Analyse the representation of gender in the music videos for "The Man" by Taylor Swift and "Riptide" by Vance Joy ( 30 marks / 800 words minimum)

Analyse the representation of gender in the music videos for "The Man" by Taylor Swift and "Riptide" by Vance Joy ( 30 marks / 800 words minimum)


Both "Riptide" and "The Man" represent gender in a unique way. Riptide weaponises the indie genre to show how women in our society are mistreated in a inventive or innovative way. While in The Man, Swift shows how easy men have it in our society, and how difficult women have it even though they do the same things. Taylor Swift's "The Man" is regarded as a pop song, while "Riptide" is seen as an indie song. However, Swift takes an indie-like approach to her music video, by concealing her identity and appearing as somebody else.

Riptide intentionally sexualises the woman in a bikini during the beginning. By covering her face and focusing on her body, it shows how women only hold value in our society (or in media in general) because of their bodies and not their mind, which is wrong. This could represent how women are always sexualised in films and videos to attract men, which makes up a large amount of their demographic. The camera zooms more into the woman to highlight her body to perhaps show how society objectifies women. This shows how their looks are valued rather than their intelligence (which as I said, is shown when they show her undressing). This later takes a darker, more sadistic turn, with a lady abused with each shot as she fails to mouth the lyrics, this could symbolise either occupational violence or domestic violence. She begins confidentally, but as time goes on that fades and blood, along with smeared lipstick, appears more and more in the music video. It could show how the "music industry" changes an artist, initially beginning filled with youthful exuberance, starry-eyed and hopeful, and then eventually turning into a mere shell of what they once were, appearing mentally stressed, unhealthy and abused. Additionally, tarot cards are used frequently in this narrative. First, it's "The Fool" which represents new beginnings, having faith in the future, being inexperienced, not knowing what to expect, having beginner's luck, improvisation and believing in the universe. This could represent the beginning of the abused ladies' career, and how it started off alright. "The Swords" shows a woman bound and blindfolded. Eight swords surround her, seemingly trapping her in place, a symbol of the limiting thoughts, beliefs and mindset that prevent her from moving forward in her life. This could represent how she feels stuck in her current enviroment and how she's unable to leave. Going even further, it could have something to do with her being abused throughout the music video, and how she feels trapped. The next tarot card, "The Moon" further backs up this point, with it being known as a card of illusion and deception, and therefore often suggests a time when something is not as it appears to be, a truth you cannot admit to yourself. This could symbolise how she feels this is a prerequisite requirement in order for her to move forward in her career, even though she knows it's wrong.

However, in Taylor Swift's "The Man", it shows Taylor playing as a man in order to show the toxic environment she's had to endure throughout her life, and how easily men are praised for the littlest of things. This music video highlights how the artist has gone through sexism and the double-standards throughout her career, this is seen when The Man is praised for doing the bare minimum and treating the kid right, lighting is quite warm in this shot, People around the man and child are over-exaggerating and seem quite shocked/happy by the way he's treating the kid. and being labelled as "World's greatest dad", while if a woman were to do all these things, it would simply be seen as the norm and dismissed by the rest of society. The lyrics "If I was out flashing my dollars, I'd be a bitch not a baller." Again, refers to the double standards that women face for doing the same thing a man would do in her position. (Women are judged more for flaunting their money, while a man is almost praised for the same thing) The artist (Taylor Swift) tries to highlight the issue of gender inequality in our society, showing how men have more advantages than women even though they're doing the exact same thing, this is due to existing laws, overall bias and social norms, which is shown in certain scenes in her music video. Also, there are a couple scenes over-sexualising women and are covered in money, this could represent the culture of toxic masculinity, and how throwing money and treating women in a subservient manner because of their bodies and overall looks is wrong. The lighting is quite red in this scene, red represents sacrifice, danger, and courage, "sacrifice" could be a reference to how much Swift has sacrificed to get where she is now, "danger" could refer to how she's been treated horribly because of her simply being a woman, and how she has to protect herself from creeps constantly, and "courage" could refer to the courage needed to succeed in a male-tailored society.