Alternative Representations.

Mary J Blige – Be Without you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XNaPX6MKlU&ob=av2e

This music video is an alternative representation of other music videos shown in the RnB Hip Hop music industry such as Nicki Minaj who sexually objectifies herself through her lyrics – sense of dressing – expressions and narrative of her videos. Whereas Mary J Blige sticks to the traditional and stereotypical roles of a women. In this music video she is dressed appropriately with no cleavage suggesting she is not sexually objectified. In fact she is shown as the opposite where she is wearing casual trackers with a white vest stop. This would allow the audience to personally identify with her as it reflects on the ideologies of constructing realism. She is shown doing the opposite to what most videos show today, at 1.53 in the video she is shown serving food to guests and being a welcoming face, embracing her family members.These are traditional ideologies for example according to Functionalists such as Parsons, therefore she is portrayed with a positive and aspiring image to her audience. The lyrics also compliment the traditional housewife roles and emotional affection for her husband unlike most other songs which are all about sexual fantasies i.e Lady Gaga. The lyrics in this song connote non sexual behaviour and realism within relationships. For example “And I’ll be waiting u p until you get home cause I cant sleep without you baby” this is an example of behaviour a traditional housewife would do, who would wait for the arrival of her husband and then go to sleep. The use low key lighting and a black and white effect in the video may connote her emotions as she feels heartbroken therefore she is set in a dull surrounding. However a stronger interpretation of this is that the black and white could connote her subordinate character as the scene where the man is in, is mostly in colour whereas most of Mary J Blige's shots are in black and white. This also reinforces the ideologies of a patriarchal society.This video is a clear example of hegemony as the artists video has clearly been influenced by the state or society through its patriarchal ideologies. This represents women as powerless and subordinate not only in the video but also reflects on society as it could be considered some values of patriarchy still does exist. Another example that portrays the subordination of female representations regarding the image on the left is the use of high top key lighting which connotes superiority and dominance in comparison to what we witness when Mary J Blige is on screen. With this you can clearly see the comparisons of the binnary oppositions of both men and women relating to dominance, superiority and alternative representations within the HipHop music industry. Mary J Blige is considered the alternative representation of women through the rejection of todays codes and conventions of Hip Hop and RnB videos. Women sexually objectify themselves and attract the male gaze give them an erotic and pleasurable experience when watching their video such as Beyonce – Baby Boy. However Mary J Blige challenges this typical representation of women and portray them in a positive light rather than in a sexually way. Another example to back this is the scene where both couple look intimate however yet she does not reveal any cleavage whereas most artists would do so. The fact that she is covered up and asleep gives her angel like connotations and that one of a vulnerable characteristics This shows the rejection of objectification or fetishization in the music video