Immediately we are given an alternative representation of women in this hip hop video,
stereotypically we associate the make gender with rapping, however here we have a woman rapping, which breaks away from this stereotype.
However the way she is dressed (geisha outfit), portrays her as a piece of decoration, objectifies her, which is how women are pretty much represented as in hip hop videos. Her stiff position, excessive accessories and heavy makeup, almost dehumanises her, and portrays her as an object of desire. Though she is covered from the top, long shots which enable the viewers to gaze upon her legs, fetishises her and sexually objectifies her.
There is also a direct mode of address, which would usually be from the male and the women would be in the back admiring the man, but would not have enough superiority to look at the camera. By giving a direct mode of address, Minaj represents herself to be in control, which gives her the power which stereotypically the males have.
Women are stereotypically supposed to be just looked at and do not take on the male jobs, such as fighting or hard labour work. In the video, all the women are learning karate, which is supposed to be too aggressive for the female gender, this shows that women are represented as equal to men, however this can be argued against by the fact that their teacher is a male. This can suggest that men will always be superior to women, and have to teach the women the vital techniques of survival.
Shots where the women look at the man, represent that they are inferior to the men, as if they are damsels in distress, and the high angle shots, show us how the man sees Minaj, and she looks up to him, as if he is her saviour.
The colour, red that all the women wear, can connote power, however this power is diminished as the man wears Black, which is more of a masculine colour and blocks out the chance of any other colour conquering his ( which can also connote that a woman can never surpass the male gender).
The two women then fight for the man, which sometimes is and isn’t presented in hip hop videos, however society increasingly associates the men to be the fighters, and even in fairy tales we usually see the good guy and the bad guy fighting for the girl. This again challenges the male dominancy, and gives women physical strength. We could also say that the swords can represent the phallus and that as the women have them in their hands, they are now in control but another interpretation can suggest that this connotes that women must have some sort of male ability to survive.
The final shot I think strongly shows an alternative representation of women. As Minaj lies dying, the male sits beside her and looks to the camera in distress/anger/pain and sorrow, again which is stereotypically the role a woman would play. For years we see in not only music videos such as Hero by Enrique Iglesias but also movies that the man dies for the one he loves, and the woman runs whilst sobbing to him and hold him as he dies, so here we see the male takes on this role and is portrayed quite feminine. Also as he looks up, red rose petals fall upon him, which is a feminine flower, this can suggest that his feminine side is coming out as he cries whilst he watches his love die. Another interesting change I found by the end is that, the fact that the man survives can suggest that the female gender is too weak to survive and also by the end Minaj is fully dressed in Black, whereas the man now wears both red and Black, which can suggest as downfall in power for the man. The colour red can connote femininity, as it is a colour associated with love, lust and sexiness, which are all key words stereotypically associated with the female gender. Therefore it is key to notice that he wears both these colours, whereas in the beginning he just wears black, giving him all the power, but now Minaj holds all the power.
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