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Vance Joy, Riptide
Vance Joy, Riptide
Image 1; The actress is undressing in public while a camera crew films her.
Synopsis
Synopsis
The song “Riptide” by Vance Joy was released on May 21st, 2013. I have always liked this song however I actually didn’t watch the music video until recently and realized how many hidden messages there are within it. It shows how media sexualizes women, eludes to mental health issues, and how media is still a relevant issue in today’s society. Many of these pressing issues can be related to Killbourne’s article “Ways a Woman can get hurt”. By exploiting the women in this video it does bring to light social issues. It gives of examples of what certain practices take a mental toll on women but it also shows what practices are the root causes. If you notice how all the factors fall into place you can start identifying what negatively affects women. The basic plot of the video a woman being chased by a cowboy she does want anything to do with, but at the same time, she is being filmed with a deteriorating mental portrayal of her.
Image 2; the actress is being dragged into the darkness. Matched with the lyrics "slippin away to the darkside" it seems like she is getting pulled into a depression.
"No"
"No"
Misogyny was also a factor within the video, still showing that is a modern issue in our society. In the film, we see a woman constantly being chased by a man the woman clearly doesn’t want anything to do with. “Men are so encouraged to never take no for an answer." ("Ways a Women Can Get Hurt" , Paragraph 1 page 492). Outside of gender bias’s we see a portrayal of what is commonly referred to as “toxic masculinity” today. It is commonly considered “manly” to not take no as an answer and we see this in Riptide because the man is chasing the woman all video. By making “masculine” decisions will make seem more manly. Becoming more manly puts women under pressure though because men’s actions are socially accepted as normal. If a woman is to break this, she would get more negatives than the man would because the men’s actions are normal.
Image 3; there is a book slammed on the table titled "Techniques of Photographing Girls" signaling that there is a societal "normal" sexualization of women through photography.
Sexualization
Sexualization
This was a screenshot from the music video, one of many embedded messages in the music video. All throughout the video women were photographed from more revealing angles and even while taking a swimsuit off. As said in Kilbourne “Sex in advertising is pornographic because it dehumanizes people.” ("Ways a Women Can Get Hurt" Paragraph 3 page 488). A key message in this video was how women are sexualized through media because there is literally a camera crew filming a woman remove her swimsuit as well as a book indicating that there is a known way women are usually photographed. This video took angles that showed the women’s curves more and showed a book representing that woman is photographed differently than a male would be, "A camera ad features woman's torso wrapped in plastic, her hands tied behind her back. A smiling woman in a lipstick ad has a padlocked chain around her neck." ("Ways a Women Can Get Hurt", Paragraph 4 page 497). While she was singing she was also dressed in a revealing dress and a full face of makeup showing that women are under watch for how they dress in public to be seen as “respectable”.
Conclusion
Conclusion
This video covers nearly all modern-day social issues. This includes gender bias, sexualization of women, and masculinity. Although this song released 7 years ago it is still relevant to modern-day topics. A huge underlying message was mental health. We saw factors expressed in Kilbourne but I believe these factors are what lead to mental health issues among women. We have discussed women being sexualized and being chased due to a ‘manliness' reason? These factors will begin to take a mental toll on women. The singing lady within the video started off having perfect makeup but as time went on she has filmed undressing and being chased by a cowboy and this gave her an appearance like she had been crying but has to hold everything together for the public. This can be seen across all ages where they feel that they need to put on a brave face because the bias and gender roles normalize all these negative effects so if they act like anything is bothering them, they have to pretend they’re ok. "Most of us become numb to these images, just as we become numb to the daily litany in the news of women being raped, battered, and killed." ("Ways a Women Can Get Hurt", Paragraph 2 page 499). You can also look at the movement of the water as well. At the beginning of the video, the water was calm but as the lady make began to get messed up the more rapid the water got, you can also see women on the bench though which can you can assume she was planning self-harm; by throwing herself into dangerous water. You also witness the “darkness” and I think that can be interrupted as depression because at times she was seen screaming before being pulled in.
Image 4; the actress is shown preforming on stage as if nothing is wrong how ever you can see her make smeered as if she had previously been crying.
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