Compare and contrast the two videos, one from list A and one from list B. How do the representations promote the artists? How might the different audiences read the two videos? Apart from the artist, who or what else is being represented and why?

Videos - Massive Attack and Titanium

The two videos that I have decided to compare and contrast are Massive Attack, ‘Unfinished Sympathy’, and David Guetta, ‘Titanium’.

The Massive Attack song was produced by Jonny Dollar and was released on 11^th of January 1991, the music video itself was directed by Baillie Walsh. The video, filmed on Steadicam, begins with a shot of a street gang before moving to follow Nelson walking along the pavement unaware or uncaring of her surroundings, which include drunks, bikers, and disabled people. ‘Titanium’ on the other hand was produced by David Guetta himself and was released on 8^th August 2011, with David Wilson directing the music video. An overview of this video is a young boy being shown to contrast ignorance to his surroundings, taking in the damage he has potentially caused, unlike ‘Unfinished Sympathy’.

To begin, the two videos include the representation of different races, and ages in America, with ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ covering Black individual women, and ‘Titanium’ looking at young, again individual, white children.

With ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ looking at technical codes, it is one single continuous take jumping between mid-shots and close-ups, which allows the audience to become involved with the realism of the situation, the shot doesn’t interrupt the flow of everyday life. If the video involved heavy amounts of editing, then it may take away from the continuous prose of the protagonist’s life, which is ultimately what the shot is trying to present. The pacing of the shot also depicts to the audience a potential replication of Nelson’s ethnicity, back in the 20^th century. The history of her race, could be also presented within the pacing, almost saying that in modern day, we are struggling to come away from the history of slavery and equal rights for women, but we are slowly moving away from such atrocities. Gilroy’s theory around ethnicity can support this as he talks about criminalising immigrants, and segregation. In contrast to this, David Guetta has made sure to include quick, and numerous cuts to again replicate the situation that the boy has found himself in. By doing this, it replicates the motion that the audience are experiencing in order to try and understand the situation.

An evident similarity between these two videos is that there is one protagonist used throughout. By only using one main character, a representation of individuality and rejection is portrayed. With ‘Titanium’ a young, white boy is pictured to be running from his mistakes, alone, because other people in the video are shown to be afraid of him. A similar representation of ignorance is portrayed within the extras in the ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ video, both ignoring and again rejecting Nelson completely. With ‘Titanium’, David Guetta has included the idea of an isolated and scared boy, to perhaps replicate the treatment of himself during his childhood, being rejected and outlawed by his family following his dreams and desires to be a DJ. On the other hand, during the ‘Massive Attack’ video, instead of herself being rejected by society, an idea of gender and individuality could be the reason for the rejection.

A final comparison between the two videos, is that a sense of patriotism is shown throughout. During the Massive Attack video, this element of patriotism is shown through the colours used, red, white and blue. There are numerous occasions where the people in the video are shown to be in these colours, along with the setting around it. Again, with the David Guetta video, many colours and ideas, for example the boys hat being red, is used to represent an Americanisation take on the world.

One representation portrayed throughout the Massive Attack video is Black individual  Women. The first thing we see in the video is a gang full of men, playing with a set of metal balls. Immediately, a sense of power and inferiority towards women is depicted as straight after this, we cut to a shot of Nelson. Nelson is also walking alone, which again reflects the treatment of perhaps her religion and her gender. In contrast to this, the director of the video may have pictured Nelson by herself to show a sense of power and change coming through with equality of the genders and races. Another representation shown throughout the Massive Attack video, is Americanisation. This is shown with the use of constant flashes of the colours Red, White and Blue, along with gun culture within children and unsupported war veterans. With the director doing this, a stereotypical representation of America is shown. Again, this reflects the country’s history, and what the director sees is wrong within the country, which is why the artist may have used these representations. In the David Guetta video, not only is Americanisation presented along with Religion and Gender just like Massive Attack, but Age is a common and important representation within both videos. Two contrasting age representations, could portray that America is changing positively in terms of equality because, Massive Attack uses an older women and the video shows how equilibrium is restored as the protagonist ends up in the same place she started, portraying no change whereas in the David Guetta video a young boy is used. By using a young boy, and the video having a positive outcome, it shows that an American change is possible for the future.

Generally I think a typical 21^st century audience watching the Massive Attack ‘unfinished sympathy’ video would still be very surprised at the individualistic view that is given to Nelson and her gender, especially for the time the video was made. Despite the fact that we no longer live in a patriarchal society, I believe that there are still elements of Bell Hooks feminist theory used, such as oppression and towards females , in a 21^st century view. Furthermore, Van Zoonen’s feminist theory of women’s bodies being presented as objects would shock most audiences as this video completely contrasts this idea for both modern day audiences and older audiences. Both of these theories very much support a modern day take on sexualisation towards women, which is a complete contrast to the video as a whole. On the other hand, I believe that modern day female audiences would read the representations and the video as a whole as a positive thing within a patriarchal society, and I feel like they would feel aided towards a society change and equal rights.

With the David Guetta ‘Titanium’ video, it is aimed at typically a younger audience than that of the Massive Attack one. By basing this video upon his own childhood experiences, not only can the audiences identify with him, but it allows action to be taken for children that themselves struggle with childhood ambition, by showing positive outcomes within the video for the young protagonist.