Britney Spears (35)
before joining record company 'Jive Records' in 1997, had a career in on
television and roles in stage productions. Her two first studio albums were
internal success'; featuring songs such as 'Baby one more time' and 'Oops!... I
did it again'. However, it was in 2004 on her album 'In the zone' when the
worldwide success song 'Toxic' was released. It reached the top 5 in 15
countries, whilst topping the charts in the USA and UK. Although spears did not
write the song, she made it her own by showing that she is a grown woman and
used her sexuality to appeal to a mainly male demographic whilst changing and
evolving in conjunction with her similar aged fan base.
The music
throughout Britney's 'Toxic' is high tempo and I would suggest it is a
pop/dance genre collaboration. The speed of the music also reflects the racy
atmosphere the sexuality in this video creates. Although the song first
appeared on her album 'In the zone' it was also re-released on her greatest
hits album 'My Prerogative' and this could represent the whole persona she has
created for herself and demonstrates the rights she feels she has as a white
American woman. Auto tune was used a lot in this song and it added a very
superficial effect; one section of the song even played on the fact they were
using auto tune and made it blatantly obvious.
Lyrics
For the most part,
the music video appears to be disjunctured. The visuals demonstrate this
when she appears as an aide-hostess and some form of Batman style hero and even
a James Bond like villain; without the lyrics having any link. But in some
instances, the lyrics are amplified by the video. One scene shows Britney walks
into a room which is labelled toxic, she steals some kind of formula which she
later uses to poison a man she was pursuing. The lyrics also show how Spears
has now moved on from her innocent persona to become a woman in this sexually
erotic video. This is reinforced as the lyrics allude to sexual and drug
desires which 'adult like'. One of the allusions to drugs was with the line
"too high can't come down" which is ironically referenced by the fact
she is on a plane high up in the sky. Also, the sexual desire could be
referenced because she can't help falling in love with this man but he is a bad
influence (Toxic) she is attracted to him regardless.
Genre/mise-en-scene
The 'Toxic' video fits
into the mainstream pop genre with numerous costume changes and locations;
using the methods of cross cutting. Being a pop video, the dance choreography
in the video is quite prominent; although the routines are simple, Britney uses
her sexuality to make them appealing. At one stage, she pretends to escape some
kind of laser trap doing several flexible moves which show off some of the more
advanced moves she is capable of doing. Her target demographic is that of young
girls and teenagers who would expect dancing in the video so by her doing so
she is fulfilling what the fans expect of her. She also appeals to a more
mature audience which have grown up with her by using her sexuality;
she bumps and grinds with different men in the video. This and her virtually
nude suit all in the name of the 'performance' brought about lots
of controversy which has always followed Britney since starting her
music career; especially with the Baby one more time video.
The costumes are
conventional of a young female star. Her elaborate dance moves and costumes are
her whole image; she is not known for her singing and thus relies on her sex
appeal and body movements to maintain public interest and the controversy she
has created; although bad publicity, got lots of people talking about her. She
wears several costumes in the video which conforms with Mulvey's study of the
male gaze, for example, her air hostess outfit is very high riding and you can
even see her pink pants. She also wears a tight superhero outfit which shows
off her midriff.
The opening shot of
the video is of a plane and two birds which could show how she wants to break
free from her current image. From a young age, she has had some form of career
in the media industry; starting at Disney and the start of her solo career at
the age of 17. Any videos that Britney appears in have the same theme to them;
the desire to break free from something. In her first video for
‘Baby hit...’ the Mise en scene of a ticking clock and claustrophobic classroom
highlighted this theme which Toxic carries on. In terms of the audience, young
adults, especially teenagers, also want to escape from school or like to play
‘dress up’ so Britney’s Mise en scene of escape is one shared with her target
audience. This desire to escape is taken to the extreme in the video for
‘Everytime’ where Britney attempts suicide; again, a very public cry for help
which foreshadows the breakdown which came a few years later.
Cinematography
Britney as the star
is the focus of the music video and through the use of mid shots and close ups,
she always seems to be the main attraction of the video. Long shots are rarely
used; one example of a long shot was when she was on the motorbike and occasionally
when she is dancing; they are used. Any other extras in the video have little
prevalence in comparison which shows how important Britney is and this
reinforces the fact she is the centre of attention.
Editing
As mentioned,
Britney is the centre of attention and centre of the camera shots. The
collaboration of all of these shots are used in such a way that is sexualises
her; an example of this was when a close up of her posterior on the plane was
used when she was wearing a high riding playsuit. The shots are short and sharp
which is done to keep up with the fast tempo of the song.
Intertextuality
Holly Valance was a
pop singer who Britney was quite similar to; her hit song was 'kiss kiss' which
featured near nude scenes which could have influenced the industry and Britney
in regards to the dance similarities between the two videos. Also at the time
of the release of Spears' 'Toxic', there was a popular Tv series called Alias
which features a spy who uses different disguises. Moreover, the first seasons
DVD cover featured a look very similar to a red haired Britney and this could
have potentially been an influence.
Narrative/Performance
The narrative for
Toxic adheres very closely to Steve Archer’s definition of a music video. There
are performative elements to the piece so that Britney can display her skills
as a dancer (one of her main selling points) where as the main narrative of a female
spy who will go to any lengths (using her sexuality for instance) to reach the
object of the quest marks Britney’s own desire to escape the confines of the
music industry. This ‘dressing up’ element of the video is also shared by her
target audience who after four years of watching Britney grow older and more
mature are eager to do the same. The close-up and lip synching of the main
star is also the main performance of the video as well; again very
common in pop videos as well as rock videos as well.
Star
image/the brand
The performers of
the piece are shown in a variety of different ways, firstly the character than
Britney is portraying is constantly wearing revealing clothes but these don't
suggest that subjected to a man's opinions of her. She is shown to be powerful and
dominant and this is shown through various scenes of the video, including the
scene in which she throws the man to the floor. In the video, she is not
surrounded by men, whilst she is attempting to catch a man it is only to kill
him and not for him to fall in love with her, this can be interpreted to
suggest that Britney's character is independent. While she has more skin on
show than the men it doesn't evoke the idea that she's weak to the allure of
men.
Some scenes put
emphasis on her talents, other than singing, such as raising her legs and
jumping laser beams and spinning the lasso whilst riding the motorcycle, this
is to satisfy her fans.
The man that
appears driving the motorcycle is the model Tyson Beckford, he appears topless
in the video, gratifying the idea of the female gaze, his presence is an
attempt to add some more sex appeal for female viewers. The fact he's a model
in real life suggests that 'ordinary' men are not good enough for the video,
and the fact he has skin on show proves a similarity in the portrayal
of men and women.
The central male
character of the piece is shown to be in disguise at the start of the video to
add to the story and to show Britney's character's intelligence. The way
Britney uses her 'sexual allure' to draw him to the bathroom shows her
sexuality is her main advantage, when he turns out to be wearing a mask it
suggests that, again, ordinary men aren't acceptable for Britney. He is
depicted as attractive, especially shown to be when Britney enters his
penthouse and his head turns slowly in natural lighting, the effect puts
emphasis on his looks and gives the viewers a theory as to why she might be
chasing after him. However, his looks don't deviate her from completing her
'mission'. He is clearly wealthy as he is always seen to be wearing a suit and by
the fact, he is living in a penthouse apartment.
Voyeurism
The piece does
imply that the audience does maintain a voyeuristic view of women as the
majority of the camera work draws to Britney, often in a sexualised manner,
implying the notion of 'looking'. For example, the plane scene when the camera
focuses in on Britney's bum, it suggests that it is the position in which
people would like to view women. The video obviously conforms to the male gaze
of Mulvey’s teaching. Britney is sexualised as an object to be looked at and
appraised. The fact she wears a near nude suit and the camera focuses on her
legs and bum at the start of the video highlight pop music’s desire to sell
sexuality to a young audience. What complicates this though is the fact that
Britney controls the narrative completely. She is definitely not passive in the
traditional sense and in many ways, she manipulates men for her own desires.
She is the one who is a superhero and the wink at the end is the proof needed
for this complication. Is it a wink to suggest sexuality? Is it a wink to suggest
power and control? The answer lies within the reader because as we know
different audiences will read the video in different ways.
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