Assignment 3
Audience Perception and Meaning
Beyoncé Knowles’ 2006 hit song - Irreplaceable [from the album -B’Day]
Popular R&B artiste Beyoncé Knowles songs and videos have a great influence on young women, in particular teenagers, who tends to incorporate the lyrical meaning in their personal lives. Although internationally, this diva, as she often refers herself to, has many critics, millions of fans adore her for her energetic and raunchy videos, and live performances, her sense of style and most of all, the empowerment women feel from her songs.
In this essay, we will explain how people (audience) interpret the official video, lyrics and performance of the hit song – Irreplaceable. Our group, having analysed in-depth interviews with three people (two women and one man), about the video, will incorporate some of the media reception studies as discussed in class to explain how they give different meanings to the same song.
Two of the three respondents referred to themselves as fans of the Grammy-winning singer saying that they loved her voice. Henry Jenkins described a fan as a person, not being a regular viewer of a particular program, but by translating that viewing into some type of cultural activity, by sharing feelings and thoughts about the program’s content with friends, by joining a community of other fans who share common interests. The three respondents admitted that they were not part of any community with other fans of Beyoncé. Instead two of them said they simply liked the music, but were not “die-hard” fans while the third respondent said he was ‘not really’ a fan, although he like another one of her songs very much.
Of the six types of fan behaviours identified by Jenkins, the respondents best fall into the ...
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...n differently than women. While Beyoncé may be a sexually appealing woman, which may account for her male viewership, the lyrical content of Irreplaceable empowers women. As such, women can be appeased by the lyrical contents while men can be enthused by the visuals of the video. The male interviewee reveals his approval of the Pink Panther music video and in this video, Beyoncé puts on raunchy performance with skimpy clothing. Our finding also confirmed that audience reception grows beyond any article, music or video and that the presenter also becomes to the object of their entertainment need.
Bibliography
Hudson, L. (2014, January 17). Stuart Hall Reception Theory (1980). prezi.com. Retrieved April 21, 2014, from http://prezi.com/y8btjn21oiho/stuart-hall-reception-theory-1980/
Staiger, J. (2005). Media reception studies. New York: New York University Press.
the wild antics of the die hard fans. In my essay I will try and attempt to describe as
Demi Lovato is more than just a famous actress and singer. She has dedicated much of her time to her fans. Everyone faces their own battles and have their own insecurities, yet she inspires her fans to embrace and overpower them. She not only uses her vocals for singing, she uses it to reach out to her fans. In terms of sales (music and concert), advocating mental health, and philanthropy, Demi Lovato has changed the meaning of the music industry.
In order to determine the current success of the Nashville Sounds I surveyed fans of the game. I used the “snowball effect” to get responses from fans I knew and then had them refer me to fans they knew for responses to my questionnaire. I also submitted my questionnaire to a local blogger who discusses Nashville Sounds baseball. Garnering 38 responses, I feel I have gained knowledge of the typical fan as well as differences in the appeal of the game to different types of fans.
The video promotes a realistic portrayal of women while undermining negative societal expectations put to those women. Furthermore, the message behind it, one calling people to accept themselves and to not feel the need to strive towards unreachable goals set by the media, can be applied to the lives of not only women but men as well. While the song was obviously meant for women, it is still holds the important message for people of any gender, age, or race to understand that being true to and learning to accept one’s self can only lead to positive
The Beyhive encompasses a wide body of people and is extremely diverse. The only way for a person to influence millions of people all across the globe is through some sort of power. Most of Beyoncé’s power comes directly from her fans, which is an example of referent power. Referent power is hard to obtain because it involves a trustworthy connection between the followers and their leader. Once this type of power is achieved it is extremely difficult to maintain. If the followers feel that the leader is no longer looking out for their best interest, they will start to slowly decrease their affiliation with the leader. Beyoncé has strong interpersonal skills that contribute to her high-level referent power. She currently has 61.5 million followers on Instagram and this number is continuously rising. Expert power is a person’s potential influence over others because of knowledge and expertise in a given area. Beyoncé has expert power when she advises new artists about to be successful in the music
On the night of December 13, 2013 Beyoncé, released her fifth self-titled album on ITunes. The album caught many people by surprise because Beyoncé did not set a date for the album, nor did she use any promotion; she did release a video on her Instagram asking her followers if they “were ready”. The buzz spread through social media like a wild fire. With no promotion or no warning, Beyoncé album took the world by storm and made it for her audience and critics to take in the album and it contents. Many people loved the album for not only its catchy songs, but also the growth and “looser” conservative Beyoncé. On the other hand many people did not feel that her album was growth, but a way to catch up to the overly sexual generation. Beyoncé has always been aware of her sexual side, pop side, and feminist side; this has been documented through her four previous albums. Yet, a lot of people have questioned if Beyoncé a feminist because of the content of her newest album. In order to answer that a person must ask him or her self; what is a feminist, why some people believe she is feminist, why others do not believe she feminist, and whether or not Beyoncé think she is a feminist.
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Sport fans, sometimes also called sport devotees, followers, or supporters, are persons who are enthusiastically devoted to a particular athlete, team or sport. They may show their enthusiasm by often attending sporting events or watch on television, being members of a fan club, follow sport news through newspapers, online websites, and creating fanzines. Their disposition is often such that they will experience a game or event by living through their favored players or teams. These behaviors manifest itself in different ways. To enable better understanding of these behavioral patterns, we have to classify these sports fans into groups based on their devotion to teams: fair-weather fans, bandwagon and the super-fans.
This study works to examine the use of sexual objectification of women in music videos today. The primary purpose was to examine the differences between genres, specifically hip-hop and country. I tested the following; Women are more likely to be sexualized in hip-hop music videos than in country music videos.
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Beyoncé born in September 4th 1981 is known for her fierce look and electrifying sound that has been present in the entertainment industry since she was 15 years of age. Beyoncé’s ability to perform with unparalleled confidence and exuberant passion has won her twenty Grammy awards, three world music awards, six American music awards, and eight billboard awards.
Rihanna, from her very first music videos has compelled public eyes as an effigy, an icon and a statement of music lifestyle. Her independent outlook, badass attitude mixed with a Caribbean accent has undoubtedly confined not only music but the whole popular culture of our time. Diamonds, We Found Love, Bitch Better Have My Money and S&M are some of the top songs by this epic singer. Songs that today rule bars, dance clubs, parties and of course her numerous fans.
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Music videos have become a huge part of the music industry, acting as a marketing tool that adds a visual component to recorded music. The first music video was introduced as an “illustrated song” in 1894 by Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern (Indiefilm, 2011). The duo hired an electrician and performers to bring their single "The Little Lost Child" to life. Series of still images were projected on to a screen, while the duo played their song simultaneously (Indiefilm, 2011). Since then, music videos have flourished and become a huge carrier and disseminator of culture – especially with the advent of television shows like MTV and websites like YouTube. Like all forms of media, music videos have the ability to influence society in a number of different ways and also plays a major role in the socialization process. Therefore, it has become increasingly more important to take a critical disposition to the medium and examine some of the issues associated with it. A loaded topic of discussion, “studies have…found music videos to influence how women feel and think about their bodies” (Mischner et al., 2013). This essay will seek to expose how women have been objectified and misrepresented in music videos and explain the influence this may have on women and their understanding of beauty, as well as how it can alter society’s perception of a woman’s role. The essay will look at different genres of music, including pop, country and rap – and examine how women are represented differently in music videos across these three genres. Because a genre of music contains so much culture, it is likely that there are variances in the way that each genre will portray women and sexuality.
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