TASK #1 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

Nicki Minaj- Anaconda

 3:03- 3:23

During this scene, Nicki Minaj puts more emphasis on the fact that she is sexualising herself and making herself look seductive. She is seen in a kitchen at first as she holds a banana which then turns to her eating a strawberry with whipped cream. At the moment, the video is slowed down and Nicki Minaj's facial expressions suggests that she is trying to be seductive whilst eating the strawberry. The scene then quickly changes to her on the floor ,with other dancing members, humping the air repetitively which definitely conveys the meaning of sex. She is wearing revealing attire and she is staring directly at the camera as if to show that she is confident and has no problem with the movements she is doing. The fact that all the girls around her are black enhances the theories that black African American women are degraded in hip-hop music videos. The scene then suddenly changes back to where the setting is in a kitchen. Nicki is wearing a apron and has whipped cream all over her chest indicating to the audience to focus on that area on her body. The clip then increases in speed as scene continuously changes from her with whipped cream everywhere, to a banana rapidly turning to her in the kitchen as it revolves whilst she twerks. She then whips cream of her mouth while giving the audience direct eye contact. Also, she is seen putting whipped cream on her butt to indicate another part of her body that she wants the audience to focus on. She then tries to eat the banana whole, but then cuts it with a knife and the scene ends with her throwing it away. The speed between the 20 seconds of the music video is very fast moving and a lot of movement is seen. This is to shock the audience and give them the feeling of her twerking rapidly. A key point about this is that, in the kitchen scene, she is wearing a sort of maid apron as she stands by the table with fruits on. In a sense, this could suggest that women are normally in the kitchen, doing what they should do however she represents this in a seducing and silly way potentially insisting on being portrayed as a typical women but with sexual features as she continuously puts emphasis on her chest and butt. Although, it can be interpreted about Nicki asserting her power, not as a sexual object but a sexual subject. This part of the music video shows that it is targeted for men which shows that the male gaze (Mulvey) is in action. It can therefore be said that the way women are represented can affect the audience, (especially the younger audience) and how they act because they will see scenes like this and think it is normal to accentuate body features and to act sexual. This links to the hypodermic needle model as  Nicki Minaj, injects her views and values on to her audience. From a Marxist point of view, the media is in a way giving us an illusion of autonomy and false consciousness as we are indirectly forced to follow the status quo as we see these sort of videos and view now as normal compared to a decade ago, where it would be a shock to see such explicit content and would cause a moral panic (Cohen) as people would find this a threat to society as women in music videos are portrayed in such a way that parents do not want their children to imitate such actions. .


3:32- 4:32

This scene shows the values that Nicki Minaj has as she indicates to the audience that having a big butt is more important than anything else especially for men as she twerks on drake, who is in the R&B genre as well. Nicki Minaj is dressed in manner that links to the sexual theme of her music video as she wears lace tights that accentuates her butt and figure. There is low-key lighting when Nicki dances on Drake and this is done to create a seductive and mysterious atmosphere. There are lights flashed on them throughout the scene as if they're in hiding and people are looking for them which adds to the suspense of the scene. The scene changes to another setting to wear Nicki is lying in a small pool of water and is wearing a pink bathing suit. It is shown in a high angle shot so that her butt is clearly shown. The minute of this scene switches from the setting where she is with Drake and the setting of her in the pool continually. Once, it goes back to her in drake, she starts seductively touching him up and then twerks for him and at that exact moment the video slows down so as to show the movement she makes with her butt. The setting once again goes back to her in the pool and it is here where we hear the disturbing lyrics where she says "F*** the skinny b*****s!". Here, she insults skinny girls as she wants to see her "b****** with a fat a**". This gives of a negative portrayal that women should only care about their physical appearance and the size of their butts. It degrades women and gives a negative view for girls who are skinny as they will begin to feel uncomfortable as Nicki gives the idea to society that girls with big butts are more attractive. After that, Nicki is seen getting on Drake to the point where she is sitting on his lap and begins to violently and quickly twerk on him while Drake sits there staring at her butt in amazement and touches it as well. This part shows the masculinity view as drake suggests that men should be more intrigued by women who have big butts and would willingly do sexual activities with them. It can be argued that Nicki Minaj is trying to assert power in this scene as Drake sits down helplessly as Nicki Minaj confidently flaunts herself around him. She then removes his hand from her butt to show she is in control of her body and walks away. This scene gives of the portrayal that women are confidently sexualising themselves however, the audience will view this as women being considered as sex objects due to the stereotype that society has for women.