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Methodologies
December 11th, 2009 by khaleddn
Methodologies
First, Quantitative Discourse Analysis
In this method, I used three music videos to try and study how viewers are reacting to the clips, when they are first posted. I chose to look at the oldest one hundred comments versus a random hundred or the latest hundred because that shows me their initial reaction of the clip. I would definitely want to have the first reaction and opinion of viewers, because the latest comments could be out dated and not near the time of when the music video was first out and what people’s fresh thought’s were on it.
When I was looking for music videos to do my studies, not all of them had enough commentary to study. I had to choose certain songs that had enough commentary, that was in english for me to have in my research. Another set of choices, I had to make, were what categories I will have for my quantitative analysis.
I had to include a category that allows positive, negative or neutral comments for todays as well as ones for the past. From overviewing the comments, I realized many people mention the young Lil’ Bow Wow, and were comparing him to what he became, now. Another important category to have was the ‘Other’ section. Other would include anything like, comments that do not necessarily mean anything e.g. “15 cents” (Youtube.com Comment 1, 2009), people arguing with each other e.g. “Megababy0825 r u retarded? it’s ment to be spelt Soulja idiot” (Youtube.com Comment 2, 2009), people who express envy e.g. “he should had let me b n that video i look better then all dem lil girlz” (Youtube.com Comment 3, 2009) and anything else that doesn’t fall under a clear positive or negative category about the content in the music videos without personal agendas, like envy. The difference between ‘Other’ and ‘Neutral’ is that neutral comments relate to the actual clip, whether they are general questions or facts; ‘Other’ could be general information which does not relate to the clip and would also include things like arguing or conversations.
I included Neutral, in there because there were general comments with no opinion like, “I think 8 years old he started rappin’ or 6 or 5 or 3 he started rhymin’ he was known when he was 13” (Youtube.com Comment 4, 2009). With all these categories, the same comment could fall under two categories at the same time, which has happened quite often. An example would be, “I miss Lil’ Bow Wow…too bad he had to grow up and become Boo Wow!” (Youtube.com Comment 5, 2009). This comment would fall under the categories, ‘His History’ as a positive and also, ‘Bad’ for him currently.
The limitations that I faced with this study is that I wasn’t sure exactly what the age group was of the people commenting. From the slang language used and Bow Wow’s younger fan base, we can be on the safe side about, most of the people commentating are in their teenage years or early twenties, but there is no solid evidence to prove this.
The first music video’s commentary I looked at was his first single, when he was thirteen years old. It is called “Bounce With Me” and received many comments on the young Lil’ Bow Wow; yet these comments are only one year ago, when the video was posted. As you can see in the table, out of one hundred comments, as well as out of 100 percent, the most comments received were 33 past positive comments and 32 present-day positive comments. That is a third positive comments about his initial clip and many of them addressed how cute he was and their great memories of it, when it first came out.
The second music video I looked at was, “Take Ya Home”. It came out in 2002, before Lil’ Bow Wow, changed his stage name to Bow Wow. The video here was posted two years ago and the last one hundred comments are two years old. As you can see the majority of the results were present-day positive ones of 55 percent versus only ten percent of present-day negative comments.
The final video clip I reviewed the commentary for was, “Marco Polo” featuring Soulja Boy (very well known hip hop artist of today). This music video was released in 2008 and posted that year. The last hundred comments here are a year old. You will find that the majority, thirty percent, of the results here were found in ‘Other’ and in the present day positive category. The reason for this was because many people were arguing about the song and attacking it as well as the artists in it. This also explains why the second highest percentage, twenty nine percent, was the negative commentary, from the attacks. There was hardly any positive commentary except for the fans who were defending the artists from all the verbal attacks they were getting, this fell into other, because they weren’t clear positive comments. It was basically answering back and saying things like, everyone is jealous of the artists. This music video was very sexual and cheap in concept and low in class, in many people’s opinions, which is what created all the controversy. Fans were not impressed at all with this clip because of its repetitive shallow scenes; nor were they to happy about the song and lyrics, because of its empty meaning.
Second, In-Depth Video Analysis
I carried out an in-depth video analysis, studying what content these music videos had and what behavior was seen in them. To do this study, I can connect what people mean by their comments with what they’re seeing. Why people are resistant to these scenes and what provoked all the arguments that took place on the commentary walls.
“Bounce With Me” in-depth analysis:
“Bow Wow-Bounce With Me”, posted 2008 on Youtube.com
- 0:20 Lil’ Bow Wow gestures cash with his fingers whilst he sings and says “Around here we get some dollars”, with confidence, again to emphasize wealth.
- 0:25 Older Woman behaving in a sexual manner and holding a sexual gaze with the camera, in slow motion, whilst being sprayed with the sprinklers.
- 1:15 Younger girls portrayed in innocent playful scenes, playing with the skipping rope and taking part in normal daily activities that are outdoor.
- 1:32 Lil’ Bow Wow looking down at the camera (this puts him in an authoritative position). Virtually kicking the camera (viewers); this could be considered violent behavior for a child.
- 1:36 Younger girls dressed appropriately for their age with jeans and t-shirts (seem to be younger than thirteen years old). They are innocently dancing and looking down at the camera.
- 1:51 Lil’ Bow Wow flashing his bracelet, aka “bling bling”, at viewers. This is similar behavior to older hip hop artists who flash their jewelry in clips, to portray wealth.
- 2:08 Older looking girls, in their teens, dressed in revealing clothing exposing their stomach & thighs and dancing in a more seductive manner than the younger girls.
Overall, there are many young girls in the music video acting their age by playing outside and dancing without any sexual gestures or insinuations (this should be the norm). Yet there had to be behavior of sex appeal with the first woman in slow motion, being slightly sprayed with the sprinklers and sexually watching the camera. There is some footage which relates to minor violence in the clip and a lot of gesturing of wealth.
He has many older male role models, in the clip, showing their support and adding to Lil’ Bow Wow’s popularity in the clip. He has an older rapper featured in his song, which puts him in a more mature perspective. This is a more innocent music video that suits his age in comparison to his other music videos. This is considered PG 13 it’s song is created for a family movie, “Big Momma’s House”.
“Take Ya Home” In-Depth Analysis:
“Lil Bow Wow – Take Ya Home (Official Music Video)”, posted 2007 on Youtube.com
- 00:02 Music Video starts off with comedy, featuring Mr. Cooper and Eddie Griffith. They are both very well known in entertainment television. Mr. Cooper was known for his sitcom, Hanging with Mr. Cooper, in 1992. Surprisingly, he is supporting and participating in this music video, which involves inappropriate behavior with a child, older women and sexual activities. Actions that have potential to leading to something illegal, in reality.
- 00:35 Much older women in the pool, provocatively touching themselves and glaring at the camera (or in script, glaring at Lil’ Bow Wow).
- 00:50 A young girl (approximately eleven years old) slightly imitating the older women in her dancing and attitude.
- 1:27 Older woman with revealing clothes, holding a whip and indicating bondage (violent sex).
- 2:19 A woman dancing over a camera and provocatively moving her hips back and forth from the camera.
- 2:27 A very young girl shaking her upper body, from side to side, as older women do in a sexual dance. This dance move highlights her breasts to the public.
- 2:50 Woman using a caramel apple as a sexual object to create sex appeal.
- 3:25 Lil’ Bow Wow’s chic clothing and expensive looking sunglasses depict an attractive, luxurious lifestyle that he leads.
There is repeated sexual imagery here from numerous older women. It is inappropriate yet is treated as though it was normal for a young boy to be wanted by older women. Women who portray a facade of perfection.
“Marco Polo” In-Depth Analysis
“Bow Wow & Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em – Marco Polo [Music Video]“, posted 2008 on Youtube.com
- 00:05 The music video starts off with an argument, which leads to physical threatening.
- 01:10 Women dancing in bikinis with Bow Wow, just for show, no specific reason for them to randomly break into a dance. Not based on narrative.
- 01:24 Bow Wow sitting between a woman’s open legs, whilst she’s in a bikini.
- 01:54 In the lyrics, Bow Wow mentions money and gestures is with his fingers.
- 02:03 Bow Wow flashing his “bling bling” at the camera, emphasizing his luxury and property.
- 02:05 A woman slowly and flirtatiously dancing on a beach chair, without breaking her gaze with us, as the audience.
- 02:09 Bow Wow hands a beach ball to a child (approximately three years old), perhaps to show maturity and age.
- 02:12 A man belly flopping into a pool, from a high distance. This shows courage and “badass” attitude, yet could also convey a form of violence.
- 02:26 Many women, men and children dancing closely together in water and swimwear, could be viewed as sexually dirty.
- 02:37 Soulja Boy rapping, surrounded by women and objectifying them, as though they were in a gallery.
- 02:50 A prank is played on the lifeguard and he sits on wet paint so that his shirt from the back is all red. This is to show the cheeky side of the boys.
Many women in bikinis being objectified and represent perfection throughout the music video. The artists pay no respect to the women or other people in the clip and take an authoritative stance, by standing on a higher platform and talking down at them, in the beach waters. You could see here that Bow Wow is covered in tattoos, to make him look more raw and “gangsta”; this is a part of his new, grown up look.
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