Katy Perry's target audience is young girls/early teens. To appeal to this target audience she needs to adjust her image accordingly. She gives the image of being 'the older sister' and acting like a guardian to the younger audience. She also connects with them by addressing things such as anxiety and sexuality as things that teenagers struggle with.
An early video Katy made was called 'I Kissed A Girl' which obviously is about sexuality after the media critised her about being bisexual. In this we see lots of 'Goodwins' characterists and we also see how much Laura Mulveys idea of the male gaze is used. The mise en scene also backs up these ideas as there are lots of playful scenes in beds with pillows and girls giggling. We see Goodwins 2nd characteristc of the lyrics realting the the narrative in the media. The sexy/sultry voice she uses shows the sex appeal that was happening to her at this time in her life. The last charateristic that we can see in this video is that of the very emphasized notation of looking at the cameras. The position of the camera (looking at her body) is done so to make the video more attractive and bring the attention onto those particular parts of the body. However, Katy still manages to remain herself/ her normal image as the older sister and guidance on teenage issues such as being uncomfortable with your sexulaity.
This music video, 'Californa Girls' was made shortly after katy had been engaged to Russel Brand. It is believed that his sexual influnce pays a big part in this video. Unlike the other of her videos which appear to be empowering for girls and 'big sistery' this one is completely on the other hand. There a lots of sexual inuendos in this song however the lyrics dont seem to be to rude. This video has a heavy dose of Laura Mulveys 'gaze' in it as typicaly the whole video she isnt wearing many clothes. Goodwins characterists of meeting the record leabels demands are shown in this video where there are frequent close ups for the male audeinces attention. The other charastics from Goodwins all are present in this video.
Here we see Katy as a more serious character and we see her essencially apoligising for how she acted in her previous video which was 'Californa Girls'. There are also quite a lot of contextual references to her other songs like 'Firework' ; this is one of Goodwins characteristic. This song also refects her person life as she had just got divorsed and this song reprsents her getting over her the relationship. This encorages the young fans to be true to themelves and that you can move on from a relationship no matter how bad it is. There is also an obvious realtionship between the ltrics and the video. The lyrics would suggest her waking up and realising she is someone she doesnt want ot be and the video shows her in lots of powerful scenes breaking away from the norm.
This is the latest video by Katy and hows he comback into the charts. In this show hoped to portray her 'roots'. This again shows some empowerment and gives girls the ideas that they can be powerful and strong just like her. In the video she is the most 'dominant' character as she survives in the jungle own her own with no help from a male image/character. Here she shows a contrast of Goodwins notion of looking and shows she is not being disrespectful but saying 'im not wearing this because men want me to, im wearing it because i want to' which most women would say in this society. This reflects her now very powerful image as a woman.
Well done Alex. This is more like it!
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