Taylor Swift - "Love Story"
This song is titled "Love Story", and presents the most traditional format of gender. The music video starts off with the timeless (and somewhat cliched) "boy meets girl", or "girl sees boy", then-they-fall-in-love storyline. I feel that this music video covers the topic of true love since the character Taylor is playing (Juliet) and the male character (who is referred to as Romeo in the lyrics) have loved in a previous lifetime, and it appears they will continue to love on in the next lifetime.
As I mentioned before, femininity and masculinity are portrayed in a traditional, culturally accepting way. Taylor Swift portrays a very dainty, dependent side of femininity where she relies in the faith of her love for her strength. The male character is seen as strong, yet soft (not to the point where his actions are cheesy), and pretty much acts like the hero who's here to save the damsel so they can live happily ever after. Kinda like every princess Disney movie ever made, especially the ones from the 50's.
The lyrics are told in a linear, story-like way, and only reinforce my view that Taylor wants to be seen as a vulnerable, love stricken woman who wants to be saved, especially with a chorus that always starts off with "Romeo save me". She refers to herself as Juliet, and the guy as Romeo, and everyone should know the story of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". It's a love story gone tragic, but in Taylor's happyhappy Disney'd version, it's a love story that appears to be in vain until near the end of the song.
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
This song is titled "Bad Romance", and gives a completely different vibe and message than Taylor's music video. Ah, Lady Gaga, where do I even begin... In this music video, I believe Lady Gaga is supposed to be a victim kidnapped by some Russian mob, and she's forced to "entertain" the men in the mob for money. Gender in this music video portrays women to be a sexual, and not so helpless (especially at the end.) It shows that they are capable of revenge. The men in video seemed like they only cared about one thing: sex. Their eyes were constantly on Gaga and her back-up dancers.
I know Lady Gaga wrote the lyrics to be about being in love with your best friend, or being in a relationship that's not as great as it should be (or used to be.) The way Gaga portrays femininity is a bit unconventional to some people, and way different from the way Taylor portrayed it. What I got from it based on the lyrics AND music video was that women want love, sex, and to know everything about the guy, and sometimes that doesn't work out. And according to the end of the music video, if it doesn't work out, you either take revenge or move on. That's what I interpreted from her video.
One great understanding I got about music videos in general is that the video can literally depict the lyrics and tell a story, like "Love Story", or the lyrics can mean something completely different from the video, and the video is just an artistic interpretation. One great understanding I got from gender is that everyone has a different message to portray based on their gender. Women can be graceful, hopelessly in love, sweet, and innocent, but they can also be vengeful, sexually deviant, manipulative, and dangerous. Men can be portrayed as a knight in shining armor, or they can be seen as a pig.
Works Cited
Storey, John. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. 5th. Longman, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E - Taylor Swift, "Love Story"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I - Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"
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