Research: Laura Mulvey

This blog will discuss the representation of Gender using Nicki Minaj's music video 'Anaconda' and Super Grass 'Alright'. 

Nicki Minaj's music video for 'Anaconda' is somewhat interesting!It is a rather controversial music video as there is a lot of reference to sex and sexual innuendos. Nicki Minaj's renowned for the size of her 'butt', it is her signature body part, along with her slim toned figure. She refers to the size of her bottom in most of her songs. She has an extremely large fan base, but many mothers do not commend their daughters looking up to Nicki Minaj as a role model, due to the fact she openly shows off her body in a sexual way to make money. Amongst her older women fans, young girls look up to her also. This video is deliberately over the top, this video has been planned and executed in the way Minaj's managers and producers wanted. The setting is in the jungle, it could be said this is deliberate as black people unfortunately have been racially abused in the past and have been called animalistic this is historical representation. Other settings include the gym, this connotes fitness and perhaps is sending a message out to girls that in order to attract men they have to stay thin. She is also seen in a kitchen, a domestic, feminised setting. However she slices up a banana, perhaps representing castration, showing female dominance. Overall this is a fragmented representation of a woman. Mulvey argues that women are 'dismembered' in all forms of media- there is no focus on women as a whole, but a focus on their body. She says this is responsible for some women's focus and obsession with specific parts of their bodies (bums, legs etc). Nicki Minaj is aware of how black women's bodies are presented, she's trying to use this to her advantage. She has succeeded as her body sells alot of her music, she has created a larger fan base, black women are known for having large bums and many men like that fact.