Music Video Analysis

Britney Spears- Oops I did it again:In this essay I am going to be analysing one of Britney Spears’ hit number 1 singles, “Oops I did it

again”. I am going to discuss some interesting points on this video but mainly base my essay on gender representation. This video starts off with what seems like the screen of a computer which is displaying images of space and reads ‘ENTERING MARS ORBIT”. There is also a non-diegetic sound of a computer loading. This sets the scene for the music video as it informs the audience that the

video is based on Mars and we know technology is involved as the information was shown on a computer.

We then see and astronaut on mars communicating back to base after finding a space rock with Britney Spears’ face on it, which introduces the artist to the audience. Following this, there are extreme close ups of Britney’s face parts such as the mouth and the eye. This is used because these two facial parts are seen as a turn on to men. This is representing woman as objects to men because all that was shown were these two facial parts and there is a jump shot back to the astronaut who is looking at her in awe. The fact that they are on Mars connotes that women are invading men’s privacy and play a major part in men’s lives. This is because Mars is known as ‘the planet in which males come from’ but yet Britney was found on the planet who is a female.

There is then a panning shot of Britney Spears body, with the camera moving from down to up. She is wearing a tight red jumpsuit and standing in a provocative position. This can be considered to be a tease to the men because she is showing them her provocative body and jumpsuit but the camera doesn’t reach her face. A jump shot is then shown of her cracking a metal chain whip. I think Britney was suggesting that although she as a woman may be looked at as an attractive object, she can still have the control over a man and what he can get from her.

As soon as the whip is cracked the drumbeat of the song kicks in and Britney and her dancers break into an upbeat dance routine. This gets the attention of the audience because before this part all the camera movements were slow and there was no music playing so the audience would expect a slow paced song or a gradual lead into the song. Therefore this immediate change was unexpected and forces the audience to pay attention.

There are fast jump cuts as the girls are dancing to match the beat of the song but at random intervals there is close ups of just Britney’s body (not including her face) and at this time the camera slows down. Some may say that this does represent her as an object to men because it is connoting that women don’t really mean anything it’s all about their bodies and not their personalities. However, I personally think that this suggests that Britney has the power over men and can tease them and do whatever she wants with them.

In this image there is a close up of the astronauts face with a reflection of Britney from his helmet. He looks very pleased and has a smile on his face which suggests he finds her

attractive. This looks very similar to a television screen, which is then backed up in the second image because the people in the space office are also watching her on some sort of screen. Men are stereotypically linked to people who love to sit down and watch

entertainment or news on the TV. The fact that all these men are watching Britney on these “screens” connotes that woman are like news or entertainment to males in which they find interesting to gawp at.

To conclude, I think that women in this video are represented as male objects but the women have taken this to their advantage by using their attractiveness to tease men which gives them the control and power that men are usually considered to have. This is also highlighted in the lyrics when she says “Oops I did it again. I played with your heart” which is just confirming that she has the control and can tease men using her feminine charm.