The video which I am going to analyse is Bob Sinclar featuring Fireball – ‘What I Want’ which was released in 2007. Bob Sinclar is a DJ who is associated with ‘French House’ music which is a type of music genre. ‘French House’ music is the same as ‘House’ music however it is created by French artists. I am going to analyse this video using Andrew Goodwin’s music video analysis and also Laura Mulvey’s theory.
First of all while watching Bob Sinclar’s music video it clearly demonstrates the genre characteristics of ‘French House’ music which is very much like ‘Electronic Dance’ music. The characteristics of electronic dance music are generally upbeat, fun, playful, energetic, and sexual. In most ‘Electronic Dance’ music videos there is a sexual element this being because the majority of the time this music is being played within a club scene, so therefore being lots of glamorous girls dressed up and dancing. Within this particular video which is mainly a performance and narrative based video, it also includes girls dancing in a sexual nature, wearing skimpy tops and hot pants. The video also comes across as energetic as it includes dancing and women carrying out workouts such as running, a variety of stretches and playing golf. Not only does it come across as energetic in this way but also through the edits as they are quick to match the beat. ‘The male Gaze’ being Laura Mulvey’s theory is clearly shown through the characteristics as when the girls are dancing in a sexual way this is all that the camera is focusing on, creating the audience to also focus on the women. As a main genre characteristic with this type of music video is women dancing, this is included. Women are dancing around and on top of a car which is traditionally shown. Laura Mulvey also states within her theory that women are merely represented to provide visual pleasure to men which is a main element of this video.
This leads me on to talking about the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. There are no particular lyrics that match particular parts of the video however the lyrics sung are “yeah pretty baby I love a girl all over me, that’s what I want with you baby,” “You can’t deny how much you want it girl, you will be mine,” “she’s always teasing me,” all of which are sexual and in ways demanding of the female. Throughout the video theses type of lyrics are repeated and to match up with the visuals you see the artist Fireball looking and admiring the women while they carrying out certain activities which makes the audience believe he is fantasising about the women. The lyrics being “she’s always teasing me,” is shown visually throughout the video at certain points such as when the women pour water over themselves, being dressed erotically throughout and also while playing the different activities are in certain provocative positions. Laura Mulvey’s theory is demonstrated here as one of her points is that women are portrayed sexually in order to provide men with visual pleasure and have an erotic impact which is definitely the case here especially when the women pour water onto their chest while the camera is at a low angle, emphasising the woman’s chest. The camera is constantly focused on the women or on Fireballs reactions from what he is seeing during the whole video, which is a reason why the women are demonstrated to be for a male audience.
Andrew Goodwin’s point 3 is the relationship between the music and the visuals. The relationship of this within Bob Sinclar’s music video is very strong because the music has a fast beat so therefore the edits are also quick and there are many of them to match with the music. Throughout the video there are lots of quick edits that match the beats of the song however when the pace of the music slows down the number of edits does not get lower, although the visuals do. For example when the pace of the music slows down a slow camera movement being a tilt for example shows the figure of woman. S o even though the pace of the music doesn’t match the edits it does however match the visuals.
There is a lot of voyeuristic treatment of women within this music video. All the women presented in this video are presented in a sexual way and this is demonstrated through the mise-en-scene, being, the props and costume. Also through their actions performed and the camera angles and movement. During the video there is many close ups of the women’s body parts for example there toned bellies this is done simply to grab a male audience’s attention. Low angles are often used which are focused on the women’s figure creating it to be elongated to appeal to a male. Laura Mulvey states that women are presented as objects within film and this is definitely how women are portrayed in this video as at certain points they all do the same action at the same time, representing them as almost robotic. A camera movement used is a tilt which starts at the women’s feet and then reveals their figure showing their toned and tanned legs in slow motion which is creating the women to only have the purpose within the video to be gawked at for visual pleasure. When the women run within the video there is a particular part where the camera is at a certain height which is in line with the women’s chest area creating that to be the main focal point. Again this creates women’s purpose to be for men to gaze at and to be only good for their physical features. A camera movement used is a panning shot and this is used to show all the women sunbathing in bikinis this techniques is used to highlight the amount of sexy women within the video which portrays to the audience that the artists has authority over them. Also while this camera shot is used there is close ups of their bottoms again for a males visual pleasure. Props used within the video which are shown in a sexual way are a water bottle and a hot dog. These are used to emphasise the sexual actions of the women. Also the costumes used throughout are either a bikini or a skimpy top with hot pants which again is to create a sexual element.
In Andrew Goodwin’s analysis his last point is intertextual reference. Within Bob Sinclar’s music video the main intertextuality reference is to the American action drama series, Baywatch. The scene in where this reference is shown is when a woman gets pushed into a paddling pool and then in the horizon the camera focuses on a male and two women, running in slow motion. The camera then concentrates on them flicking their hair which is a stereotypical action created by the programme Baywatch. Within Baywatch there are lifeguards, the women being very sexy and the men being muscular and masculine. The women wear red swimming costumes and the males wear red swimming trunks and this is what the two females and male wear within the music video. It is a very clear and obvious intertextual reference and is even more emphasised by a sudden change in music while this goes on. The use of having this intertextual reference is that it creates humour and it makes the audience relate to the video.
To conclude, this music video represents Andrew Goodwin’s music video points and also demonstrates Laura Mulvey’s theory very clearly. The video is overall very sexual and does portray women to be objects for a male’s entertainment. However it is a very good and entertaining video as it is constructed very well and has many points which create the whole video to be effective.
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