few months. We are presented with Sven Carlsson's electronic shaman, which is a music that does not show the artist, however their voice is intertwined with the narrative. Having this already strays from the typical contemporary music video as Sia is not present in the music video - but it highlights social problems such as drinking, partying and the affects it has on a person. Such a conceptual based music video can have a large impact on the audience since the drinking culture is so widely spread, thus more people can relate and feel empathetic when watching the music video.

Overall, the statement that 'contemporary music videos being merely elaborated adverts with little artistic, social or moral integrity' can be wholehearted supported with evidence, however, we cannot generalise due to majority of popular music videos going by this statement.