Riptide

Question 1

Woman singing words wrong scene

Answer 1

Links perfectly with line sang over the top
- Humour engages the audience.
- Coincides with Baurdillards postmodernism theory.

Question 2

Video frequently referencing the western and thriller genre

Answer 2

Uses horror iconography
eg. females repeatedly dragged off screen by unseen forces, Ouija board, going missing in a graveyard
- Uses Steve Neales genre theory

Question 3

“I was scared of dentists in the dark”

Answer 3

Literal music video
Seems to ‘mock’ Goodwins 182 dancing in the distraction factory
where he states that in most music videos we see a relationship between lyrics and visuals.
Throughout riptide we see a constant link to the lyrics.

Question 4

Laura Mulvey male gaze theory

Answer 4

Clip of woman undressing
- Woman is seen seductively removing the shoulder straps as camera moves closer
- Gives audience again that voyeuristic feel
From audience perspective we only see her back and so create anticipation in audience (especially men) whether or not they will get to see her from the front

Question 5

Van zoonen depictions of masculinity

Answer 5

• Riptide conforms to van zoonens theory that male representations in the media are completely different to the way women are depicted.
  Video represent women as victims or as erotic spectacle using conventional beauty ideals, riptide grants men the power to look and to act.

Question 6

How are women shown? (examples from the mv)

Answer 6

• Woman being tied to tree
• Being dragged under a bed
• Tortured in a dentist chair
• Woman covered in bruises/injuries as if having been assaulted

Question 7

Use of high angles and terrified facial expressions throughout.

Answer 7

• Makes women seem smaller
• Creates a fearful atmosphere
• Representations of women are old fashioned and stereotypical

Question 8

What was the point of fast paced editing in certain parts of the mv?

Answer 8

Fast paced editing used in scenes where women are in vulnerable positions emphasizes fear and the jumpscare-y nature in horror films

Question 9

Gauntletts theory of identity

Answer 9

Woman who frees herself from tree
- Women aren’t always damsel in distress and are capable of handling themselves
- Sense of liberation from the other scenes where the women conform to female stereotypes
- Empowerment for women as she acts as the hero

Question 10

How are women represented (negative)? with examples

Answer 10

Still sexualisation of women
eg. woman being videoed whilst undressing, back to camera suggests unawareness
Shot of book saying “techniques of photographing girls”
Shots of women’s feet, reducing them to body parts not people, dehumanizes them

Question 11

Women being watched through bushes

Answer 11

Using “pov” type shot.
Makes audience feel perhaps uncomfortable due to the voyeurism create through the low angle shots

Question 12

Woman singing - Female representation

Answer 12

• Represented in a typical attractive fashion (makeup, outfit, hair done, spotlight on her directly)
• Makes her seem powerful important but also sexualised
• Continuous cut back to her with altered appearances such as makeup smudged, blood, crying, mise en scene (expression) makes her look scared.
  Looks to the side as if shes being watched ( links back to the theme constantly referenced throughout of voyeurism)
• Creates uncomfortable, eerie atmosphere
• Enigma code about what has happened to her
• Encourages the audience to feel sympathy
• Her eyes appear more vacant

Question 13

How are men presented in Riptide?

Answer 13

• Men seen a lot as voyeurs eg.
  men on beach looking through cameras to the women
  Looking at them through the male gaze

Question 14

What is the term for diverse representations?

Answer 14

Intellectual montage - meaning there isn’t one clear representation but many.
- Up for interpretation.

Question 15

Context for reasoning behind Riptides music video

Answer 15

First single released in USA
- Maybe label chose such controversial representations to gain publicity and to market the song
- Even if people talk about it in a negative way it still means streaming the music video

Question 16

Who came up with the term “intellectual montage” and what does it mean?

Answer 16

Eisenstein.
- Two images put together to make a separate meaning
- Cut according to intellectual concepts and ideas

Question 17

How is media language used to create meaning?

Question 18

Riptide can be seen as a surrealist text, what does this mean?

Answer 18

Surrealism is an artistic movement that tries to depict the logic of dreams and the unconscious

Question 19

What did Sigmund Freud say about dreams and how is this evident in Riptide?

Answer 19

Sigmund Freud suggested that dreams represent our deep and subconscious fears… and desires. Many of the themes in Riptide are commonly reported in dreams, including:
- Sex and sexualisation
- Teeth and violence
- Suddenly jumping from one location to - another (technical term: it lacks spacial - continuity)
- An unseen threat
- Half remembered scenes from old films

Question 20

What can you say about the lyrics in relation to the music video?

Answer 20

Conventional narrative style is rejected and instead literal interpretations of the lyrics are used alongside montage editing.

Question 21

What does pastiche mean?

Answer 21

Means to combine, multiple elements. In postmodernist media this can be an homage to or a parody of past styles. It can often reference pop culture as part of the narrative.