Ethnicity in Music Videos- Olly Murs (assignment 14)

Joe Carabini

Troublemaker- Olly Murs

Costume• Olly Murs is dressed in a shirt and suit for the majority of the video for this

song. He also changes into other clothing throughout the video, including a tweed suit and braces, connoting that he is of a high social class. This is typical of a white British male in pop music.

• The artist’s costume is juxtaposed by that of the other men in the café, who are dressed in dirty, casual clothes. The gold chain around the neck of the girl’s boss in the café is a symbol of the hip-hop/rap genre which Olly Murs wants to disassociated himself from.

Troublemaker- Olly Murs• Setting• The music video opens in a café which features a couple of negative characters,

both of which appear to be foreign. The artist is promoting himself as gentleman and uses the stereotype of upper-class and gentlemanly British men contrasted with sleazy, objectifying men to appeal to a more international audience.

• The setting in the music shop is key as it shows a lot of books in the background, which suggests that he is well-educated and so is the girl he is pursuing. It is also worth noting that this scene features only white people, perhaps only through coincidence but possibly because this separates music genres that is dominated by black males such as hip-hop and grime from his own music.

Troublemaker- Olly Murs• Black meets white• Flo Rida features in the song and the video as a hip-hop artist. This creates a wider audience for the song as it

combines audiences of both hip-hop and pop music. The audience for hip-hop music is predominantly black, whilst the audience for pop music is predominantly white. This larger audience leads to greater popularity and more money.

• Flo Rida’s scenes in the video show him in front of an expensive car with two girls in bikinis with the backdrop of Manhattan. The expensive car is a typical feature of hip-hop/rap music as the artist shows off their material goods and wealth. The two young girls in bikinis is a hyper-sexualised and also very common feature of this genre as artists often objectify women and treat represent them as possessions to be flaunted. The backdrop of Manhattan tells the audience that Flo Rida is proud of his American roots, helping the song appeal to a more global audience as Olly Murs adopts a typical British style. This appeal to an American audience also generates more sales and money.

• The fact that the girl Olly Murs pursues is white and both of the girls Flo Rida flaunts are black is significant as it suggests that there are no interracial relationships. This creates a barrier between the contrasting genres and prevents the artists from being associated with a music genre that they do not want to be associated with.

Troublemaker- Olly Murs• Extras• The two men in the café both look foreign and are portrayed negatively. They appear to be Asian,

where laws regarding the treatment of women are a lot more in favour of men, which contrasts the western laws. This is deliberately done as the audience for this song will be predominantly western viewers who believe in equality for women.

• Another white woman is shown in the background in the café looking with disgust at the men who mistreat the main female character. This suggests that white people are more supportive of women who are subject to mistreatment.

• The fact that all the people in the book shop are white suggests that white people are of superior intellect to other races. This is done because as a British pop song the target audience will be young white people.

• The people in the club are also predominantly young white people, making it appear as a typical nightclub in England.

• Finally, the security guard seen at the end who looks intimidatingly at the artist is black. This makes him stand out from the other people in the club who are mostly white.