In the film "Dreamworlds 3", the narrator proceeds to point out the images of women portrayed by music videos. The narrator discusses the ways women can be inserted into the story line, usually by backup band member, crazed fans, random audience members, or just hanging around the singers or band members in general. Also told in the film, is the nature of femininity, that of a gender driven solely by sex. Women, as argued by the narrator, are depicted as always desiring sex, aggressive when it comes to sex, and not caring who is there and available for sex (meaning if there is a man around, the women will be all over him no matter the circumstances). Also, brought to light are the issues of the ratio of men to women in music videos. There seem to always be at least two or three girls (or more) for every man on screen. Furthermore, women are depicted as needing men to survive. When men are absent they replace him with various other objects (like food and car decals). When men are gone completely they fall apart and become fragments of what they were until the man returns and "saves" her. This image of true femininity is also depicted through scantily clad women in the limited roles of authority figures (like police), school girls, cheer leaders, and dominatrix, as well as bisexual. All of which fulfilling various male fantasies from mens' minds throughout their lives. Men on the other hand are always depicted as being the one in control of the situation, from controlling the girl's life to controlling the girl's emotions or even her circumstances such as keeping them in cages and throwing meat at them. Men are commonly depicted exercising their power over women and objectifying them.This is especially true of African American's in music videos, but it is not limited to them. All of these stereotypes with femininity and masculinity are then argued as the main images of pornography. Also, the narrator point out the quick and easy transition from porn to music videos, with many porn stars appearing in the music videos and many music videos being directed and produced by former porn directors and producers. The film then goes on to describe the three main ways of looking at women in music videos: from above or bending over to emphasize their cleavage, from underneath as if looking up their skirts, and looking up and down repeatedly over small portions of their bodies. Also, women are depicted as desiring to be gazed at in this way, constantly posing toward the audience. In doing so, the women further become sex objects. But, not only that, not even their whole bodies become sex objects, just parts of them do. This action in music videos is so prominent that women's music videos are conforming to this safe standard of porn. They know it will be successful, but they also objectify themselves in the process. Women and men are trapped in this vicious cycle of women depiction in music videos.
In this film there are two prominent points that are relevant to the class: one the treatment of the women by the men, and two the objectification of the women or their body parts. Both of these issues are being seen spreading faster and more in the regular world. An example of this comes in the film itself at the Puerto Rican Pride Parade, where many women were attacked and assaulted by the men there simply because the men felt they had the right, no doubt learned from the images or men controlling women and using their bodies for sexual pleasure presented in music videos. Another example of this influence comes in the essay "Becoming la Mujer," by Marisa Navarro as she recounts several cases of objectification and control she felt growing up as a Mexican American. The stories she tells comes from all ages, her teachers, her classmates, and even her boyfriend who slaps her and calls her names during sex like he's seen in music videos and porn. Furthermore, Naomi Wolf in her book "The Beauty Myth" talks many times of the increased violence and harassment women have faced simply for being a woman. She even directly states that "film, TV, and magazines are under pressure to compete with pornography, which is now the biggest media category" (79). This is a hard battle; a battle that, this film argues, women are losing horribly in.
Overall the film was moderate. The narrator is somewhat monotone and there is a huge inundation of music video clips. Some of the clips are pretty explicit. Also, there are times when the narrator is speaking of things that do not seem to fit in the section they are put in. Almost as if they should have been put in another section or a new section all together.
The perspective of the film was very good. It seemed to be gender neutral in that despite being narrated by a male figure, it expressed many points that a woman would think and feel very strongly about. The one thing with the perspective was that it assumed that all music videos and music stars would eventually succumb to this over sexified image,with the examples of Jewel, Madonna, and Christina Aguilera. Also, with the oversexified African Americans especially, this is shown with background to the silent film "The Birth of a Nation" and continuing to the film by Snoop Dogg. which is not necessarily true, look at Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson, and MIKA. These two women and one man neither portray themselves or other women in a sexual way or depict men as being overbearingly in control.
I give this film a C+, due to it's offensive clips yet informative nature. As mentioned in previous blogs, I am a very conservative person, and many of these images were from not only music videos that I choose not to watch but also from music genres I choose not to listen to due to their use of curse words and sometimes explicit content. I would probably not recommend this film to any of my friends unless they were doing a study of the images of women in media. Even then, though, I would recommend that they watch the abridged version which takes about some of the more offensive clips while leaving in all the important points.
