case study audience screenshots with notes

Run the world and Dior addictAudience Q2c

Target/appeal/attract/position/respond

Target/ appeal/attract

• Primary audience: Teenage girls/young women, who are fans of pop/ R‘n’B music.

• Secondary audience: Teenage boys/young men, who are fans of pop/ R‘n’B music.

Headdress

• The track features an empowering message - that women "run the world". The Cleopatra headdress connotes power- this links to Egyptian matriarchy. It may appeal to young women/teenage girls, who may aspire to be confident and dominant. Teenage girls may find her role model gratifying in this it helps them create a sense of personal identity (Blumler & Katz), teaching them how to be attractive and in control.

Beyonce is seen taking the wallet from a man

• Beyonce is seen taking the wallet from a man, and he appears powerless and doesn't protest. This appeals to young women's desires to be in control of men.

• Maybe due to the patriarchal society we live in.

Sexual poses and dance moves

• Beyonce's costumes are very provocative, revealing her cleavage and exposing her thighs. The "skimpy" and "sensual" costumes may appeal to the sexual desires of young men. However, it also provides a model of behaviour for young women who want to know how to look appealing.

• The video features a range of interesting and attractive fashion. The fashion may appeal to women's desire to look attractive, but also to express themselves through their clothing.

• Beyonce uses many sexual poses and dance moves. The dance moves may appeal to men as it may offer them some sexual arousal (Blumler & Katz).

Positioning

Forefront of every dance and singing part

• Beyonce is shown to be in command of all the women dancers and the male ‘prisoners’. When she dances the rest of the girls follow her lead and she is always at the forefront of every dance and singing part, reinforcing the idea that she is the wizard that runs the world. This challenges Berger's observation that, in art, "men act and women appear".

Lyrics

• “Who run the world… girls”

• The text has tried to position the audience to agree with what Beyonce is trying to portray - that women "run the world".

Beyonce in chains…then revealed…

• The video subverts the idea that women are repressed, there is a mid-shot of Beyonce in chains reinforcing the notion of patriarchy. There is a straight cut to a long shot of Beyonce, where we see the chains are actually holding two hyena's which she whips into control, connoting she is powerful and dominant. This could also position the audience to consider the hyenas as how Beyonce sees men - weaker than her and she is in power over them.

Headdress

• The use of the Egyptian headdress suggests that she is powerful, this positions the audience to think of her as a modern day Cleopatra and being in control.

World in a post-apocalyptic state

• Also the mise-en-scene of the video is showing the world in a post-apocalyptic state which could suggest that the answer to the lyrics ‘Who run the world?’ was men and that they screwed up and now women are in charge trying to sort everything out - equilibrium and disequilibrium.

Beyonce is seen taking the wallet from a man

• Beyonce takes the wallet from the man, showing she has ownership over the man. The man does not protest symbolizing he is scared of her and she is in control. This subverts the stereotype of women being passive (John Berger)

Respond

• As Stuart Hall has argued, audience can oppose the intended message of a text. This is very true of the Beyonce video for the song Run the World (girls), which many people have read as sexist and patriarchal.

Breast thrust

• It could be argued that Beyonce and all of the background dancers are catering for the male gaze, which is demonstrating that the only reason that they are seen as powerful is because they aren’t wearing many clothes which entices men, and apparently means that the females can control men through their looks and seduction alone (reinforcing the Beauty Myth (Naomi Wolf)). At the beginning of the video, Beyonce thrusts her breasts, which instantly positions her as catering for the male gaze (Laura Mulvey).

Dustbins on fire/ Mess/ Deserted place

• Although Beyonce is positioned to ‘Run the World’, which is a positive thing, the world that she in fact runs appears from the mise-en-scene to be a crime ridden, messy, unappealing, ‘world’, we can see this though the visual signifiers of dust bins on fire, deserted bikes, burnt out cars and so on. This portrays her as being a poor leader of ‘the world’ that she is supposedly ‘running’ with all of the ‘girls’. This positions ‘girls’ in a negatively and harsh light, seeing that they are running a world that is so out of control.

‘Bodyguards’ in front

• The fact that most of the way through the music video Beyonce has two male bodyguards stood in front of her shows that, although the females are being portrayed as powerful, they still need men to protect them.

Dior addict

• Primary audience: affluent, heterosexual young women.

• Secondary audience: affluent, heterosexual young men who would buy the product for their girlfriends/wives.

The picturesque town

• The mise-en-scene consists of three key places; the beach, the picturesque town and the bar, all conventionally desirable places. This offers the utopia of 'abundance' (Richard Dyer), which may be lacking in the audience's lives.

Beautiful and carefree

• This would appeal to Aspirers (people who want to appear rich and attractive) In this case, women (and teenagers) would want to aspire to be beautiful and carefree like the subject in the advert.

On-looking men

• The female subject is the only woman represented in the advert, surrounded by handsome on-looking men seemingly hypnotized by her beauty. This may gratify some young women, who could make a personal connection with that image.

• Young women and older women could gratify with the subjects’ aura and swagger as she strolls through the town, gaining a sense of personal identity (Blumler and Katz) and that they too could achieve this sex appeal.

slow-motion Close-Up

• The female subject (model Daphne Groeneveld) wears sexually arousing clothing (bikini on the beach and a very short skirt in the bar). The provocative exposing body flesh of her slow-motion Close-Up shots of the subject slowly rubbing her hands up her legs and onto her upper body + a different Close-Up shot revealing the subject lifting up her short skirt,thighs and bottom would appeal to heterosexual male audiences through sexual arousal (Blumler and Katz).

Dior fashions & revealing clothes (Bikini/ red skirt)

• The video features a range of Dior’s latest fashion - gratifying the audience through information.

Positioning

upbeat and fast paced music (non-diegetic sound)

• The upbeat and fast paced music (non-diegetic sound) sets the adverts tone, helping the audience to believe wearing the perfume will shape them to become sexy, youthful and carefree, just like Daphne Groeneveld.

provocative dance / flesh

• In the bar scene it appears the female subject is ‘performing’ on the table for the men with a provocative dance (connotations of a stripper), suggesting when women wear the perfume they are more sexually arousing.

‘Beauty’

• The text has attempted to position the audience to buy the Dior Addict perfume, so they too can be empowered with a sense of desirability which will result in all men giving them attention.

• By reinforcing the idea that beauty catches people's attention - the audience is positioned to beauty as a form of power, reinforcing Naomi Wolf's idea of the Beauty Myth.

Lyrics

• “big money’, ‘big fame’…No no no I don’t need it”

• The lyrics: ‘big money’, ‘big fame’ … ‘No no no I don’t need it’, suggest you do not need money or fame to attract the male gaze, but rather positions the audience to think that if you wear the Dior perfume you can be sexy and achieve this happy lifestyle.

everything in the advert is in a state of equilibrium

• There is no state of disequilibrium, everything in the advert is in a state of equilibrium (the beautiful mise-en-scene, the weather and the attention she is receiving from the men etc.). This positions the audience to see the product (and the lifestyle that comes with it) in a positive light.

Respond

sexualised construction

• Stuart Hall’s ‘Reception Model’ (1980) theory; auidences have contrasting responses to the same texts; preferred, negiotiated and oppositional.

• Although the audience is being positioned to think of Daphne Groenevled as a dominant character, this has only been achieved through her sexualised construction, which reinforces Naomi Wolf’s ‘Beauty Myth’ theory, suggesting women are often valued by how beautiful they are. Therefore, it could be argued the female subject only achieves the male gaze and her dominant positioning through her beauty, as there is nothing she does which requires any form of intellect. An audience could therefore reject this positioning on this ground, considering this as reinforcing negative stereotypes of women.

required the assistance of the two men

• Furthermore, the fact the female subject required the assistance of the two men in the bar to help her get onto the table reflects she was unable to achieve that as a independent woman and relied on males for help

The narrative - before/after spray

• The narrative suggests the female subject is alone at the start on the beach, yet after she uses the perfume she suddenly becomes active and desirable. Oppositional responses to this advert’s narrative could suggest without male attention women are passive and have nothing to do and are bored and unemployed