Controversial Music Video Analysis - Blurred Lines by Freddie

freddiedenny123 — 2015-11-03 17:17:28 UTC

Issues with Representation

freddiedenny123 — 2015-11-03 18:11:07 UTC

The main reason as to why this video is so controversial is due to the way that women are portrayed and the original version had to be taken down due to the negative way in which they were being stereotyped as being 'possessions' of the men as they were hardly wearing any clothing, the red lipstick emphasises the theme of romance and some of the close up shots were showing the women almost represented as desperate for sex and still do even in the clean version.

Camerawork

freddiedenny123 — 2015-11-04 13:52:26 UTC

Most of the shots we see of the women are close ups both of their facial expressions to emphasise the theme that they are flirtatious but we also see close ups of other parts of their body such as their boobs and that emphasises the fact that this misc video is shown from the point of view of the male gaze which is why women are represented in such a sexual manner. We are also shown several mid shots of the main artists which have been framed so that they are in the centre of the shot which not only represents them as dominant in the shot but the fact that its normally the men in the centre of each shot reinforces that there is a representation in this music video that the males have control and dominance over the opposite sex as when both genders are in the shot the women are nearly always next to the men or on the peripheral of the shot.

Editing

freddiedenny123 — 2015-11-04 14:17:45 UTC

Throughout the video the editing remains at a slow pace which fits in with the theme that the men have control over the women. We also see that the transition is very quick between shots which works well to create the effect that the shot is suddenly being cut off due to it being too explicit for the audience to watch.

Mise en Scene

freddiedenny123 — 2015-11-04 14:26:42 UTC

The setting is in front of a blank white background which creates a slightly ironic theme which is that what they are doing is innocent and more of a party atmosphere rather than anything suspicious. the props used are mostly random such as the bike and inflatable lamb but would perhaps be representing the stupid things that they get up to after having too many drinks at a party, this is emphasised further when we see the close up shot of them drinking later on in the video. Costuming is obviously another key aspect in creating representations for this music video as the men are wearing smart clothes which could be worn at some parties, however we see that the women are wearing next to nothing and the small white underwear represents their innocence but also draws attention towards them which is the purpose of their costumes in the video.

Sound

freddiedenny123 — 2015-11-04 14:45:34 UTC

The lyrics are similar to the visuals as they are both very controversial about the same topic in relation to the women in the video. The music in general is quite slow and very chilled out which contradicts the theme of the video, which is slightly violent.

Goodwin Seven Conventions

freddiedenny123 — 2015-11-04 14:56:39 UTC

The main convention of Goodwin's 7 that we see within this video is that their is a clear relationship between the visuals and lyrics, that the lyrics are about 'Blurred Lines' basically talking about what the men can get away with doing to with the women, and the on screen visuals show the audience what the men and women are getting up to, without showng us too many details.

freddiedenny123 — 2015-11-06 12:17:13 UTC

freddiedenny123 — 2015-11-06 12:34:37 UTC

Opinion of the Video

freddiedenny123 — 2015-11-06 13:49:52 UTC

I feel that overall whilst I dislike this music video it clearly has plenty of aspects which make it stand out such as the female costuming and ensure that it is unique in comparison to other videos within the same genre, whilst these are also the same aspects which make the video controversial in the first place. The main parts I dislike is the setting, as it comes across quite underdeveloped rather than effective or symbolic, also when the hashtag 'Blurred Lines' keeps popping up it comes across looking a bit cheap rather than getting the title of the song stuck in your head.