Analyse and compare the representation of gender in "The man" and "Riptide"

 Analyse and compare the representation of gender in "The man" and "Riptide"

Both music videos, "The man" by Taylor Swift and "Riptide" by Vance Joy show representations of gender. However each show it in a different way. "The man" presents the struggles of being a female by showing how easy life it is for a privileged white man. Whereas, In Riptide, although also showing the mistreatment of females, delivers it in a much more complex and artistic way.

Taylor Swift in her video dresses up as a man to show the things that men get away with in society. The music video starts off with her dressed up in a suit and tie. Which has a deeper meaning than what meets the eye, with the archaic ideology that men wear the pants. Women in the office place can be seen idolising and almost worshipping the man, showing how possibly men think that women should always appreciate them. Especially when the man throws the scrunched up a piece of paper and threw it, then women rushed over and fought over it. Taylor Swift, although is one of, and if not the biggest female in the music industry currently, she however chooses the subvert her female qualities to show how men act. Taylor Swift has also openly talked about the mistreatment of genders in interviews with a famous Taylor Swift quote and a quote that inspired this music video being "A man does something, its strategic, a woman does the same, it's calculated. A man is allowed to react, a woman can only over-react". The next scene, and quite a powerful, is the man in a crowded train and his legs are widely spread, taking up space on the chairs. Also known as man spreading. This is something that is quite controversial, obviously with men, and this in turn put a big stigma against the feminism movement. Another big issue in this scene is the fact that he starts to smoke on the train, even though there is people of old age next to him. Showing the careless and selfish attitude shown by men. Additionally, the man is centre frame pretty much every shot, which could suggest how he craves attention and how men think the world revolves around them. The man is then seen publicly urinating in a train station With a male version of Taylor Swift's documentary movie poster on the wall, followed by graffiti of her album titles. With the men urinating on it, shows the hatred men have towards Taylors work. She is also a mainstream artist that works for a large label, unlike Vance Joy who is a indie musician. Indie stands for Independent. So indie music is music that is produced independently by a commercial record label. But it is also relevant to film. The video represents this genre as it features retro technology. Also some taboo equipment such as tarot cards and an Ouija board, these are all things that mainstream media wouldn't put in their videos, as they usually get a sponsorship and promote that product in the video. Additionally with the Ouija board and the tarot cards having the stigma that its connected to the devil. The Indie genre, especially in music has a small audience, but as of recently the indie genre has gotten a rise as they talk about and present things that mainstream pop music wouldn't dare mention. With Indie music, it's very common for the artist to not appear in the video, as we can see with "Riptide". But with Taylor being a large, mainly pop artist, She is very present in all her videos, but in this one she is concealed under makeup and costume to make her look like a man. 

Gender representation can also be seen in "Riptide" through the use of a centre shot on a woman facing the ocean. The woman was undressing, sexualising her. Also the fact that the woman's face was covered and the focus was on her body, shows how media represents females, and how they are sexualised and they have a huge focus on their looks. The woman is later seen with blood on her hands while grabbing her neck, and her makeup smeared. Contrasting the start where she is signing with her head up and confident. One could postulate how she is in a domestically abusive relationship or possibly career. This is reinforced because her lips are synced with the words at the start, then over time she is more off beat and her lip syncing is delayed. Additionally, the song lyrics displayed at the bottom of the screen starts to get lost in translation. This could symbolise the music industry and how you constantly have to work hard as when you get a hit song, the popularity will only last for some time before people move on. The scene with the tarot cards shows the card 'The hanged man' which represents surrender and sacrifice, this could linked to the video where the woman is putting up with abuse and a clear unhealthy mentality just so she can make it big in the industry. Additionally 'The moon' tarot card is revealed, which represents illusion and deception, could be linked to the abuse she is getting and how she is probably telling herself that it is okay for this to happen to her because it will get her to where she wants to be. Another card that is revealed is 'Eight of swords' which represents imprisonment and victim mentality, another reinforcement of her being abused and possibly slave to the music industry. Finally 'The fool' card is presented which shows new beginnings, could show how she is finally going to break free from the abuse. But the card was the first one presented, which could mean how this abuse that she is experiencing is her future, unless she changes it. The use of the camera work, which one could say how its clearly influenced off of Wes Anderson. With his famous centre shots and the use of low shots to make the subject look more powerful.