How is masculinity represented in the music video Gin and Juice by Snoop Dogg?

Masculinity in this video is represented in a contrasting way to the previously analysed video, Little White Lies by Deaf Havana. This is a more serious video which shows masculinity in a more realistic manner.

Elements of the Male Gaze theory are very evident throughout, one particular scene which shows this is at around 1:28 with a woman dancing at the house party. The camera shots force the viewer to look at her in the way that a heterosexual male would, with close up shots of her body tilting slowly down her body. This is also shot in slow motion for the male gaze to take effect to it's full extent.

Scenes like this run throughout the video, showing the male's power over the females and giving a representation that males view females only as objects of sexual desire. This gives the males superiority over the females.

There is, however, one female who has definite superiority over Snoop Dogg in this video; the mother character. She bosses the children and him around and this had negative effects on his masculinity, showing that he is not superior to all people, especially this authority figure and women. However, he fact that none of his friends saw him prevents the rest of the characters fro thinking that he isn't the alpha male.

The father character in this video also brings out the true masculinity being represented as he is the true alpha male, being able to boss Snoop Dogg around and tell him off, like a typical father figure. Snoop Dogg is only the alpha male when his father leaves the scene, showing that, without an authority figure present, he believes that he is the alpha male out of all of his friends and the younger brother characters in the video. This shows that he is slightly arrogant and very confident in himself, which is a characteristic of being a very masculine male. 

How is masculinity represented in the music video Little White Lies by Deaf Havana?

The music video to this song gives off a comical representation of masculinity by showing four football hooligan men watching a match then going out to a night club to celebrate in the 1980's.
They use exaggerated movement in the way they click their fingers and strut while they walk in the scene when they are travelling along a street, showing that they think they are the alpha males and better than everyone else.

When they get to the night club, they completely skip the line at the entrance and greet the bouncer at the door with a friendly point and wink. This shows the other people waiting in the line and the audience they are superior males to the rest. This scene uses more exaggerated movement in their greeting method and the way that they pull their shirt collars up for the comical effect f their arrogance.

As they enter the night club, they play with their collars once again, showing that they are preparing to go "on the pull", this usually only happens with very masculine men who regularly sleep with many women, which usually takes the female gaze (similar to the Male Gaze theory, but opposite) to do.

Their appearance also adds to the comical masculine parody effect; their apparel is a typical representation of a 1980's football fan in the first few scenes, to some laddish typical 80's party-goers in the night club scenes, their hair is also stereotypical of the 1980's men - Mullets. Their apparently superior fashion sense in this video is also a contributing factor to their comically alpha male masculinity.

There is further evidence that the masculinity in this video is represented in a comical way by the actual physical build of these characters, they are not at all the typical alpha male that is usually shown, these men range from short and stocky to tall, skinny, lanky people with fairly chubby faces with uneven teeth, whereas the typical masculine white male would be muscular and tall built with an edged, angular face with a broad chin and straight, white teeth.

There are also elements of the Male Gaze theory in this video; the tilting close-up shots viewing Portia Conn's (the woman who sings in the last scene) body force the audience to view her from a heterosexual male's perspective. The slow motion effect also slows down the process, forcing the audience to "check her out" for a longer period of time.

The lighting and focus in this scene also give a sense of intimacy, blocking everyone else out of the view and showing her looking directly into the camera as if she is looking straight into your eyes.

How typical is Sin City to Noir and Comic Book?

The second scene of this film involves a cop called John Hartigan who is pursuing the kidnapper of a young girl. This scene has elements from both Comic Book and Noir Genres, but mainly from Comic Book. There is evidence of this in the amount of violence there is in this scene and how exaggerated some elements of the violence are, for example, when Hartigan shoots the criminals, they fly across the room as if hit with an explosion rather than a bullet. Another example would be the amount of times Hartigan gets shot by his corrupt cop partner. This shows some superhuman qualities that would certainly not exist in any non-hybrid Noir film.

There are also other scenes in this film which represent the Comic Book genre through the conventions of over-exaggerated violence and superhuman-like powers. Marv, for instance, has certain physical attributes that no regular human being could ever achieve possessing. One example of this would be towards the beginning of his story, when he jumps down around 5 flights of stairs and just grabs the hand rail to stop himself from falling any further, seemingly physically fine with no injuries whatsoever.

Another example of Marv's superhuman qualities is when he repeatedly gets ran over by a car being driven by Goldie's twin sister. After being thrown into the air and slamming to the ground, he just gets bad up onto his feet and brushes himself off, only to get ran over again and again, repeating his actions each time.
He also gets shot many more times than any human can withstand without having noticeable consequences to his health, until the very end of his story where multiple gunmen with machine guns finally end his spree of revenge. These superhuman qualities are definitely typical of the Comic Book genre and not of Noir as it shows that Marv is some form of unstoppable, indestructible (until the end of his story) super being.

There are also an equal amount of Noir conventions in this film; the most noticeable being the methods of lighting. The film contains only low key lighting and is only set at night. This gives off a dark, menacing representation of the narrative and characters. Another aspect of the lighting affecting the characters' narratives would be how their face is mostly in shadow during conversations. This is a typical convention of Noir films and shows their inhumanity and lack of value for human life.

Fish Tank Analysis #2

The Kidnapping scene

This scene begins with Mia seeing Keira (Connor's daughter) and recognising that she is vulnerable as she is out of sight from her parents. Looking out for witnesses, she seems to be some sort of natural criminal, this reflects on her background as an underclass person and represents people of her class negatively.

As Mia runs off with Keira, she uses persuasive language that wouldn't usually be used when communicating with a child; her tone of voice is aggressive and she swears at Keira. This shows how Mia herself was brought up by just her mother and how she treated Mia as a child. 

Further evidence of this shows when Keira runs away from Mia and then gets caught by her, after a minute or so of Mia being kicked in the shins by the child, she pushes the child into the nearby lake. This shows that Mia does not know how to handle a child at her young age through lack of experience with a child who is not her little sister (who she shouts abuse at and fights with regularly). 

This is contrasted slightly when she pulls the child from the water and takes her home. Mia seems caring towards Keira now that she has been made upset by her. This shows that Mia has some moral standards and feels some guilt for pushing the child into the lake. This is one of the few times the audience sees Mia showing any emotion towards something other than aggressive anger, a sign that she is starting to change for the better and growing up from the hostile "chav" child that she was at the beginning.

Fish Tank Analysis

The Fishing Scene

This scene begins with Mia getting out of the car with her little sister, mother and her mother's boyfriend, Connor leading them to a nearby lake. The entrance to this lake is blocked off by a large gate to prevent vehicles from entering, as Mia, her sister and her mother do not hesitate to think twice about the fact that it may be illegal to enter this area, this shows what kind of moral standards they have - evidently very low. 

The kind of language that they use to speak to one another also reflects their morals; extensive use of swearing at each other shows that the way they have been brought up was flawed by the lack of a father figure to properly discipline the children, also, the mother is also very young and drinks and smokes which also affects the children's moral standards. The way that they talk to one another also shows that they do not get along with each other as a family with just one parent.

All lighting in this scene (along with the whole rest of the film) is naturally occurring, this emphasises the raw reality of this film's genre - to make it seem as gritty and realistic as possible. This is a typical convention of the Social Realism genre.

Their behaviour in this scene compared to other scenes in the film has changed vastly. This scene shows them having a family outing and spending time with each other for the first time in this film now that Connor is with them. This represents males as more powerful than females and better leaders of a family by being the key to keeping a family together and well disciplined.

Shortly after arriving at this lake, Connor wades in and urges one of the girls to join him to aid his fishing. Mia instantly wades in after him, showing a connection between the two (definitely not the last time this happens in this film) and establishing the role of a father figure for the family, although, Mia may do this because she finds Connor attractive due to a previous scene which involved a large amount of the female gaze (similar to the male gaze, but instead of females viewing other females from a heterosexual male's perspective, a male is forced to view another male from a heterosexual female's perspective).