Essay on Katy Perry- California Girlz music video

The music video I am analysing is California girlz by Katy Perry, it was directed by Mathew Cullen and the music video itself is an electropop genre, whilst the artist Katy Perry is known in the Pop/R’n’B genre. The bold characteristics that this genre has are flashy cars, exposed girls with little clothing and most rely on editing to make the video a success, where as other genres like Rock they rely on the music and filming gigs. The music video California Girlz follows these characteristics as there is nudity, a fantasy world produced by editing, voyeurism and sexual exhibition.

Through the lyrics there are certain lines that are parallel to the video as the video is set on a beach in some scenes where girls are wearing bikinis and shorts, alike the like ‘ California girls, were unforgettable,

Daisy- dukes, bikinis on top.

Sun kissed skin, so hot we’ll melt your Popsicle’

 

The music like the lyrics cut to the beat, when the artist sings the video matches the music, this music video is promoting a collaboration with two major artists in the pop/ r’n’b genre, and this particular genre is not known for solo instrumental as it is known that indie or rock genre artists normally perform solo instrumentals.

The record company Capitol music group wanted to portray katy Perry as a sex symbol trying to appeal to her male audience, as she throughout the video is either nude or emphasising her womanly assets.

The record company also used collaboration with a major artist to try and widen the audience appeal. Katy Perry throughout her music career is portrayed as a beautiful woman by men, shes not entirely portrayed as a sex symbol but she has that appeal. It also portrays her other videos as her first video ‘I kissed a girl’ was all about how girls are more appealing than boys and there Katy Perry was surrounded by the colour red. This video is the first time Katy Perry as an artist become nude in one of her videos, it doesn’t change her image but it also widens her audience base as she now has a male fan base aswell.

Katy Perry is definitely being watched in this video, not only by her audience but also by her fellow artist in the video Snoop Dogg as he also is watching her with binoculars, as Katty is in a candy world and Snoop is looking in the world like a ‘god’ figure, this also assumes the idea that men rule the media industry. A feminist sociologist  called Laura Mulvany argues the idea that women are just objects for men to look at, although in many cases in r’n’b videos this case proves to be true where the women are little objects dancing around the artist, in these feminine artists like Katy Perry is an Exhibitionist as she wants to be looked at in her voyeurism as she wants people to see how comfortable she is nude etc, she doesn’t portray herself as a sex symbol but as a woman who wants to get a male audience. She also through camera work is viewed provocative as she is filmed in a tilt up shot of her nude body and also her costume also implies sexual references as she is implying that her breast as weapons.

These features have been played to make her look like she can hold her ground, and she is able to battle men but she is doing it by using her feminine features, which is the opposite of her sex appeal.

This music video gives an intertextual reference to the hit 70’s movie Willie Wonker and the Chocolate factory where everything in the factory even the grass is edible, this reference is also linked to Perrys first music video as she quoted girls as ‘I kissed a girl and I liked it, the taste of her cherry chap stick’ is like saying that girls are sweet and tasty like the candy in her California girlz music video.

The music video is mostly performance based as it is about the storyline of finding a candy land and finding interesting things on the way and then a confrontation with a man, and sweets, it is also concept based but also the idea of the music video being a candy land being magical is more of a bigger concept than the rest.

This video is full of voyeurism and exhibition with a big performance, the point of the music video is to boost a collaboration between two artists but also to show that Perry has a sexual side.