Kayleigh's Media Blog: A2 Media

A2 Media Research

How are women represented in the rock industry?

Females in Rock: No Doubt, Paramore, We Are The In Crowd, Hey Monday, The Pretty Reckless, The Smashing Pumpkins, Joan Jett, Evanescence, The Pixies, Bangles, Garbage, The White Stripes, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Elana Seigman, The Gossip (Beth Ditto), Elana Seigman, Patti Smith, Cranberries, Courtney Love (Hole), Shirely Manson

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/may/31/lez-zeppelin-female-tribute-bands
Male bands:Compare against males in rock bands, such as AC/DC, Metallica, Greenday, Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin, Linkin Park, System Of A Down, Slayer, Guns 'n' Roses, Nirvana, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Hawkwind, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Rammstein, Slipknot, Iron Maiden, Killswitch Engage

Theory: Richard Dyer, Representation Theory
The decision over what is chosen to be represented and what is rejected.
The choices made when organising the representation.
1. What sense of the world is it making?
2. What does it imply? Is it typical of the world or is it deviant?
3. Who is it speaking to? For whom? To whom?
4. What does it represent to us and why? How do we respond to the representation?

http://www.slideshare.net/Katrinabrookes/representation-theories-12575484

Men represented in rock music: http://www.slideshare.net/ojwoods/hegemonic-masculinity-in-rock-music

"National mass media, such as tabloids, develop youth movements as much as they distort them. Contrary to youth subcultural ideologies, "subcultures" do not germinate from a seed and grow by force of their own energy into mysterious ‘movements’ only to be belatedly digested by the media. Rather, media and other culture industries are there and effective right from the start. They are central to the process of subcultural formation.^{" - Sarah Thornton,} Club Cultures : Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital.

Malcolm McLaren opened a shop called 'Sex' which was part of the punk movement and initiated the idea of punk culture. Vivienne Westwood helped him establish this movement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_McLaren

Paul Willis states based on postmodern return to feminism that "pop stars are symbolic vehicles with which young women understand themselves more full... shaping their personalities to fit the stars alleged preferences." Paul Willis, 1990 - Common Culture. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Joan Jett - I Love Rock N Roll, one of the most famous songs by a female rock artist
Evanescene - Bring Me To Life, yet another famous song by a female vocalist in rock music
Elena Siegman - 115 is in the Xbox game Call of Duty: Black Ops, which shows the recognition of women in the rock industry has become more noticed.
Hole - Celebrity Skin

Objectified view of women in Rap and Hip-Hop industry where they are dressed in provocative clothing such as Flo Rida - Whistle or Robin Thicke ft. Pharell Williams - Blurred Lines

There are also females in the rap industry who choose to dress provocative such as Lil Kim or Izzy Azalea in her music video for Work. When we think of women in the media today and in music videos, our automatic assumption is that they are being exploited and that they are dressing in skimpy clothing and are predominantly objectified.

Stereotypical belief that women in the music industry produce music mostly about romance, love, heart-break, boys. Contrast to this, 'Bitch' by Meredith Brooks talks about what she's like as a person. The Pretty Reckless have some songs which fit this stereotypical belief that girls portray more emotion through music than boys, but overall she gives off this reckless and rebellious persona. Mediated through social media, online magazines, how is the artist mediated through these, depends on image, relying on images, how you look, album covers available on iTunes, TPR, intertextuality, refer to Alice Cooper, image rich social media, conveys themes of music through appearance.

51 issues of Kerrang! in 2012, 5 of which featured a female somewhere on the front cover, which was Hayley Williams from Paramore, 1 of her and the band Paramore and 1 exculsively of her.

Essay plan:

Introduction - Talk about what I am researching, women in rock music, give examples such as Courtney Love, TPR etc.

Paragraph 1 - Compare women in rock music to women in mainstream music, in rock music they tend to be more aggressive, more masculine, whereas women in mainstream music are more objectified, and tend to talk more about relationships, love and break-ups. Use examples such as Courtney Love compared against Iggy Azalea (PRIMARY RESEARCH).

Paragraph 2 – Analyse the front cover of magazines with Taylor Swift in comparison to the Kerrang! cover of Hayley Williams, talking about clothing, colours, position etc.

Paragraph 3 - Look at the way women are represented in rock music compared to males in rock music, how men are more aggressive and are taken seriously whereas women aren't taken as serious, don't get as much media coverage. Can also talk about the objectification of women in rock music videos such as Rammstein - Mein Land which reinforces this idea that women are more eyecandy and should be in the videos rather than singing and producing the music.

Paragraph 4 – Analyse CD covers of male artists compared to female bands such as ‘Hole’, as well as statistics as to how many females have been on the cover of Kerrang! magazine in comparison to the number of magazines produced.

Paragraph 5 - Apply the theories above about the fact the media today shapes our generation into the people they become (Sarah Thornton), including Paul Willis's beliefs on young women.

Paragraph 6 – Use female rock artists as case studies, specifically Taylor Momsen and Gwen Stefani, talk about how when she was in No Doubt she was quite a masculine character, then when she went as a solo artist she altered her appearance and changed to tailor the mainstream audience. Similarly with Taylor Momsen, she alters her appearance from when she is on stage to when she is going out, and when she is on stage she wears skimpy clothing, has dark make up on, and gives off a gothic vibe. This can be compared to Alice Cooper.

Conclusion – Brief overview of everything that has been written about in the essay, commenting on females in the mainstream music industry and how they are exploited whereas in the rock industry they are masculine, and how there is still little media coverage over girl bands in comparison to male bands, and that male bands are still dominating the rock industry.

References: