Research & Planning - Female Representation

An important, controversial yet evolving aspect to this project theme, is the representation of the female role. Stereotypically, women are viewed as sex objects in media often portrayed through the male gaze, especially within mainstream performance. Within our genre of punk/rock though, it is far different. While the female roles are partially used in a sex appeal manner, they act much more rebellious and use less sleazy methods, retaining dignity.

As can be seen in these two album covers from mainstream artists, the female role is very much used in a sexually provocative way. This could be considered sexist but is common within the mainstream industry, as it attracts a wide audience of men and you aspiring women. It is also unlikely in the industry to see album covers of men in similar poses and amounts of clothing on, although this may attract a female audience, it does not attract a male audience and is almost seen as unacceptable. 

This video, "Situations" by Escape the Fate, uses this portrayal of women, in contrast with their punk metal music to almost mock the mainstream ideals and perceptions. Within this video, the women are predictably dressed in very little, or suggestive clothing and act in equally suggestive manners. 

In this video though (click here) of Misery Business by Paramore, the two different female media ideals collide. On one side, we have the stereotypical sluttish woman who uses her sex appeal in obvious ways, against the more rebellious punk rock girl who is attractive for those reasons and so without wearing revealing clothes. At the end of this video, the two portrayals meet, and to satisfy the audience, the mainstream stereotype is degraded and put in her place. 

An upcoming element of the female role and representation within media is inside the punk/rock genre, where women don't raise appeal through mainstream conventions, but through being rebellious and perhaps more boy like. This can especially be see in Paramore's lead singer and front woman Hayley Williams, a punk/rock female icon. Her style, like most women in this genre consists of a rebellious attitude, punk style and colour hair, while maintaining an attractive figure beneath the rebellious clothing and a musical style/taste that wouldn't usually be associated with girls.  

Despire this, Laura Mulvey, a theorist in the field of the female representation wrote a piece which was published in the British Film Theory Journal. According to Mulvey: “...The male gaze projects its fantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly….women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness”. This may be associated initially with the stereotypical imagery of a half naked woman, but also applies to the punk/rock genre, where perhaps the male gaze and ideals change, to a more rebellious girl. This  should be taken into account when creating my music video and print work, to make the female role suitable for our genre/target audience.