http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsRyyZZFGZ4Written analysis: Snoop Dogg video ‘Sensual Seduction’
Hip – hop / rap artist Snoop Doggs’s video ‘Sensual Seduction’ features an 80’s style theme with a post-feminist representation of women dressed as dominatrix’s of every kind from police women to stereotypical woman in full PVC outfits , covered from head-to– toe in tight plastic or leather. The video is a performance based video about the ways in which the lead singer (Snoop Dogg) pleasures women as his lyrics state ‘she gone get hers before I get mine’ showing a close-up of his mouth which is a sexual innuendo (referencing oral sex), he explains how he seduces women as he states ‘she might be with him but she’s thinking of me’ and glorifies the stereotype of black males being womanisers-he references himself as a ‘playa’.
Men are represented as stereotypically being more dominant than women as Snoop Dogg is standing over the women serenading what he wants to do to her as well as being filmed surrounded by women in a high-angle shot which emphasises his dominance over the opposite sex. He sings ‘all that we ever do is play in the sheets’ portraying that women are seen as sex-objects -or ‘freaks’ as he refers to them in his lyrics -in revealing clothes and positioned in suggestive positions which are a conventional representation of women according to the hip-hop genre. Women are seen as subordinate to men in mostly low-angle shots,objectified as they seen to be moving like animals e.g. crawling across the floor ,biting there fingers in a playful manner and caressing objects around them (feline characteristics) which is use as a pleasing spectacle for the male members of the audience, however, the dominatrix in one scene seems to look independent, strong but sexy in an open leg-stance dancing in smooth seductive motions , position in a mid-shot with a expressionless facial expression on her face which may indicate this is Snoop Dogg main ‘chick’ or female in the video.
The video only including one man Snoop Dogg and the rest of the casts being women presents him in a position of authority as it symbolises him as being a women magnet , irresistible to women because of the way he ‘sensually seduces’ them. Women in the video aren’t seen as respectable or pure they resemble prostitutes confirming they way women are seen in the world of hip-hop and rap but subverts the realistic image of women in society now-a-days. Men are also seen to confirm the stereotype of black men being sexually pleasing to women and subvert the idea of women being objects of pleasure as the main male character is seen to be the one pleasuring the women rather than the women just pleasuring him.
The 80’s theme reinforces a decade of high sexual activity and encourages the glamorisation of men being pimps. Snoop Dogg’s eccentric 80’s fashion of flared metallic trousers tight in the groin area to highlight his manhood (suggesting he has a high sex drive ), big shades and the mise-en-scene of the disco ball, diamond in the background, the seductive smoky atmosphere effect, mirrored double-vision of women and 80’s style guitar indicates his music and fashion sense supposedly make him appeal to women .The mise-en –scene of the star graphics also highlight his sexual abilities to symbolically takes women ‘to the stars in bed’ at the same time, he celebrates his masculinity whilst he poses with the women in the stars as they caress and stroke indicating that his methods of ‘seduction’ are effective, ultimately making reference to the stereotype black men are ‘good’ in bed and can pleasure women in ways men of other cultures cannot. The video features intertextual references of the character Huggy Bear who was a stereotypical Blackman who was a pimp and drug dealer from box-office hit film Starkey and Hutch and reference Robert Palmer addicted to love music video with women dancing in sync and wearing the same clothes.
Hip – hop / rap artist Snoop Doggs’s video ‘Sensual Seduction’ features an 80’s style theme with a post-feminist representation of women dressed as dominatrix’s of every kind from police women to stereotypical woman in full PVC outfits , covered from head-to– toe in tight plastic or leather. The video is a performance based video about the ways in which the lead singer (Snoop Dogg) pleasures women as his lyrics state ‘she gone get hers before I get mine’ showing a close-up of his mouth which is a sexual innuendo (referencing oral sex), he explains how he seduces women as he states ‘she might be with him but she’s thinking of me’ and glorifies the stereotype of black males being womanisers-he references himself as a ‘playa’.
Men are represented as stereotypically being more dominant than women as Snoop Dogg is standing over the women serenading what he wants to do to her as well as being filmed surrounded by women in a high-angle shot which emphasises his dominance over the opposite sex. He sings ‘all that we ever do is play in the sheets’ portraying that women are seen as sex-objects -or ‘freaks’ as he refers to them in his lyrics -in revealing clothes and positioned in suggestive positions which are a conventional representation of women according to the hip-hop genre. Women are seen as subordinate to men in mostly low-angle shots,objectified as they seen to be moving like animals e.g. crawling across the floor ,biting there fingers in a playful manner and caressing objects around them (feline characteristics) which is use as a pleasing spectacle for the male members of the audience, however, the dominatrix in one scene seems to look independent, strong but sexy in an open leg-stance dancing in smooth seductive motions , position in a mid-shot with a expressionless facial expression on her face which may indicate this is Snoop Dogg main ‘chick’ or female in the video.
The video only including one man Snoop Dogg and the rest of the casts being women presents him in a position of authority as it symbolises him as being a women magnet , irresistible to women because of the way he ‘sensually seduces’ them. Women in the video aren’t seen as respectable or pure they resemble prostitutes confirming they way women are seen in the world of hip-hop and rap but subverts the realistic image of women in society now-a-days. Men are also seen to confirm the stereotype of black men being sexually pleasing to women and subvert the idea of women being objects of pleasure as the main male character is seen to be the one pleasuring the women rather than the women just pleasuring him.
The 80’s theme reinforces a decade of high sexual activity and encourages the glamorisation of men being pimps. Snoop Dogg’s eccentric 80’s fashion of flared metallic trousers tight in the groin area to highlight his manhood (suggesting he has a high sex drive ), big shades and the mise-en-scene of the disco ball, diamond in the background, the seductive smoky atmosphere effect, mirrored double-vision of women and 80’s style guitar indicates his music and fashion sense supposedly make him appeal to women .The mise-en –scene of the star graphics also highlight his sexual abilities to symbolically takes women ‘to the stars in bed’ at the same time, he celebrates his masculinity whilst he poses with the women in the stars as they caress and stroke indicating that his methods of ‘seduction’ are effective, ultimately making reference to the stereotype black men are ‘good’ in bed and can pleasure women in ways men of other cultures cannot. The video features intertextual references of the character Huggy Bear who was a stereotypical Blackman who was a pimp and drug dealer from box-office hit film Starkey and Hutch and reference Robert Palmer addicted to love music video with women dancing in sync and wearing the same clothes.
