I have decided to analyze Jason Derulo’s song/music video “Swalla” (ft.
Ncki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign). I have chosen this video because of all the
videos this one is the most sexual and dehumanizing. The other videos such as
Bruno Mars showed more male dominance, and I wanted to focus more on the role
of women and men. Men and women have very distinct roles in this video, the men
are there to tell what the women what to do, and the women are there as sexual
objects and to please the men. Women are shown wearing practically nothing and
dancing on cars and on water, making them seem vulnerable. The men on the other
hand were shown as muscular and dominant.
This video tells a story that women are meant to be looked at as objects
and should be sexual to please the men. A focus was put on the women’s butt,
which further dehumanizes them, virtually saying that a woman is only worth
something if she has a nice butt. The video also shows that a man does not have
to be loyal to one woman, in the video Jason Derulo has many women around him
and on top of him. This further shows that women are merely sex objects and not
there to be treated properly.
As Sut Jhally stated in his documentary,
every music video tells a story, and sometimes that story may different than
what the lyrics are actually saying. In this video, the story being told is that
men are dominant and women are below them. The men are shown wearing expensive
clothes and are giving the orders. These types of stereotypes have been
reinforced within pop culture. I believe that this music video adds to the
stereotype that women are meant to be there for men and to meet their sexual
needs. This is particularly shown when the women are on the floor dancing as Jason is singing around them.
Being that adolescents are the
main viewers of these types of videos their perception of what a woman and man
should act like are skewed. Young teen boys are taught to treat women as
objects and to control how they act and dress. On the other hand, women are
taught to be submissive towards men and to meet their every need, no matter how
dehumanizing it may be. I believe this is part of the reason the current
generation has a difficult time with respect. Hip hop music videos teach kids
that it is okay to treat people as objects.
