Music Video Analysis

Music Video Analysis

Although viewers are thoroughly entertained by music videos, they are not all good. Some music videos create and reflect typical stereotypes and representations. 

'Stupid Girls' is a song by the American Pop artist, Pink. The song and video clip is about the way media portrays women and how that portrayal influences the behaviour of teenage girls in society. In the video a small girl is being influenced by a demon and an angel as she watches women being represented on the TV. The images portrayed by the media on TV influences the small girls future.

The entire video clip represents the range of ways women are viewed in our society. Pink shows us how media can make teenage girls insecure about their appearance. The video demonstrates current trends that media and celebrities portray as right or 'beautiful'. 

The different representations of women that feature Pink are those of a girl attempting to attract the attention of a gym instructor and a girl who uses inflatable breasts to impress a boy at a bowling alley. There is also a girl in a tanning salon, a girl who vomits her food because calories are "so not sexy", a girl getting plastic surgery, a girl washing a car in sexy and minimal clothing and also a girl who buys a dog with an advertisement that says "stays younger longer". All these representations show that beauty and looks is very important to all these characters. These characters are only living for the image of being 'stereotypically beautiful'.

The video shows that these girls aren't obviously happy about their appearance so try to change by losing weight, getting a fake tan or going to the extent of buying a dog to 'stay younger looking'. This is a result from what media portrays. Women and teenage girls enhance the way they look because they believe that's all that is important. Pink is showing us that media portrays perfect beauty as skinny, tan, big boobed and young looking. 

Pink portrays these girls as "stupid girls". A "stupid girl" is represented as a girl who intentionally destroys her intelligence and morals for social recognition and beauty. "Stupid girls" have intelligence but prefer to make themselves noticed by changing their morals and appearance at any cost. This is influenced because of what media portrays as beauty and perfection.

Teenage girls are exposed to images and representations that are so unrealistic and unattainable that they become so caught up in trying to become those images portrayed by the media. This makes teenage girls self-conscious. 
Pink's video shows that media negatively influences teenage girls. Women celebrities tend to find fame or success through using their 'perfect' body shapes or features, this influences teenage girls to use their body's to become successful and not their minds. Therefore teenage girls work hard and go over the top to have a perfect body image.
Representations of perfect beauty in the media can lead teenage girls to being so obsessed with their body image that they become anorexic because they're "not as skinny as that famous girl" or depressed because they can't be happy with their appearance. Teenage girls don't realise that perfect beauty portrayed in the media is almost impossible to achieve.

Pink's music video shows how media portrays women in a negative way. The video shows how women are only good or known for their bodies, where as in reality there are women out there who will gain leadership roles and contribute to our society positively. It also negatively portrays women and teenage girls as we are simply giving into to what the media is portraying and we are going out of our way to become the stereotype of beautiful. 

Media encourages teenage girls to care hugely about their appearance and being what is considered in today's society as 'beautiful'.
Pink's message behind her lyrics and video is a positive representation of how teenage girls are influenced by media. She also shows us how media has a negative representation of teenage girls. Teenage girls can relate to Pink's video because more and more girls are suffering from being sucked in by the media to become the unrealistic image of beauty.

The impact media has on teenage girls is growing as the media is exposing more and teenage girls are becoming more vulnerable. Like shown in Pink's music video, media alters the normal and skews girls towards eating disorders and depression to achieve a perfect body image.

Another music video by Pink is called 'Perfect' where she reflects the consequences and impact media has on teenage girls. Pink is trying to show the amount of pressure there is on a teenage girl to be 'perfect' where in reality we aren't perfect.

The video is about a teenage girl growing up around media. The young girl is depressed because she is different from the typical stereotype of 'pretty'.
Throughout the music video we see the girl carve 'skinny bitches' into a bath room wall and then soon after watching two skinny, stereotypically pretty girls getting changed into 'pretty' dresses. In the next scene the young teenage girl is standing on scales with bones clearly showing indicating she had anorexia. Her anorexia tells us that she is trying to fit into the stereotype of being pretty, as stereotypical beautiful girls are always skinny. This shows how pressured she is to be 'pretty' and how trying to change herself to fit into that stereotype group is negatively affecting her.

"The only thing I should be drinking Is an ice cold beer" are lyrics in the song that indicate Pink trying to tell teenage girls to move away from stereotypes, as women stereotypically drink wine and not beer.

Just like Pink's other music video, she is sending a message to teenage girls of how negative the images are that the media portray.