Analyse the representation of gender in "the man" and "riptide"

Analyse the representation of gender in 'the man' and 'riptide' (800 words)

In both music videos of "The Man'' by Taylor Swift and "Riptide" by Vance Joy, they both explore the theme of gender and have a similar way of representing the stereotypes that are involved. In riptide, there is a camera shot of a woman facing away from the camera whilst undressing; this indicates that she was unaware that she was being recorded which suggests that women are vulnerable and can easily be manipulated. In addition, this not only depicts women as weak and fragile, but it also sexualises them as recording a woman undressing and showing a lot of skin without their consent views them as objects where society (mostly men) are able to degrade and dehumanise them. This gives a metaphor that the man in this scenario is the predator while the woman is seen as the prey. Similarly, the ideology of women being objectified by men is also shown in the "The Man'' music video. The music video clearly shows Taylor Swift dressed as a man on a yacht with many half naked women dancing while surrounding him conveying that women are seen to impress men by entertaining them with their bodies which is also sexualising them as well as the Riptide music video. The lyrics state “and getting bitches and models,” the derogatory noun “bitches” used towards women conveys that they are nothing but an object and are only there for the purpose of male attention making them seem less powerful than men. Society norms are built on the stereotypes that were made back in the day, which were that women would always be below men in the hierarchy and that men had full control, power and dominance above them, especially rich, white and upper class men. This is shown in Stuart Hall's theory where he believes that stereotypes is used to assert power and that "one in a different group that is in power (men) is able to stereotype another (women)." Both music videos portray the representation of gender inequality and how women are depersonalised in society by men through sexualising. 

Moreover, in the "The Man" music video it portrays men as animals and people with no morals or respect for public property. This is clearly highlighted in the camera shot where Taylor dressed as a man, urinated in public while many did not even care to question what he was doing which further indicates how normalised this type of behaviour is in modern society. In addition, it also conveys the man as some sort of animal marking their territory, highlighting their animalistic tendencies. Differently women are viewed in the music video as more reserved and polite as in the camera shot set in the subway, the women sitting next to Taylor were uncomfortable with the way he was sitting given that he was "man-spreading" while they were sitting in a respectable and orderly fashioned way which goes back to how society views women as being formal and private and an alternative stereotype for women is to not to show too much skin. This further feeds into the point that men are more respected by society as they are able to feel comfortable doing actions which are seen as inappropriate to others without being called out for them. To further expand my point, in both music videos, men are able to break the law without consequences, for example: urinating on public property, smoking in areas where it is prohibited and (in the Riptide music video) filming someone without their consent. 

Furthermore, in “The Man” music video men are praised when they are seen taking care of a child and illustrated as heroic in a sense; this is presented in the music video where the man sees a woman with her baby and he decides to do the same exact thing, the only difference being that he was applauded by a large group of people while when the women did it she got no recognition showing the difference in the responses from society. This shows that men gets praised for doing the bare minimum while it is normal for women to do the childcare and housework which brings this back to the classic stereotype which was widely known in the 1950s because of the world war, that women would stay at home and do the cooking and cleaning while the men went out to provide for their family and go to their jobs. Even nowadays, society views childcare as a women’s job which is why it is so peculiar and different to see a change of a man taking care of a child. To add, another point that breaks a stereotype of women being vulnerable and weak is that in the Riptide music video, there is a low angle camera shot of a woman looking powerful based on her stance and strong and bold facial expressions which goes against the stereotype as it is usually portrayed as men being more dominant and authoritative. 

Overall, in both “The Man” by Taylor Swift and “Riptide” by Vance Joy, it portrays the same type of representation of gender which is gender inequality and how it is viewed in the mainstream media and how it is mostly built up on old stereotypes. The Man mostly focuses on the male point of view and how male actions affect the people around them while the Riptide music video mostly focuses on the female point of view and how the consequences of the males actions affects them in a negative way. Both music videos however, successfully were able to indicate the problems of how society targets genders for specific things and discover hidden stereotypes that people most likely did not know about but what harmful to how society views genders.