Throughout the music video ‘Playing God’ the lead singer Hayley Williams is constantly subverting the gender stereotypes and representations of women in the media.
Mise en scene is used in this video to subvert female stereotypes and typical representations in this video. Usually female artists wear revealing clothes in music videos and become part of the male gaze, but the costume of the artist in this video is sensible and she is covered up. This subverts the usual representation of women being objectified and presented passively, and instead presents her as strong and independent as she doesn’t need to be part of the male gaze to sell.
Props are then used to subvert the gender stereotype of men being dominant, in this shot we denote the male band members tied up in a basement. This connotes that they are vulnerable and in a weak position, which is rare to see from men in music videos. The lighting of the shot is dim as if to suggest the men are insignificant, whereas the female is always shown in brighter lighting, which subverts usual representations of men being more important. Furthermore, cinematography is also used in this shot in the form of the angle used, the high angle of the shot reinforces their vulnerability as it makes then seem small.
Performance is used in the next shot to subvert gender stereotypes, we can denote the female pulling the men along with the rope. This connotes that she is dominant in comparison to the men as she is the one in control of them, which opposes the usual representation of males being dominant and being superior to women.
In these next two shots angles are again used to represent the artist. In the first point of view shot its from the females perspective, it’s as if we are looking down on the men in a high angle shot and this once again makes them seem vulnerable and inferior. The second is a point of view from the males perspective where the female can be seen from a low angle shot, which empowers the female and reinforces the concept of her being dominant. Both of these shot’s subvert typical gender representations.
In this shot Hayley is in the centre and shallow focus is used. You can see the men in the background but the camera focus is on her and the men are blurred, this connotes that the female is more significant than the men as not only is she the centre of the focus, but also the centre of the screen.
However, these representations may be different due to the genre of music that the song belongs to. The genre of this song is alternative rock, and although the objectification of women isn’t restricted to the hip-hop genre, it is seen much more often in that style of music than it does in rock music videos, and it is rare for women to be seen as inferior in rock music videos also.
