edited:REPRESENTATION CASE STUDY: BRUNO MARS -24K MAGIC

24k Magic is by american singer songwriter, Bruno Mars, who rose to fame in 2010 after the release of his first solo album, 'Doo-wops & Hooligans' which featured singles like 'Grenade' and 'Just The Way You Are.' He released his second album in 2012 called 'Unorthodox Jukebox,' which went to number 1 in America. This album featured singles like 'Locked out of Heaven' and 'When I Was Your Man.' In 2014, Bruno lent his vocals to producer Mark Ronson for his track 'Uptown Funk' which lead to him landing six number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 since his career launched in 2010.

24K Magic was released on the 7th of October, 2016. 24K Magic is a synth-heavy funk, disco and contemporary R&B song. The song debuted at number 5 on the Billboard Charts, with 101,000 downloads and 12.8 million streams, as well as topping the French SNEP chart and featuring in top 10 charts globally. 

Bruno Mars tend to release music videos that aren't consistent and many of his songs vary concerning genre. For example, the video for 'Just The Way You Are' is a much slower song so has a much more calm, toned down and romantic style narrative. His more recent music creates more of a motif for his music, for example, looking at the video for 'Uptown Funk,' it is a more similar 'old school' kind of video which features a performance with women that don't seem to be wearing much clothing. The clothing/costume featured in his videos changes consistently. For example, in this video he is wearing more 'vintage' style clothing.

His older videos feature more of a smart style that consists mainly of suits and simple, monochrome costume. 

OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN.

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As an artist, Bruno Mars releases videos that tend to include a performance. Many of his videos include a female character, whether it's a 'ballad' that is aimed at the single character of a variety of females who are used as a prop or as backing dancers for the video.

In the video for '24K Magic' the latter is more present. Figure 1 shows an image of the artist surrounded by dancing females. This gives the impression of the, being used as a prop. This links with Laura Mulvey's theory of 'Male Gaze.' This is essentially where a media text is created in a way that reflects the viewing pleasures of a hetero-sexual male. This is evident in the sense that these women are wearing a costume that is seemingly skimpy in order to please the male characters in the video. 

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Figure 2 shows an image that highlights male gaze in it's most obvious form, the video cuts from a group of girls dancing to the song, which in itself reinforces the objectification of women as they are dancing to his song in a way he likes. Figure 2 highlights male gaze in the sense that they have chosen a body that is what could be considered perfectly formed as it is more pleasing, rather than picking something that is unappealing and may decrease the sale-ability of the video. In this it is evident there is a notable absences when it comes to the age of the people featured in the video. For example, there are no people of which you could consider middle aged or older than Bruno Mars himself. 

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Figure 3 shows the people featured in the video subverting stereotypes in the sense that it shows 5 perfectly capable men using mobility scooters as a method of transport. This combined with their age, ability and the fact that they're throwing money from the basket, flips the stereo typical use of mobility scooters on it's heads. The idea of subverting stereotypes and stereotypical behaviour can also be seen in this video in figure 4. Figure 4 shows the characters in the video wearing pyjamas and robes that would not necessarily be linked with conventional videos in the genre. 

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The video for 24 Magic is extremely hedonistic. This is the idea that the video is essentially self indulgent. Figure 5 shows a shot of a, what looks like, private jet along side multiple expensive looking cars. This also links with the images that show the female characters flaunting their bodies. Throughout the video, people can be seen at an extravagant party drinking what looks like champagne. They can also be seen to be spending money in a casino.

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. This gives the impression of an extremely glamorised lifestyle.

In terms of being misogynistic, this video doesn’t specifically fit that category. The video shows what could be considered as inappropriate images of women, this however is not a misogynistic representation but more of one that links to the idea of male gaze and putting that in place to please the hetero sexual male.

In respect of hegemony, the dominant culture in this video seems to be that of almost gang culture with an expensive fast paced lifestyle. You could also say that this video shows males as dominant over females, making them the dominant culture. The shots of the male characters in the video are much more flattering than that of the females. The shots of the women are much more objectifying, when the shots of the men are flattering and make them seem like they’re in a position that is to be desired.

Regarding hegemony, in this video, the power is held by the male characters. Looking at the video in a more indepth fashion, it could be said that the female characters are holding control in the video by using their bodies as objects to hold the focus of the male characters, but, my imediate reaction would be that the male characters hold the power and the female characters are either 'performing' in a way that they believe would capture male attention or have been manipulated in a way that makes them feel like it is needed for them to dress and act in a certain way. 
Personally, I believe that the representation is constructed by the framing and shooting of the male characters. This is done in a much more flattering sense than that of the female characters. The male characters in this video are shot in a way that makes them seem dominant, for example, the use of high angle shots places the men above the camera, meaning they hold control over the camera, what the audience see's and anyone else who is involved in the video. 

CROSS REFERENCING

With regards to cross referencing with this video, Bruno Mars doesn’t necessarily have much of a motif going on. He tends to use female characters in many of his videos but tends to change the representation of them in each video. For example, in his video for ‘Just The Way You Are,’ he flatters the woman in the video rather than completely objectifying her and using her as something for men to look at.

The video for ‘Gorilla’ is one that is extremely sexualised. This links to the video for 24k but is even more so. The video features several images of women wearing very little and acting in a way that is also highly sexualised. This video is extremely voyeuristic. This video has women acting in a sexualised manner which may give others pleasures from watching it. Again in this video, the women are objectified for the pleasure of Bruno Mars or the viewer of the video.

The video for 24k magic represents hetero sexual relationships in a very obvious way. It shows men objectifying woman and watching them ‘perform’ for them.  It doesn’t challenge any stereo typical representations. It also identifies all the characters, or doesn’t identify the women with any sexuality at all. It puts them in place as an object to please the hereto sexual males of the video. This is similar in a lot of currently music videos in the sense that many women are objectified as something th please the men. For example, Rihanna’s video for ‘Work’ shows her dancing and entertaining multiple men in a seductive way, implying the men have power over her and she is just performing in that way for the sake of the men watching her.