Thursday 27 September 2012

One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful

Music Video Critique

One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful



     The music video “What Makes You Beautiful” by Britishboy band One Direction is not an accurate portrayal of reality, although they try to show it as real.  There aren’t dancing woodland creatures, like in Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” or creepy automatons singing (“Turn Me On” featuring Nicki Minaj), but the
lifestyle shown by One Direction is not realistic.  In what world would five guys go to a beach and sing about a girl being beautiful?  None.  On the other hand, this video does perfectly depict what many teenage girls want to believe could actually happen.  In the words of a talented blogger (and devoted One Direction fan), their songs are, “full of a teen girl’s every wish – songs about how wonderful you are, how perfect you are, and how much foreign men in colourful skinny jeans love you. Who wouldn’t want to listen to that?” (Proctor, 2012).  While this reality does not exist, it is created in the video to target an audience of giddy teenage girls.
 
     “What Makes You Beautiful” demonstrates the classic codes and conventions of a boy band and a pop music video.  The five band members (Harry, Louis, Niall, Liam and Zayn) are all in casual clothes, singing on a beach.  Like many boy band music videos, they are just hanging out having a good time.  Right from the beginning you notice the stereotypical personalities of each member.  Liam is clearly the leader, while Louis is the clown; Zayn is quiet and mysterious; Harry, charming and Niall sweet and carefree.  Also, the fact that they are walking on a beach is a convention of a pop music video.  These kinds of bands seem to always be singing on beautiful beaches or near some other scenic view.  Other codes and conventions of boy bands shown are slow motion, singing in harmony together, catchy, repetitive lyrics, and most of all, the engaging arm movements that reach out and try to pull you into their world.

     The creed, or value, exhibited in this music video is that you shouldn’t try to change your appearance because it’s important to be yourself.  At the beginning, Liam sings about how you, “don't need make up to cover up, being the way that you are is enough.”  It is wonderful to find a popular song with any good values in it.  This is a rare message for modern pop culture to express as most media today centers around trying to be perfect (thin, pretty, popular, etc…).  Another creed is revealed when they sing, “You don’t know you’re beautiful.  That’s what makes you beautiful.”  These lyrics mean that it’s more attractive to be humble or modest instead of flaunting your good looks.  The creeds in “What Makes You Beautiful” are honourable, especially compared to other music videos (Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” for example) of today’s pop culture.  There are only really two groups of significance in One Direction’s video: males and females.  Both are portrayed as “popular”, positive, stylish and they are always smiling.  These groups are depicted in this manner because the audience (teenage girls) wishes their lives could be this way.

     This song, and One Direction in general, are targeted towards teen girls, and therefore that is who this video appeals to.  It is unlikely that many guys would listen to this song or enjoy the video.  In fact, boy bands are usually created and marketed to girls (eg. N’Sync, Back Street Boys, even the Beatles).  The simple, sweet lyrics, extremely catchy tune and stylish outfits catch the attention of teen girls.  This is really effective for selling the song because the one-dimensional feel to the video perfectly suits the preferences of a lot of girls.  In this way, the video and song match completely as neither of them are very deep or make you think.

“What Makes You Beautiful” is a typical boy band song. It’s completely innocent and the lyrics are repetitive and catchy.  In a year, it probably won’t be distinguishable from countless other boy bands that are past their 15 minutes of fame.  Anybody remember the Jonas Brothers?  Then again, don’t we need music like this?  You can listen to this song over and over again and it just gets better.  In this era of music videos featuring whipped cream bras, crazy parties and skimpy clothing, a song such as this is needed to even it all out.  Overall, I would definitely say this is a good music video, and so would the millions of 1D fan girls out there.

Sunday 16 September 2012

My Media Profile

1. The Importance of Media to Me

     Media is exceptionally important to me, depending on the type and topic of the media.  I couldn’t care less about most of the popular culture these days (Katy Perry, social networking and Glee for example) as it represents a part of society that I find mostly uninteresting.  However, there are many types of media that I use every day.  Movies, video games, books and the Internet are valuable sources of information and entertainment for me.  Whether it is using books for school projects, Googling information, listening to music, playing video games or being entertained by movies, manga, anime and novels, the media provides vital information to be used in all aspects of life.

2. My Top Three Kinds of Media

The three forms of media that are most important to me are:

1. Books/Manga
     Books to me are like air to other people.  I’ve been obsessed with reading since I first learned how to read on my own.  Even before I could read, as a baby my father would read books to me, the first being The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.  This is my absolute favourite kind of media because books can transport you to a different world; while you read you can forget about real life concerns and be somewhere else entirely.  When I discovered manga, I also found even greater worlds based on an entirely different culture from our own.  With examples like the Harry Potter books, Hunger Games trilogy, Inheritance Cycle and Fullmetal Alchemist series, who couldn’t say that books are the greatest type of media ever created?



2. Anime
Death Note talks about difficult issues such as
the morality of the death sentence and whether
 the world would be better if all criminals were killed.
     Japanese cartoons, also known as anime, are an amazing creation.  Nowhere else can you find cartoons specifically directed towards teenagers instead of little kids.  Anime has become a huge cultural phenomena in North America , with conventions popping up everywhere and more shows becoming available both on the internet and in stores.  Anime combines beautiful artwork with compelling and unique storylines to create something truly worth watching.  One may think that cartoons have to be simply amusing, as the majority of American shows are but this is wrong.  A good example of this is Death Note (original story by Tsugumi Ohba).  The morals that most media today question and explore are examined in a unique way in this series.  Ever since I was introduced to anime, I’ve been astonished by the wonderful quality and interest of this type of media.

3. Music
Even if I don’t enjoy popular music (Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Drake to name a few), music plays a big role in my life.  Artists like John Williams (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Jurassic Park , etc.), Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings), Koji Kondo (Legend of Zelda) and Patrick Doyle (Goblet of Fire) are all influential composers.  Their music is inspirational (even if there aren’t any words) and I listen to it all the time, whether I’m doing homework or drawing.
3. Pop Culture
     In my opinion, most of today’s pop culture is negatively affecting the world.  Social networking, film/television, and music are all forms of media that are contributing to this.  By being able to contact people so quickly (Facebook and texting for example), humans are relying more on this than actual talking.  I’ve seen many teenagers texting their friends from across the room, or worse, sitting next to each other.  Even when speaking, people rely on acronyms (LOL, JK, etc.) in conversation as if they were texting.  Furthermore, when it was discovered I didn’t have Facebook, I was asked how I talked with others!  It was incomprehensible that I could talk to them in person or on the phone.  Humans are losing their ability to connect with each other without the aid of technology.  Film and television are also a factor in today’s problems.  Actors and actresses have become increasingly thin and send messages to the public that they must be just as thin and beautiful as the people on screen.  In many movies, immoral creeds are expressed as okay.  This is shown in media such as “Rock of Ages”, “Project X” and “ Jersey Shore ” where sex and substances are sensationalized.  Morals are being discarded in pop culture to provide entertainment that is viewed by and seen as acceptable.  Last, many popular musicians sing about inappropriate topics and their songs are available to kids of all ages.  Ke$ha is a perfect example of this.  In her songs, she highlights drinking, drugs and wild parties as acceptable and “cool” habits.  It’s because of artists like her that young teens are encouraged to do bad things.  Overall, not all media is bad, but most of modern pop culture is negative.

This is just one example of many on the Internet of little kids singing Ke$ha’s songs.  Girls as young as three (not even in school yet) are being exposed to this indecent behaviour.
     Although a lot of pop culture is, in my opinion, inappropriate, I do enjoy using media both for entertainment and information.  Books, movies, television, music and video games are a part of nearly everyone’s lives to some degree nowadays, myself included.  Reading and playing video games form the basis of my past times.  Along with amusement, media also provides information for school and general knowledge.  While finding sources at the library is good, the Internet has greatly accelerated this process to the point where you can get school projects done in half the time.  Google has positively increased the capacity of knowledge that modern people have.  While media as entertainment is fun, I believe informative media is the most important kind and helps to educate the present world.
4. How I feel about the way teenagers are portrayed in the media.
     For years, the media has depicted teenagers as immature, irresponsible and ill-mannered.  Three perfect examples of this are Grease, Degrassi and Wildefire.  Grease is not a recent movie and yet it follows today’s image of teen behaviour.  The film is filled with smoking, pregnancy scares and swearing.  Not one teenager was portrayed as a kind, mature person except for Sandy and even she changed at the end.  The message of Grease explains that teenagers only accept skimpily-clad, “bad” girls like the Pink Ladies.  Degrassi is another example of immature teens.  The characters on this show make every single bad decision they can.  Upset about a boyfriend? Ruin his car.  Want to get off the hockey team?  Jump off a railing to break your arm.  Get kissed by your boss?  Tell nobody!  These kids make extremely stupid mistakes all the time and never learn from them; not one of them is a responsible, wise person who can make good choices.  Third, there is the book Wildefire, by Karsten Knight.  This recent fictional novel does not even consider the characters as bad or inappropriate, it is a normal circumstance for them to swear constantly, skip class and trick their way into clubs to drink.  The main character is a frequent drinker and her behaviour is displayed as “cool”.  Her and her friends are the good guys in this book; this is something the heroes of the story are doing.  Behaviour like this is becoming increasingly visible in pop culture and it just isn’t true for a lot of teenagers.
The shocking transformation Sandy was forced to make to fit in with the other teens.