Riptide Flashcards
Who is Vance Joy?
• Australian singer-songwriter signed to Atlantic Records (subsidiary of major label Warner)
• Indie-folk genre
• Riptide was Vance Joy’s first single to be released in the USA, became a platinum selling single
Success of Riptide music video
Has nearly 100 million views on YouTube
Seemingly low budget, unique style of Riptide music video
• Artists may start out with small, low budget productions which increase in scope and budget as they gain popularity and fans - Hesmondhalgh minimising risk
• Reflects the more humble conventions and style of the indie-pop genre - more artistic in this sense?
Women in riptide victimised
• shot of woman untying herself from a tree, frantic gesture codes suggest an element of danger, reinforced by jump cut of her running away from the camera
horror genre iconography ‘Taken away to the dark side’
• women victimised through shot of woman sleeping, dragged into the darkness (enigma code), facial expression of fear with mouth wide open in a scream
• motionless hands with manicured nails dragged into the darkness, reinforcing feminine helplessness and beauty construct, lowkey lighting
• repetition of similar shot, motionless legs dragged under a bed, wearing high heels to connote femininity
Apply Gerbner’s cultivation theory to Riptide
• Repeated use of horror genre iconography ‘taken away to the dark side’ positions women as the victim, reinforced stereotypes of women
‘I was scared of dentists and the dark’ victimisation of women
•Woman has metallic torture device in her mouth, reflecting how women are manipulated and coerced/ examined within patriarchal structures? Illustration of lyrics (Goodwin)
• Facial expression of wide eyes and high camera angle connotes fear, vulnerability
‘You’ve gone and sang the words wrong’
• Cut back to this shot during the chorus, each time the woman has become more injured, bruises, smudged makeup, blood from neck connoting injury - reflecting pressure on women, further illustrated through words performed wrong in subtitles ‘you’ve gone and sang the worlds wolf’
Uncomfortable shot of woman performing song
• low key lighting, shot is long making audience uncomfortable, making them question this representation
• eyes looking off to the side, enigma core
Woman performing song Butler
• physically performing, makeup, costume connotes success, these practices exhausting?
• woman performing song conventional also of music videos (Goodwin)
‘Taken away to the dark side’ editing
• sections of fast paced editing create fear and tension, conventional of horror - may be enjoyed by audience?
How is the damsel in distress archetype undermined in Riptide?
• Shot of woman freeing herself from restraints trapping her to the tree, mouth gagged. Sense of oppression, costume of denim shorts and T-shirt makes this representation more realistic and therefore more uncomfortable for the audience
Objectification of women (dehumanised) Van Zoonen
• Zoom in shot to woman taking off her swimsuit from behind, voyeuristic, motion of camera reflects male perspective? lack of representation of face dehumanises her
• repetition of shots of female legs in high heels and barefoot in close ups further dehumanise women (Van Zoonen) engaging male audience
• perhaps challenging these representation due to their lack of narrative relevance?
Apply bell hooks to objectification of women
• idealisation of thin, conventionally attractive white women in the media
Woman on balcony shot
• low angle tracking shot from behind a bush created a voyeuristic view of women
• however woman looking back at the camera through binoculars in direct address challenges this?
• woman has power also in being physically positioned high up
Intertextual reference hand stabbing manicured hand
• refers to infamous eye cutting scene in 1929 Un Chien Andalou - surrealist film, exploring violence and sexual desire
Knife stabbing manicured hand and shot of gun connotations
Reflects increase in violence towards women
Woman performing power
• performing in a sparkly costume connotes wealth
• spotlight on her connotes status
‘You’re the magician’s assistant in their dream’
• low angle shot of woman with gesture code of hands in the air connotes power and sorcery, reinforced by lyrics
• Costume of suit stereotypically linked to masculinity (Butler) connoting status/importance/power
‘Closes thing to Michelle Pffiefer that you’ve ever seen’
• Intertextual reference to celebrity within lyrics of the song illustrate status, woman in video resembles her
Metanarrative in video
• men filming ‘Michelle pffiefer’ through camera equipment highlights how male producers construct representations of women as aspirational and conventionally attractive
• ‘I swear she’s destined for the screen’ - male producer holding binoculars and gesture code of shaking finger, controlling this representation
Apply Eisenstein’s intellectual montage to Riptide
• complex representations encourage audience to create their own representations
Apply bell hooks to riptide
• feminism is a political struggle to end the patriarchy, is the video a social comment or like many other music videos, and the industry itself, objectifying the audience for a male audience’s entertainment?
Men as voyeurs, Male gaze theory Laura Mulvey
• looking through cameras and binoculars beach shot ‘I swear she’s destined for the screen’
• looking at woman balcony scene
