TB: Essay - Are music videos art, commercial or porn?

Are music videos commercials, art or porn?

There is debate surrounding the nature and purpose of music videos. Some people such as Theodor Adorno claim that music videos are simply adverts attempting to sell to the public the bands “image” and accompanying song. There is also a popular view that over the last decade in particular, music videos have become nothing more that porn. This is due to an increasingly explicit way of dealing with the female body by using techniques such as dismemberment, where only individual parts of the body are shown. The final view of music videos is that they are art; an imaginative and expressive response to the music provided.

Theodor Adorno was a German sociologist and was highly critical of the capitalist system. He believed that music videos are just commercials for the band and claimed that “culture industries were largely responsible for maintaining capitalism” as they “provide audiences with generic products that serve to keep us occupied and uninterested in political change.” Adorno does not rule out the possibility of music videos being pornographic but does argue that they’re not art. This is because they are “formulaic, simplistic, emotional products” implying that they lack the imagination and creativity required for them to be called art. This view is supported by an article in the New York Times in which is studied how product placement has increased significantly in music videos over the past decade. “Patrick Quinn, chief executive of PQ Media, said that revenue from product placement in music videos totalled $15 million to $20 million last year, more than double the amount in 2000, and he expected that to grow again this year.”

On the other hand, there are a number of people today who would still argue that music videos are a highly artistic media form. Such as Matt Hanson who says that music videos “acts as a confluence point for the more for the more freeform moving image arts.” Videos by directors such as Jonathon Glazer and Spike Jonze support the fact argument that they can still be extremely artistic and that there are still directors who see it as a significant art form as Hanson does. “The best videos can appropriate myriad animated styles from 3D, motion graphics, computer gaming, and vjing to vivid effect. Yet these can also be simplistic, stark visual haiku-bringing forth the essences of things, tracing wondrously pure forms.”

Finally, it is hard to deny there has been a growing prevalence of the female form in music videos over the last decade leading to the opinion that music videos are just 4 minutes of soft porn. Directors use a number of techniques which objectify women, firstly as they are usually shown in very little clothing. Also commodification is a common and damaging way of dealing with women in music videos, and is where women are presented as an object for male pleasure. As well as this there is the technique of dismemberment and this involves only showing individual parts of the female body. Sut Jhally claims that “this fragmented image detracts from thinking about women as real people with intellect, feelings, dreams and desires. Instead they become objects for consumption.”

To conclude, it is clear that there are many music videos are slightly pornographic, however it seems unfair to say that all music videos are porn. What’s more, although there are directors working today such as Jonathon Glazer and Spike Jonze whose videos are highly inventive and are undoubtedly art, not all music videos can be called either. Yet one way or another, all music videos are a promotion of the band and their single.