Evaluation 1st Draft

For my research investigation I chose to research into how men are represented differently in mainstream music 'vs' Alternative 'underground' music. I chose to look at the hip-hop and rap genre because of how it is a very male dominated genre and explored how men were represented depending on if they were a mainstream or underground artist. I first started looking at Matthew Hall and Angela Mc Robbie because of how they looked at traditional gender roles in the media. The stereotypical male was shown to be; powerful, masculine, dominant, aggressive and rebellious. We see these traits represented by male artists in mainstream and underground music however in mainstream music they are much more positive representations and no where near as exaggerated in underground music. I found that underground artist had much more freedom and would tend to represent themselves by exaggerating this stereotypical male representation. Underground artist have much more freedom in what they create because they have gained their dedicated fan base. However mainstream artist are tied to a record label and need to positively represent themselves as the label want them too to be able to still be shown as 'stars' to their fans and be able to sell merchandise and albums. 

For my music video production I worked in a group and we chose to create a music video for a Korean song called 'That XX' by a Korean artist named 'G-Dragon'. We chose this song so it would link with each of our research investigations. I feel that it links well with my research investigation because of how G-Dragon is a mainstream rap artist and I have chosen to go with creating an unconventional underground style music video. 

I think choosing a korean song was a good idea because of how lyrics didn't matter and we could choose a subject which is not normally portrayed in the media and create our own music. Choosing a subject that isn't normally represented also shows freedom which underground music videos show. For the video we chose the subject of mental health and created a small love story narrative out of this. Using a narrative in its self is something that is not normally used in underground music videos because the artists want to express themselves through their actions and lyrics. I found that when looking at mainstream music that even though men were represented as powerful, dominant etc and that women in the video were there to make the power balance shift slightly and for the men to be inferior to the female character. In my music Video I went unconventional to underground music videos by covering up the female character (making her wear a full body covered onesie). We gave the female character a role as the imaginary friend to make it as the male character in the video needed the female character to keep strong and stay happy because of the pain he was going through because of his mental health problems. It is shown in the video through a close up of medication pills at the start to show how he is mentally ill. There are also many editing cuts throughout showing that his unicorn friend isn't real by showing shots of the imaginary friend character and showing shots of the small toy that the male character is holding. I feel that we structured our music video well too show that the unicorn friend was imaginary, however I feel that we could of made the medication aspect of the narrative much clearer maybe with a scene of the male character going to the pharmacy. 

I also went unconventional by how the main male character is an outsider. In the narrative we also use another female character to follow the male and make weird facial expressions every time she sees him. Using this other character shows how the male character is an outsider and different and strange. In underground music videos the male artist/character is normally the centre of attention with all the power. We also show the stereotypical manner of men 'Aggression' through the male character throwing the toy out the window and being upset in the end. I feel that our music video turned out well but found it quite hard to figure out ideas on how to include all our research investigations. I feel that we could've thought of a better way to be able to link all of our research investigations topics together.        

Research Investigation Final

How men are represented differently in mainstream music 'vs' Alternative 'underground' music.

For my research investigation I have chosen to research into how men are represented differently in mainstream music 'vs' Alternative 'underground' music. "Mainstream music denotes music that is familiar to the masses, as for example popular music, pop music, middle of the road music, pop rap or pop rock". Alternative underground music on the other hand is music that "Opposes mainstream music which is the music of subcultures and exists in genre's such as punk rock, indie rock, alternative/underground hip hop, anti-folk and heavy metal". I have chosen to look at the hip-hop and rap genre because of how it is a very male dominated genre and also the controversy that is caused between artist and their audiences. I feel that the subject of mainstream and alternative music relates a lot to hip-hop/ rap music because of how many male rap artist that get signed and start to create much more mainstream music often get called 'sell outs' because of how their overall representation might change through their appearance, lyrics and in their music videos because of how the money and their record label has changed them to appeal to the mainstream audiences.  I will be making reference to music videos such as; Dappy - Tarzan 2.5 (Versace Cover), Jason Derulo Ft 2Chainz - Talk Dirty To Me and Tyler The Creator - Yonkers.

In the book 'Teaching men and film' the author Matthew Hall talks about Traditional gender roles, traits and values in shown through the media. Male traits include; preferring action to discussion, uses confrontation to solve problems, physical/mental strength and endurance etc. These traits all make the 'stereotypical male' (powerful, masculine, dominant, aggressive, rebellion etc.). Angela McRobbie is also a theorist that talks about these stereotypical roles in her feminist theory and how gender is portrayed in the media as being exaggerated stereotypes. This stereotypical male and these characteristics are shown a lot in the hip hop genre and I feel that many underground artists themselves try to exaggerate these stereotypical representations so that they are a conventional artist in the Hip Hop industry but are also trying to be different by making the representations extreme so that they can gain more fans and try to become the most popular artist who is earning the most money. Some audiences may however find some Hip Hop music videos verging on the edge of becoming a parody video because of how some artist’s representations are very extreme.

We see these male traits take place in an underground music video by an artist called Dappy. The video is called Tarzan 2.5 (Versace Cover), which is a rap video about how he feels he is the 'King of the jungle' (meaning king of the rap/hip hop industry). Dappy use to be a very popular uk artist back in 2009 when he with in a group named NDubz. NDubz went double platinum with their albums "Uncle B" and "Against all odds" and also featured in a chart number one with Tynchy Stryder in the uk with the song "Number 1". In this video we see the stereotypical male throughout the video through miss-en-scene, props, clothing, camera etc. Dappy is represented as a very rebellious, dominant 'stereotypical male' because of how throwing this party and he's got all these girls and guys surrounding him as he raps. The main setting for this video is in this posh, expensive mansion (supposedly Dappy's house). He is shown as masculine (girls stroking his body), powerful (main focus of the party). He is also shown as rebellious in a part in the video when he is shouting at his neighbor down the phone. This is a very unusual example of a rebelliousness and aggression because of how it’s quite a funny scene in the music video and is a reason why this could be seen as a parody.

These stereotypical manners of men are also shown in mainstream music but however are less exaggerated and focus on much more positive representations by showing less rebelliousness and aggression. In the video 'Jason Derulo ft 2Chainz - Talk Dirty To Me' (which is a Rap/ Dance/ Hip Hop mainstream track) we do still see some of these stereotypical representations of men throughout like male dominance, masculinity (also on the album cover, which shows Jason Derulo's abs) and wealth but however see a much more positive and joyful side with hints of some rebelliousness other than seeing aggression throughout like in Dappy's underground music video.    

Mainstream artists compared to Underground artists can't create these crazy/ extreme representations most of the time because they have less freedom when creating music videos for their mainstream tracks. Underground artists are not stuck to a contract with big record labels so they have much more freedom in what music videos they create and what they do with them. In the book 'Studying Popular Culture', the author 'Tim Wall' talks about mainstream artist being seen and shown as 'Stars' in the tenth chapter of the book, which is called 'Stars As Individuals'. He talks about how artists are seen by the audience as 'stars' and that the better persona and representation of the artist the record company show, the more sales they will make. We can tell from this source and from looking at Jason Derulo's music video 'Talk Dirty To Me' that the music video doesn't show aggression, bad language and loads of rebelliousness because the record company don't want to represent Jason Derulo across as being this type of 'Individual' because this won't sell records. However the record company still do want to show him as  a wealthy, masculine and quite dominant male almost like a role model for teenagers that might listen to this music. Quotes from source: 

    "…the media and the music business produce images for artists, and that those artists not only perform music, but also perform a particular star persona" - 'Studying Popular Culture', Chapter 10, Representations. 

    "Our awareness of these individuals, and our knowledge of their fame and talent, is the product of carefully executed publicity campaigns. In turn our knowledge of the star is used to encourage us to purchase records and an array of secondary merchandise". Slightly Further on…. "a record company invests significant sums to gain publicity and reinforce an image they believe will, in turn, ensure greater sales of that stars records" - 'Studying Popular Culture', Chapter 10, Stars as Individuals. 


Underground non-mainstream music has developed over years and many artists now have big fan bases that understand the artist’s representations, lyrics, music videos etc. Many artists also start as underground artist and create one or two mainstream catchy big selling tracks and then you might never here much of them again. Underground artist do this I feel to be able to get more audience from their short mainstream success and make them a fan because the audience likes the representation that the artist is showing in his/her music videos. Artist such as Sappy and other UK rap artists (Chipmunk, Maxsta, Wiley etc) do this also to gain large amounts of money from their mainstream success so that they can use the money the create better music and videos and/or use it to flaunt and spend in their music videos to create a new image for themselves or to bring back the old one before they went into the mainstream industry. Many Rap/Hip Hop artists nowadays get called sellouts and loose lots of fans (and gain new ones) when they create mainstream music because sometimes their image and representation changes due to their success. When the artist then change back to create underground music they have lost many fans so try and create crazy extreme representations (just like Dappy did) to show that they are free and never changed just because of a record label telling them what to do. Some Rap/ Hip Hop artist however do still get well known and very wealthy through just making music when not on a record label and slowly gain a fan base because of how they are different to the everyday conventional representations of Hip Hop artist. Rap groups such as 'Odd Future' (US), 'Cash Money' (US) and 'Boy Better Know' (UK) are examples of well known groups with big fan bases all over the world and who have gained a fan base by having some members of the group that have created mainstream music and also mainly through social networking sites such as twitter and Facebook. These underground groups have also created there own record labels in which they choose their own representation and overall image of themselves because they don't need to worry about keeping their mainstream audience and creating music suitable for the radio and the mainstream industry. According to the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) Twitter and Facebook's most followed and liked pages are music artist. This shows that music nowadays is run by advertisement and about gaining fan bases through these sites and also sharing music on YouTube. YouTube also is dominated by music videos being the top viewed and this is a reason why many alternative/underground artist are creating the so that the can show their crazy representations throughout their music and gain masses of views. 


In the article in media magazine called "Issues of Representation in Contemporary Hip-Hop" the author Phil Dyas talks about Odd Future, especially 'Tyler The Creator' (member of Odd Future) as a solo artist and talks about the different representation Tyler shows other than him being a conventional Hip Hop Rapper who raps about girls, money drugs etc. He also talks about how the music video 'Yonkers' by Tyler The Creator is non conventional because its not glamorous which links back to the point were I was talking about how some underground artist use the money from mainstream success to create high quality and glamorous music videos.  

    "What Odd Future do is push the violence and aggression common in hip-hop’s representations of young black men to its logical conclusion. Tyler, the Creator hints at honest psychological wounds and even the violence shown within their music videos is turned inward. The video for ‘Yonkers’, shot in black and white entirely in one take (a far cry from the glamour common in most hip-hop videos) concludes with Tyler hanging himself. All of Odd Future’s controversial lyrics can be traced not to the hip-hop tradition of ‘thuggishness’, but to an intense self-loathing and introspection more common within alternative genres" - Phil Dyas, Issues of Representation in Contemporary Hip-Hop.

    

After looking at artist such as Dappy, Jason Derulo,Tyler The Creator and the overall genre of Rap/ Hip Hop I have found from my research that male mainstream artist have much less freedom in their mainstream music videos because of the way they are being shown as 'Stars' to their fans and their record label wants to show them as quite positive stereotypical men to target at the young teenage mainstream audience so that the artist and record label can sell the most records and merchandise. I have found that underground artist of the other hand create much more exaggerated representations of themselves because they have freedom and want to show rebelliousness because they are not choosing to be with a record label and that they will appeal to their fan base and not try to target the mainstream audience by changing their representation. However I have found also that some artist such as Dappy and other UK rap artists create mainstream music to gain money to fund creating their underground music for their dedicated fans. 

Bibliography: 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainstream#In_music - Definitions of mainstream and underground music.

Source: Teaching men and film 2005 - Matthew Hall, Pages 21&22, Chapter 2 - Background


Source:  http://www.slideshare.net/333manny1995/angela-mcrobbie-theory  &  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_theory - Angela McRobbies Theory 


Source (Video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4cadIfgk0w - Dappy - Versace Cover Tarzan 2.5


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Dubz_discography - NDubz Discography


Source (Video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbtPXFlZlHg - Jason Derulo Ft 2Chainz - Talk Dirty To Me


Source: Studying popular music culture - Tim Wall 2003, Chapter ten, Representation & Stars as individuals.

Source: BPI - Digital Music Nation, Pg 4, "Music as a driver of social media entertainment"

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_viewed_YouTube_videos - Top Most Viewed Youtube Videos

Source: http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/mm42_hiphop.html


Source (Video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSbZidsgMfw - Tyler The Creator - Yonkers 

Research Investigation Presentation

Title: How Men are Represented in Mainstream Music Vs Alternative Underground Music

4 Points:

How male alternative underground artist create much more different and maybe negative representation of themselves because of the freedom they have.

Source: http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/mm42_hiphop.html
- Focuses on tyler the creator in the odd future section. Talks about lyrics and how he is a non mainstream artist so is not portrayed as a millionaire superstar like jay-z.
- I can talk about how tyler has freedom in his lyrics and his videos in how he represents himself.

How mainstream artist create music videos for promotion and the artist are represented as stars.

Could focus on mainstream artists such as Jay-z, Kanye West (other big superstars) because of how they are represented as millionaires and are limited to the amount of freedom because how they are tied with a record label and have massive mainstream audiences.
Source: Studying popular music culture - Tim Wall 2003, chapter ten, representation, Stars as individuals.
- Focuses on how mainstream artist are seen as stars and audiences look up to them and are encouraged to by records and merchandise through how they are represented as an individual.

How underground artist go mainstream to promote themselves, gain money and a bigger audiences and then change back to creating underground music.

-Talk about artist such as Eminem and Dappy.
Source: Media, Gender and Identity - David Gauntlett 2002, Music for boys chapter, Eminem: Role Model. 

Stereotypical representations of men in mainstream music.
Can talk about the macho masculine stereotype and how it is used throughout mainstream music to represent men. Can mention Jason Durulo and other mainstream artist who are represented as this stereotype.
Source: Angela McRobbies feminist theory
-Talkes about stereotypical representations of men.
Then can talk about in some genre's or how some artist differ and are represented as more effeminate characters in their music videos or through their lyrics.
Source: Media, Gender and Identity - David Gauntlett 2002, Music for boys chapter, page 221.
-Talks about how boy bands such as Nsync are shown as more effeminate lads who wear make-up and discuss affairs in pop songs and who are not conventionally shown as this macho masculine stereotype.

Music Videos chosen for research investigation.

Underground Alternative Music
Dappy - Tarzan 2.5 (Versace Cover)
-Focused around sex, money, nice house, girls, alcohol etc.
-Negative representations of men, however dappy is shown as the main focus (powerful, wealthy, popular)
-Rapping about anything he wants - is free to say anything and doesn't have to worry about making a catchy chorus or using visual effects in the video.



Mainstream Music
Jason Derulo -  Talk Dirty feat. 2 Chainz
-Bright lights, Video effects, dancing, catchy chorus - reasons why it appeals to mainstream audience
- Does show similar representations as the Dappy video such as: seductive girls (sexual dancing), Jason Derulo is shown as powerful, main focus (girls always dancing on him), wealthy (wearing different clothes all the time etc)
-Different to the Dappy video because of how Jason Derulo is singing catchy lyrics and not saying more about other subjects like Dappy does etc.

I also chose these other two music videos to maybe include in my research investigation because it shows the comparison of how men are represented whilst they are showing their views on similar subjects (young people).



Underground Alternative Music
Plan B - Ill Manors
-Negative representations of men (violent, destructive etc.)
-Only appeals to small audience because of very negative video - No happiness, focuses on violence, hate etc.  


Mainstream Music
Tinie Tempah - Children Of The Sun feat. John Martin
-Much more positive representations.
-Tinie says about how he has had trouble in the past, but now has got fame etc.

Secondary Sources and Points for my Research Investigation

How male alternative underground artist create much more different and maybe negative representation of themselves because of the freedom they have.

Source: http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/mm42_hiphop.html


How mainstream artist create music videos for promotion and the artist are represented as stars.
Source: Studying popular music culture - Tim Wall 2003, chapter ten, representation, Stars as individuals.


How underground artist go mainstream to promote themselves, gain money and a bigger audiences and then change back to creating underground music.
Source: Media, Gender and Identity - David Gauntlett 2002, Music for boys chapter, Eminem: Role Model. 

Stereotypical representations of men in mainstream music.
Source: Angela McRobbies feminist theory
Source: Media, Gender and Identity - David Gauntlett 2002, Music for boys chapter, page 221.

Targets

Targets:

• Complete all independent learning to deadline
• Complete all work to full potential and not just half finished on blog

Target to complete by end of this week:

• Catch Up on all work not completed: TV and Genre Lesson 2  

            

Sherlock Holmes

'How similar are the genre conventions used in the 1968 episode of 'A Study in Scarlet' to the 2010 'A Study in Pink'.

 
  The episode 'A Study in pink' was first broadcasted in 2010 and is a reboot loosely based on the 1968 episode 'A Study in Scarlet'. When watching the 1968 episode and comparing it to the 2010 episode I noticed key parts in the narrative that were rebooted and changed to fit the narrative in the 2010 episode. Firstly the setting and some of the main characters names, personalities and appearances stayed similar, E.g. Sherlock's character dresses very similar in the 2010 episode by wearing a smart suit but however looses the detective cap, the waistcoat, the tie and the pipe. However some of these props and parts from the old Sherlock in 1968 get replaced/ modernised, such as the pipe gets changed for nicotine patches when Sherlock is thinking and the tie gets replaced with a scarf. Sherlock's characters personality and overall persona stays very similar as well with him being very smart and quite confident with his information, also the way Sherlock in both the episodes gets quick angry with himself or really happy when he or someone else such as the killer makes a mistake. However I do feel that the have changed the 2010 Sherlock Holmes by making Benedict Cumber batch act much more cocky and cheeky through the comments he makes. I feel they've done this in the newer reboots to add comedy aspects to the genre to appeal to a bigger audience. 


The character 'Dr. Watson' has also changed quite a bit from the 1968 episode because now he is a much bigger character in the 2010 narratives and holds much more mystery about him and his past through the way he is introduce into the episode 'A Study in Pink'. In the 1968 episode he was less of a main character and he would just follow Sherlock Holmes to keep him company and help him out a bit. However conventions of this character have also been kept such as how in both episodes he is always quite surprised in Sherlock and always wonders how he figures out and gains his information though clues etc. Also Dr Watson talks about the army past in both episodes. Mrs. Hudson has also been rebooted as a character and looks very similar as well through the costume she is wearing in both episodes. I fell her character has been change slightly to much more happy, talkative character as we see in the 2010 episode. As well as characters, we also have the setting of 'baker street' that has kept the same. Also the layout of the small flat is also very similar in both episodes.  

For the episode 'A Study In Pink' I noticed that they have taken many key elements from the episode 'A Study In Scarlet' and have changed them slightly to fit in the new narrative so that it is slightly different and unique. The word 'Rache' that was written in blood on the wall of the room meaning 'revenge' in German was changed in the newer episode and was engraved on the floor and was change so that Sherlock noticed that she missed the 'L' and was meaning to write Rachel.
In both narratives there was also a mistake by the killer that helped Sherlock complete the case in the older episode it was because of a ring and in the newer episode it was because of the phone. I feel that the narrative didn't stay the exact same because of how Mark Gatiss wanted the modernise the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Overall I felt from watching both episodes that the genre of the 1968 episode was more of a detective mystery genre and the 2010 reboot episode has shifted throughout the years and changed to a detective cop drama genre series because of the different conventions and narratives that are used. In the new series we see a lot more of cops, detectives and investigators which reminds me a lot of the crime investigation drama 'C.S.I'. We also see non linear parts of the episodes which explain more and go in depth on the past about characters such as Dr. Watson which gives a drama aspect to the narrative. However in the older episode in 1968, the narrative was very plain and linear and just focused on Sherlock Holmes finding clues to find a killer at the end of the episode.        

Doctor Who: Christmas Specials

The Runaway Bride is a Dr Who Christmas special which aired in 2006. This trailer included David Tennant as the doctor (who was also in the previous years Christmas special 'The Christmas Invasion') and Catherine Tate as donna (Dr Who's new companion). When watching this trailer, I felt that it was very similar to the 'Christmas Invasion' episode because of how it was set in London and also the same Santa villain characters were used. In the trailer we are introduced to this new companion for the doctor (Donna). In the Christmas invasion episode  we were also introduced to David Tennant who is the new doctor. Both these episode are very similar because they use these special episodes to be able to introduce new characters/actors of characters but without affecting the new series.

Voyage of the Damned is the third Christmas special of the new rebooted doctor who series. This episode aired in 2007 and was one of the most watched doctor who episodes of all time. This episode is very different compared to the last two because of how it is a extended episode from the narrative "last of the time lords" and is also based around the historic event of titanic. In this trailer we also don't get shown many props, costumes or location to do with Christmas.

The Next Doctor is the fourth doctor who Christmas special which aired in 2008 of the rebooted series. In the trailer we see a montage of different doctors from the new rebooted series and also the old series. This trailer involves a few clips with dialogue of old doctors talking about regeneration and also change that happens. In the trailer we also don't see much of the Christmas theme throughout and I feel this episode is more to do with character development and inform new audiences more about the regeneration process that happens in doctor who.      

The End Of Time episode Is very different to the other trailers that I have seen because it feel like more of a dramatic episode and from the dialogue we hear in the trailer and the music it almost feel like quite a horror/sad episode. In the trailer we also see a different side to the doctor because he is less humorous and much more serious in the way he speaks. Near the end of the episode we also get close ups of the doctor and hear him say "I'm going to die". 

A Christmas carol is the first Doctor who special with the doctor being played as a new actor (Matt Smith) in the new rebooted series. The narrative for this episode is inspired by the Charles Dickens novel 'A Christmas Carol'. In this episode we see the doctor go back in time to save a falling spaceship and make a character called Karsan. Throughout the episode we see a christmas theme throughout shown through props, weather (snowing), dialogue, costumes etc.

'The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe' is a episode very similar to 'A Christmas Carol' and 'Voyage of the Damned', because of how the narrative plays on a older film/ historic event or book (The lion, the witch and the wardrobe). This episode is Christmas themed because of how straight away in the trailer we get told in the dialogue and see a christmas tree. I feel that they have focused less on using sic-fi conventions because of how its set in the past and included much more action and horror throughout because of how there are many scenes of fire and destruction and we are also scared for the boy.

'The Snowmen' christmas episode is a episode that is very similar to 'The runaway bride' because of how we are introduced to the doctors new companion (Klara). Its a very christmas themed episode because how it is based around snowmen and christmas overall.