What is the focus of representation in Riptide?
femininity
Who sang Riptide?
Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy.
When what Riptide released?
First released on his debut EP God Loves You When You’re Dancing in 2013 and is also featured on his debut studio album Dream Your Life Away in 2014.
How does the representation of women relate to popular film genres such as the horror and western genre?
Riptide makes cultural references to outdated codes and conventions associated horror and western films where women are typically represented as weak and submissive characters (damsels in distress) in need of male protection.
How do we see influence from expressionist director Sergei Eisenstein in Riptide?
A selection of seemingly unrelated images that are used to construct new meaning (intellectual montage) combined with the song lyrics.
How do we see influence from expressionist director Wes Anderson in Riptide?
Use of symmetry, shot preferences (slow motion, whip pans etc.), recurring characters and the presence of strong colour palette to reflect emotional mood/context.
What is an intellectual montage?
Combining images that draw on intellectual meaning - a metaphor.
What is a pastiche?
An artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period.
What is scopophilia/voyeurism?
Sexual pleasure derived chiefly from watching others when they are naked or angled in sexual activity.
What is surrealism?
Reflects something out of the ordinary.
What is the main intertexual reference in Riptide?
Un Chien Andalou by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali - in several thematic respects: violence towards women, voyeuristic camera perspective, surreal, unrelating scenes and a constant sense of impending threat.
How are women repeatedly presented as a watched object?
- A mid shot with a woman with her back to the camera undressing out of a swimming costume.
- Many of the female characters are clearly sexualised and victims of scopophilia and the male gaze.
- The lip-syncing woman first appears with immaculate makeup, framed and lit in a flattering light, reflecting the social norms of beauty associated with mainstream media texts.
What is the male gaze?
The act of depicting women and the world , in the visual arts and in literature from the masculine heterosexual perspective that presents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the male viewer.
How are women misogynised and sexualised in the music video?
Beautiful women are in peril, represented as little more than passive victims of a mysogynist perspective.
How are social norms of beauty constructed in the music video?
The female characters conform to stereotypes such as a slim body, stylish hair, makeup and fashionable clothing.
How are the women subjected to violence?
- The iconography of the knife and a gun being pointed off screen are obvious examples of violence towards women.
- The lip syncing woman clutches at her own neck with blood on her hand. This construction potentially normalises abusive relationships and she recurs many times in the music video.
How do women in the music video challenge patriarchal stereotypes?
- The woman who is tied up to the tree escapes and flees, perhaps a metaphor for escaping a suffocating relationship.
- In the graveyard scene, a woman is directing her male counterparts where to go which shows a position of power in control of men.
How is the idea of women being subject to scopophilia challenged?
The exclusive objectification of women is subverted in the use of binoculars when the woman stands on the balcony.
How is the stereotype of women being in control of their beauty challenged in the music video?
- As we repeatedly return to this character, she becomes increasingly dissolved and her expressions become more vacant.
- This representation challenges gender representation in music videos as it is a clear deconstruction of expectations of how women are “meant” to appear in this sub genre.
- Alternatively, it hints at an abusive relationship.
Which representation theories should be applied to Riptide?
David Gauntlett’s theory of identity and Bell Hook’s feminist theory.
What is David Gauntlett’s theory of identity?
The exploration of how audiences are able to identify with themselves and establish their roles in society all through the power of media.
What are the various representations of femininity that female audiences can embrace from this music video?
- Female consumers can choose which aspects of the many active and passive mediated roles to adopt within their own characteristics, from the beautiful; and ambivalent to the vulnerable and raw.
- Some however may argue that many of these female representations are still manufactured in a manner that promotes thin and perfect body image, therefore putting undue pressure specifically on young girls.
What is Bell Hooks’ feminist theory?
Bell Hooks states that female races must learn to conform with one another and “confront their interest of white supremacist beliefs” rather than directing anger at other women. It is important to “learn about their culture, to share knowledge and skills, and to gain strength from diversity”.
How is the representation of femininity contradicted in the music video relating to Bell Hooks’ feminist theory?
- In the video, women are objectified in an ironic way and at times Riptide glorifies the oppression of women in a patriarchal society.
- In contradiction, we see women become liberated and free themselves for abusive situations which relates to Hooks’ position that feminism is a struggle to end sexist oppression.
