Audience Theory

Artist: Charli XCX ft. Rita OraTrack: Doing it

Genre: Indie pop/popDirector: Adam Powell

Release Date: 20th January 2015

Charli wrote this about this music video: ‘ Doing It - The video was very inspired by Thelma & Louise, Natural Born Killers and Barbie. Rita and I went out to the Californian desert and shot in some incredible places with some incredible people. I was very inspired by Florida strip clubs, 70s fashion (I'm wearing flares!!!!!) and David Lachapelle. It was so fun working with Rita on this. We had a wild time.’

Primary Audience Demographic• Age: 16 -25 – this is because the performers in the music video are mostly young adults and

the artists are young too; Charli XCX is 22 years old and Rita Ora is 24 years old.

• Gender: Male and Female – this is because the two artists are girls, which some girls may be able to identify with, but also males will be engaged to the music video due to the women’s attractive appearance. However, females may choose to watch the music video due to the male performers being sexualised. Although, both genders are sexualised in this video.

• Ethnicity: White/Kosovo Albanians – Charli is White and Rita is a Kosovo Albanian.

• Nationality: British/American – this is because both Charli and Rita are British, however the location of the music video is in America, therefore both a British and American audience will be able to identify with the video.

Other Artists/Music the target audience would enjoy:

When googling ‘Charli XCX’ – these other artists are what other people who had searched this, searched: Iggy Azalea, Lorde, Ariana Grande and Marina & the Diamonds)

When searching ‘Charli XCX’ on amazon, related searches were: Marina & the Diamonds, Iggy Azalea and Sky Ferreira. Therefore these artists produce the type of music (indie pop) that ‘Doing it’ uses and appeals to the same target audience.

Target audience continued:

• The two artists costumes are quite cowgirl like but also several of their costumes are very revealing. This would appeal to an audience who enjoy western films – this is also because of the locations used, or thriller films (Thelma & Louise).

• The revealing costumes would mostly appeal to males as the girls are being sexualised, therefore this shows a negative stereotype of females being presented as voyeuristic.(There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body- Goodwin ) However, this is challenged as one of the male performers practically naked body is exposed, more than the women. Additionally, the two men dressed as policemen also strip. This challenges the power of authority figures as the track involves the theme of rebelling against society’s norms and values and shows that authority figures have a lot less influence than expected, considering they strip.

• Alternatively, it could mean that individuals enjoy disrespecting dominant forces in society. Therefore, this could potentially appeal to females due to the behaviour of the male performers.

• Also, all the performers are represented as hedonistic, similar to my own music video production, the way they behave is for their own pleasure and fun – people who like to enjoy themselves rather than stick to the rules would like and identify with this music video. Similar, to my own music video, this music video is also a montage that uses fast paced editing to fit with the upbeat track.

• This music video involves a lot of dancing and is constantly active, therefore an energetic audience would engage with this production.

Images from Music Video:

Inter-textual reference: Thelma & Louise

The two images above are screenshots from the thriller film, Thelma & Louise. The left picture shows one of the female characters exposing their body, similar to the way Charli dresses in her music video. Additionally, the car in the background is the same brand/style to the one used in ‘Doing it’ The shot of Thelma & Louise on the right shows them in the car dancing and having fun, likewise in Charli XCX’s music video , the girls just want to have a great time and not care about anything else.

IMDb: Thelma & Louise

• “Meek housewife Thelma (Geena Davis) joins her friend Louise (Susan Sarandon), an independent waitress, on a short fishing trip. However, their trip becomes a flight from the law when Louise shoots and kills a man who tries to rape Thelma at a bar. Louise decides to flee to Mexico, and Thelma joins h… Moreer. On the way, Thelma falls for sexy young thief J.D. (Brad Pitt) and the sympathetic Detective Slocumb (Harvey Keitel) tries to convince the two women to surrender before their fates are sealed.”• This shows that the two females are represented as rebellious and

defensive. Similarly, in ‘Doing it’ Charli and Rita are represented as rebellious and perhaps out of control.

The Hypodermic Needle Model

• The Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that the information from a text passes into the mass consciousness of the audience unmediated. For example, the experience, intelligence and opinion of an individual are not relevant to the reception of the text. This theory suggests that, as an audience, we are manipulated by the creators of media texts, and that our behaviour and thinking might be easily changed by media-makers. It assumes that the audience are passive and homogenous. This theory is still quoted during moral panics by parents, politicians and pressure groups, and is used to explain why certain groups in society should not be exposed to certain media texts (comics in the 1950s, rap music in the 2000s), for fear that they will watch or read sexual or violent behaviour and will then act them out themselves.

• In relation to Charli XCX’s music video ‘Doing it’ this theory suggests that the audience who engage with this production may imitate the behaviour/style of the performers. For instance, the women are wearing revealing costumes and being unnecessarily sexualised; this could lead to other women wearing skimpy clothing. If this was to happen, the negative stereotype of the female gender, will perhaps be exaggerated. Additionally, the behaviour in this music video rebels against the norms and values of society – the important things and the way we are expected to behave in society, therefore if this behaviour is carried out, this could potentially result in a moral panic.

Media Theory:

• Denis McQuail argues that genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce productions consistently and efficiently and to relate the production to the expectations of its customers.

• This can relate to Charli XCX’s indie pop genre. All her music videos have a similar style, they are all upbeat and very fun, therefore she is being consistent with the tracks and music video’s she is producing; this meets the expectations of her audience/customers who buy her products.

• Futhermore, Nicholas Abercrombie argues that 'genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes within a genre' - this another theory that can relate to this music video.

• Other music videos by Charli XCX:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABhDiXbUaBE (Break The Rules)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fkt91iye4c (Breaking Up)

Uses and Gratification

• During the 1960s, as the first generation to grow up with television became grown ups, it became increasingly apparent to media theorists that audiences made choices about what they did when consuming texts. Far from being a passive mass, audiences were made up of individuals who actively consumed texts for different reasons and in different ways. In 1948 Lasswell suggested that media texts had the following functions for individuals and society: surveillance : security cameras, phone tapping, drones, correlation – finding patterns, entertainment and cultural transmission.

• Laswell’s focus on entertainment could link with Charli XCX’s music video. Most of the music video focuses on the women wanting to have fun and do things differently to what society would want.(For example, driving away from the police, dancing, riding a bull machine. In this way, females are represented as hedonistic. However, the target audience would be people who are energetic and want to enjoy themselves, therefore the entertainment in the music video is the reason they watch and identify with it.

• Blulmer and Katz expanded this theory and published their own in 1974, stating that individuals might choose and use a text for the following purposes: diversion - escape from everyday problems and routine, personal Relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction, eg: substituting soap operas for family life ; identifying with artists, fans feeling as though they belong to a special group, fans of “Friends” may substitute the characters for any gaps in their own lives, personal Identity - finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts, and Surveillance - Information which could be useful for living.

• ‘Doing it’ could be associated with diversion. This is because the video concentrates on doing ‘wild’ things for pleasure. The way they behave is not a way that an individual could behave every day and get a way with it. However, they have perhaps used an opportunity to escape from reality as they are bored with the same routine all the time. A lot of people who are aged from 16-25 may identify with this as they could have the same routines, therefore watching this music video may help them escape from their everyday problems or daily hassles because the track is upbeat and fast rather than slow and depressing.