Compare the representation of class and status for 3 music videos

Authors Avatar

Compare the representations of class and status in three music videos

The task we have been asked to do for our coursework is to pick three music videos and analyse them for representations of status and class. The three videos I have chosen for my coursework are: Nelly Furtado – Manos al Aire, Wiley ft. Mark Ronson & Daniel Merriweather – Cash in my pocket and Jamiroquoi – Virtual insanity. I have chosen these three videos because they are all good to compare in how they have shown class and status.

Jamiroquoi – virtual insanity

In this video, JK is wearing a dark blue jacket with the collar up, black trousers, black shoes with white laces and a tacky top hat. It looks quite smart although he isn’t wearing any make up and he hasn’t shaven which makes him look a bit untidy. This connotes that he is some sort of witch doctor which can be backed up when he says “magic spells” and makes the chair move towards him. The untidiness of him makes him lower in class but magic is a good way to be high in class and status. It is one long shot to begin with and the camera is angled so it shows the whole room that he is dancing in. During this, Jamiroquoi is all over the place, always on his feet dancing to the music which is very upbeat and hip.  

He looks like he is a laborer because of his clothes and tacky top hat but the room he is in looks like a mental hospital because there isn’t much in the room apart from a few leather chairs and the white drawers on the wall. The backup dancers are wearing white and are in unison. They could be workers in the hospital. All of the white connotes that everything is sanitized and clean which is how a hospital should be. The leather chairs look quite expensive which suggests that Jamiroquoi could be in a rehabilitation center for something. Because these things are expensive, it means that JK must have a lot of money which tells us that he is high in status and class. There isn’t much in the hospital but everything looks expensive and brightly lit. It costs quite a bit to go into rehab so Jamiroquoi has a lot of money which shows him as high in class. He is also high in status because everybody would be attending to his needs to get him off whatever it is he is in there for so he runs the show.

Join now!

The backup dancers are only on for ten seconds but during this time, they are all looking at the floor and are perched over slightly like none of them have any control over what they are doing. When they reach the end of the hallway, it’s like they spring back into life and they all spin off out of the shot. This connotes that JK is using his magic to control them and to be able to do such a thing, he must have a lot of power and people with power are usually very high in status and class.

...

This is a preview of the whole essay