Dear Future Husband analysis
Dear Future Husband music video analysis
This essay will discuss Meghan Trainor’s video ‘Dear Future Husband’ and the features that the video has.The music video was released march 2015 however it was set in 1950’s.
The video represents her as a 1950’s housewife ,Meghan Trainor has been shown in the particular rooms which are stereotypically where women belong ,these are rooms such as:the bedroom,kitchen and the floor(cleaning) ,although she rejects these traditions,for example a mid shot is used to show her cooking, but then she burns the food ,which connotes to her not being good at it therefore she won't do it. In addition this is also shown in another mid-shot to show her cleaning the floor however she doesn't seem to be doing much,also the fact she is wearing high heels emphasizes that she is not cleaning and that she rejects the stereotype. This is later on confirmed when she is seen playing around on the soapy floor, this represented her as sexual at times because she was seen rubbing the water up her leg. Another factor that has represented her as sexual is her clothing, she is seen wearing a traditional apron, which is than contradicted by a black leather jacket which exemplifies her as powerful. The video uses many visual codes to portray ideas about women,one of this being using a stereotype that suggest all women lust over men, this suggest that women are not independent ,which challenges the message in the audio codes. Additionally her visual appearance is very dressed up ,we can knowledge this due to her make-up, this indicates that she dressed up for a man and is another use of a stereotype.
The video shows men auditioning to be her future husband,this represents her as powerful because she has control over the men ,this is emphasised with the use of graphics that appears to be a large fail stamp, despite this factor the stereotype of all men are strong and muscular is used ,yet again this opposes the representation of women being powerful ,which is portrayed using audio codes. Some audio codes in the music video tell us her expectations, one in particular represents her and other females as materialistic for example in the song she wanted a man to ‘buy her a ring’, this is a very traditional value to buy a ring for your female partner, it fits into the 1950’s setting as this was most likely a tradition in this period. The song also refers to the stereotype of men should ‘open doors’ for women ,yet again this is another link to 1950 traditions.The lyrics talk about her working as well as her partner ,it says ‘you got 9-5 well so do i’ ,though the visual codes conflict with this representation as she is playing the roll of the housewife and does not appear to be at work at all.
To summarize the visual codes and audio codes conflict with each other as they show opposite meanings, for example the audio codes represents females as powerful,independent and strong, whereas the visual codes represent them as dependent,weak and housewives. Moreover the audio codes tend to take a feminist approach ,while the visual codes take a sexist approach to society.
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