Little Mix, a recently famous all-girl group released their
song "Salute" and its accompanying music video in 2014. The lyrics of
the song quickly single out the sole audience with phrases like "Women all
across the world listen up we're looking for recruits". So from the lyrics
it is obvious that this song was meant to empower females and call them to arms
in the war against gender inequality. However while the lyrics of the song may
do a good job of inspiring this idea of female empowerment, the music video was
found lacking in its portrayal of this message.
The video begins with a short scene for each member of
Little Mix however instead of being shown in authoritative positions they are
shown hiding behind objects or sprawled over objects such as chairs. The video
is set in a construction yard of sorts with various construction equipment and
abandoned/empty buildings. The next scene shows one of the members of Little Mix
dancing with two men. However these men are on leashes of sorts which shows the
dominance that she has over them. This song was very clear with its message
about men "We don't need no man" however instead of just portraying
both genders on equal terms they had to go a step further and show women as
being in control of men.
There are many dance scenes in the video and it's important
to note on the style of dance. The dancing shown in this video is very
aggressive with lots of stomping and jerky movements. This aggressive behaviour
goes along with the lyrics "If you're ready ladies, better keep steady
ready, aim, shoot". These lyrics depict the struggle and fight against
gender inequality and encourage women to join this fight "Sisters we are
everywhere, warriors your country needs you".
While both the song and video are working to promote female
empowerment, the video in some cases goes against this. Throughout the video we
continuously see the members of Little Mix and the other women in the video
wearing provocative clothing and in some cases they are even being portrayed in
a seductive manner. Now why would a music video for a song with the sole
audience of women need to portray women in this sexual/seductive manner? The
answer of course is that there is no answer. There was no need for these women
to be portrayed in this degrading manner and it's interesting to see how even
in a music video for a song about female empowerment, women are still depicted
in this manner. This depiction of women simply suggests then that the power
women have is from their sexual allure and their ability to seduce men.
While the message derived from the lyrics of this song is
encouraging to women it seems that the person producing this video was unsure
about what female empowerment and gender equality actually looks like.
Nice post, Tyler!! :D I really like the way you stated bluntly that "the answer of course is that there is no answer" - recognizing that at the end of the day the goal of this single was to sell more records, not to encourage female empowerment.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the person producing the video had no idea what gender equality actually looks like, but I also think that the message of the song itself is rather weak too. The chorus is repeated multiple times, and calls for women to unite but doesn't say for what. The strength it implies may be well-meaning, but could also be described as vapid: what is it actually asking for? Just a salute? What'll that do?
What do you think of 'feminist' pop songs like these? Do you agree that they play a role in creating change in the way we think about gender roles, or do you believe they are simply marketing gimmicks? I'm curious to know what you think! :)