Exam Questions

How do the audiences interpret the representations within the music video? (10 Marks)


In Little Mix's (LM) video 'Black Magic', we see a range of stereotypes and representations that challenge and support each other. A representation that challenges a known stereotype is the popular Asian teenager who is getting the girl and is also looked up to. This gives the audience an interpretation that LM try to challenge the known stereotype for Asian people which is usually that they are smart, nerdy and good at maths. The group LM are also based on other races and ethnicities which shows that the band is multicultural and give the audience influence that other races and ethnicities are ok. This also links to how LM (when they were geeks) were very shy and wore nerdy outfits, but when changed by the magic they challenged the stereotype of a geek and became dominant and changed the fashion sense they had. E.G. Became very revealing and attractive.


How do audiences use music videos to construct their identity? Use two music videos you have studied to answer this. (10 Marks)

Teenage girls between the age of 12-16 may construct their identity by using Little Mix's (LM) 'Black Magic' to represent the stereotype of a popular girl. Girls who are very shy and want to get popular would have a preferred reading of LM as they would see that to get popular all you need to do is use magic. However this can be seen as an oppositional reading as people know that magic isn't real and therefore reject this ideology of using magic to get popular. 

Teenage girls between the age of 12-16 will also use The Vamps (TV) 'Somebody to you' to construct their identity as the group TV try to show that to be popular and get the boy you need to have the ideal body image within the media. This can cause however, for girls to start starving themselves and cause illness such as anorexia. This will cause girls to have an oppositional reading as girls would then be lead to think that starving themselves to look good is right.