M2 - Ethical Issues

M2 – Ethical Issues
 

While making my music video, I will need to observe the potential ethical implications that the video’s narrative could have on the audience.

Stuart Hall's theory on representation proposes that the meaning of a piece of media is dependent on how it's content is represented; what is present, what is absent and what is different change the meaning of a media piece from reality. Showing certain elements of reality and leaving out other elements can make my video very different from the real world. I have purposefully done this to create an extreme version of reality, by including lots of violence and illegal activity while leaving out the consequences of such activity, like police intervention or emotional response. This presents a world to the audience that has been altered to such an extent that it is nothing like reality, and there are ethical implications of showing such a world to the audience, since they could be affected by this representation.

The main ethical issue that could arise stems from the representation in my video, mainly the use of stereotypes. My video uses stereotypes to represent the criminals in the nightclub, mostly through their costume: The thugs all wear white shirts and black ties, which is similar to the stereotypical “mobster” attire of a suit. The leader of the criminals wears over-the-top pimp-like jewellery and flashy clothing, which is based off stereotypical pimp attire. Although the use of stereotypes allow the viewer to more easily recognise the nature of the characters and identify that they’re criminals, it’s affiliations to non-criminal groups like pimps could create an unfairly negative reputation of the group. This is amplified by the somewhat gritty and down-to-earth nature of the video, which could make it easier for audiences for believe that the representation of the world in my video is realistic (which it is certainly not).

The other stereotype used in the video is the stereotypical partygoer characters, who are shown dancing, drinking, and chatting in the club throughout the video. This stereotype is mostly harmless as the partygoers do not engage in any potentially reputation-harming acts, but I should still be aware of it.

Another potential issue is that my video is made up of only white male actors, which is of course not an accurate representation of what a nightclub’s attendants would look like. This too creates an unrealistic representation of the world in my video, with inaccurate racial and gender representation. A “silver lining” to this is perhaps that due to the hyperbolised violence and action in the video, it would be somewhat obvious that the representation of reality is skewed, but that cannot be depended upon. It could even be that the violence appears more normalised if its surroundings are more realistic, so this is something I should be careful about.

Since there are no female actors in my video, I do not need to worry about the concept of the "male gaze". Laura Mulvey's theory on the representation of women in the media explores how women are used merely as "eye candy" for male viewers and as such, are often portrayed as being submissive, shallow-minded and, of course, physically attractive. This representation is very harmful because it perpetuates the concept of male superiority over women. I do not need to worry about how the women in my video are represented since there are no women featured. However, it could also be that the very absence of women implies that women do not belong in a nightclub, and that it is a man's activity. This could potentially be just as harmful as featuring women in a negative way, so it is something I should be aware about.