riptide Flashcards
enigma code examples and their effect
Woman tied up and running away – causes the audience to question what is happening to her
Singing woman bleeding – the audience becomes concerned for the woman and is left wondering who and why someone is abusing her
Shot positioned in bushes looking up at a woman, implying someone is watching her – the audience wants to know who is watching the woman, creates an uneasy feeling
how is it postmodern
uses a mix of bricolage and intertextuality with references to older horror films, where women are represented as the damsel in distress and are sexualised / example of this is the scene where a woman is tied up and then runs away, which is reminiscent of slasher horror films.
uses self-reflexivity as the lyrics of the song reflect exactly what’s happening on the screen, which creates a sense of sarcasm / example, the scene where the lyrics say “left hand man” are shown over a shot of someone’s left hand.
How is Riptide influenced by Surrealist cinema
surrealism - shocking, absurd and dreamlike imagery that challenges traditional storytelling
the music video is contrapuntal, the music is joyful but the scenes are unsettling
how does riptide conform to Neale’s genre theory
uses conventions of music videos such as montages and sexualised women (the woman taking off her swimming costume) but it is different as the tone slowly becomes more tense and darker through scenes like the singing woman’s makeup becoming messier as she begins to bleed
How are women represented
vulnerable through scenes like the woman being kidnapped and tied up, which shock the audience and may cause them perceive the women as the cliché “damsel in distress” character that is conventional in older horror movies.
Women are objectified in scenes such as the woman taking off her swimming costume.
There are many scenes such as the close-up shots of their hands and feet which reduce women to just certain parts of their body.
as Vance Joy is an indie artist, why is he representing women as vulnerable
As women are represented as vulnerable/helpless in the music video, it can be argued that this is used to criticize the patriarchal way in which women are presented in mainstream media.
feminism in riptide
can be interpreted as a feminist music video through scenes such as the singing woman having bruises and her makeup gradually becoming messier. This implies an opposition against sexist issues like the male gaze, because the woman looks less perfect and “polished” as they would do in other music videos, and more abused and dishevelled.
This causes discomfort for the audience because it deliberately shifts the expectations of women from being objectified and forces the audience to realise the oppression that women face in media.
How does Riptide conform to Gauntlett’s pick and mix theory of identity
The music is an indie style to engage with an audience of indie fans, but the music video uses an experimental style which doesn’t provide a straightforward narrative.
This allows the audience to interpret and construct their own meanings of the song in several different ways.
