Women stereotypes
-pink
-attitude
-self interested
-caring
-weak
-need to confirm to society
-bad at driving
•Young
•Slim
•Overwhelmingly
white
Why is Lady Gaga an influential figure in music
-iconic star- evolved as a musician
-unique artist
-support for gays
-activist
Media Language: how
the media through their forms, codes, conventions and techniques communicate meanings.
Media Representation: How the
media portray events, issues, individuals and social groups.
Intertextuality: the link between different texts
Stereotypes:
Assumptions
that are held about a social group.
They
are often used in a negative or prejudicial sense and are frequently used to
justify certain discriminatory behaviours.
Stereotyping
is an important concept in terms of representation.
Music Video
-black and white: getting ready for show
-in desert lost
-pink suit: juxtaposition, breaking from tradition
-looking emotional
-heavy makeup
-friends help breakup
-religion lyrics: 'lord show me the way'
Analysis of music video
0:15- laying on her back in the desert, weakness, vulnerability
1:08- Looking sad, looking down, slumped body language, black and white for depressive mood, emotional which links to stereotype
1:14- heavy makeup which links to the stereotype that women need to wear makeup to make them look good
1:17- hiding her face behind the guitar, trying to hide who she is
2:07- friends running to rescue her in desert, weakness, friends will always be there and you don't need a man
2:32- head in hands, shows emotion and sadness
2:55- back to makeup chair, looks distressed and emotional
3:32- wearing a cross, and a priest touching her shoulder to represent God showing her the right path
3:52- hat and sunglasses on to hide identity and emotion in desert
3:58- pink suit shows she is going against normality
First shot- extreme wide shot of her rolling around in the desert- shows she is rolling away from her problems and worries and trying to hide
Colour is complex and has many layers
Non chronological order- running thoughts going through her head make no sense
Desert is peaceful and leads into a dramatic horror sound
Car- sad, stage confident
Approach is that she states clearly how she feels, being honest and truthful
When introduced to this colouful, pink,bold leader she looks confident and strong- direct mode of address
Ends on a close up of her looking at the tattoo of hope
"You're giving me a million reasons to let you go; You're giving me a million reasons to quit the show" -The song opens with a quiet guitar riff and low piano buzzing in the background, setting the more somber tone straight away. Even in the first line, it’s clear Gaga isn’t happy with the state of their relationship.
"You're givin' me a million reasons; Give me a million reasons; Givin' me a million reasons; About a million reasons" - The repetition of this line emphasizes the insecurity Gaga feels about this relationship. She’s constantly questioning the state of their romance and whether it’s worth pursuing. Time after time, he forces her to reconsider their future together.
"If I had a highway, I would run for the hills; If you could find a dry way, I'd forever be still" Lady Gaga plays with words here, using “highway” and “dry way” to create a parallel to the phrase “high and dry.” Leaving someone “high and dry” means you’ve put them in a difficult position by failing to support them. In this way, the composition of these two lines echoes the overall message of this song—this man has given Gaga a million reasons to cut him out of her life, but she keeps hoping he’ll get his shit together and she won’t have to. “
"I bow down to pray; I try to make the worst seem better; Lord, show me the way" - Gaga’s always been open about her faith. Throughout her career, she’s made several references to God and the importance of religion in her life.
"To cut through all his worn out leather" - Leather is usually thick and tough when compared to other materials, and the fact that it is “worn out” implies that it is strained from continuous use and the buildup of debris.
"I've got a hundred million reasons to walk away; But baby, I just need one good one to stay" and "But baby, I just need one good one; Good one, good one, good one, good one, good one" - - Contrasting with the repetitive “million reasons” lyrics in the verses, Gaga turns the phrase on its head: though there’s an endless number of rationales for why she should leave the relationship, all she needs is one good reason to cancel out all the bad ones. reason is. Perhaps Gaga’s ambiguity is intentional: she leaves it vague so that it can be applicable to anything.
"Head stuck in a cycle, I look off and I stare; It's like that I've stopped breathing, but completely aware" - Many of us know that “head stuck in a cycle” feeling, but she explains that she just “looks off and stare”, holding on to the hopes of a better day, even though there is nothing more to do. She manifests the desperate pain of being stuck in a cycle she cannot break, the feeling of wanting to end a battle she has no control over, plus facing the fact that she is “drowning” and suffering battling another person's battle. In the second line she exhibits how it really feels to be aware of all the damage that he has caused, but still being stuck in the cycle, which includes her endless attempts to help him, even though instead of helping him have destroyed her.
"Hey, ehh, ehh, eyy; Baby I'm bleedin', bleedin'; Stay, ehh, ehhy; Can't you give me what I'm needin', needin'; Every heartbreak makes it hard to keep the faith" - Here, Lady Gaga expresses how much of a (somewhat literal, if she’s bleeding) fight she’s had to try to stay hopeful about their relationship. By using the word “faith” specifically, she links her faith in these connections with the more religious faith that she displays in the chorus by praying to God.
Million Reasons analysis:
-Her body language- negative, worn out
-She's sad/worn out - has to go to work although she's going through stuff, tried to hide
emotions & stay strong in front of dressing table but screen turns B&W showing emotions
which she's actually feeling
-Many biblical/religious references
-When her friends pick her up she puts on her hat&glasses back on - picks herself back up
and pretends she's fine - has to be strong for fans - shows her fans she cares.
-Emotionally transparent & vulnerable
Analysing lyrics:
"your giving me a million reasons to let you go" a failed relationship and she cant take it
anymore.
"i would run for the hills" if she found a way out of the relationship easily she would just
leave.
"If you could find a dry way, I'd forever be still," but she seems to be saying that if he
could figure his life out, she wouldn't complain anymore.
"cut through all this worn out leather," which seems to be a reference to toughened
emotional walls that keep her or him from being honest.
"Head stuck in a cycle. I look off, and I stare." highlighting her own emotional emptiness
and hopelessness.
"I've stopped breathing," but she's "completely aware" as she watches her life descend
into chaos seemingly beyond her control.
"And if you say something that you might even mean / It's hard to even fathom which
parts I should believe." He's lied so many times that she simply can't trust anything that he
says.
"Baby, I'm bleedin' / Can't you give me what I'm needin'?" Despite his many lies she
loves him and is still giving him the chance to fix things
"Every heartbreak makes it hard to keep the faith," to show how his actions have made
it hard for her to believe that he can fix things, but she claims that she needs only "one
good [reason]" to stay with him.
- show quoted text -
Just broke up with fiance - had been together for 5 years - rumors of him having an affair
Has people who care
Wrote the song with Mark Ronsons (a man)
The music video was directed by 2 females
The people who came to her were her crew - does the crew really care or are they just there to get on with the show so they can get paid - do they really care about her mental state?
Doesn't portray a traditional love narrative, rather focuses on Gaga's own team
Gaga is emotionally transparent
Areas to study:
•how the
different modes3 and language4 associated with different media forms
communicate multiple meanings
•how
the combination
of elements of media language influence meaning
•how
developing technologies affect media language
•the codes
and conventions of media forms and
products, including the processes
through which media
language develops as genre
•the dynamic
and historically relative nature of genre
•the
processes through which meanings are established
through intertextuality
•how
audiences respond to and interpret the above
aspects of media language.
•
3
Modes:
images, sound, speech and writing.
4 Language:
media language associated with audio-visual, audio, print and online media.
Areas to study:
•the
way events, issues, individuals (including self- representation) and social
groups (including social identity) are represented through processes of
selection and combination
•the
way the media through representation construct versions of reality
•the
processes which lead media producers to make choices about how to represent
events, issues, individuals and social groups
•the
effect of social
and cultural context on
representations
•how
and why
stereotypes can be used positively and negatively
•how and
why particular social groups, in a national and global context, may be
under-represented or misrepresented
•how
media representations convey values, attitudes and beliefs about the world and
how these may be systematically reinforced across a wide range of media
representations
•how
audiences respond to and interpret media representations.
Areas to study:
–reflecting
social, cultural and political attitudes towards wider issues and beliefs
–constructing
social, cultural and political attitudes towards wider issues and beliefs
•how
media products studied can act as a means of reflecting historical
issues and events
•how
media products studied can potentially be an agent in facilitating
social,
cultural and political developments through the use of media language to
construct meaning through viewpoints, messages and values and representations
of events and issues
•how
media products studied are influenced by
social, cultural, political and historical contexts through intertextual
references
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