Stupid Girls? (Semiotics: Image As Language) 23/11/11

Semiotics: Image As Language

This lecture was spent looking at the music video, Stupid Girls by Pink. Stupid Girls won several awards due it's very-out-there approach to media, patriarchy, feminism and Body image. There are many scenes in the video that some may find offensive because they can be quite graphic in nature. I personally like the video because Pink chose to unmask issues which we as a society, tend to ignore or pretend isn't there. Despite the strong message in her video, she still manages to entertain her audience and add a chunk of humour to the music video.

Before I deconstruct the video and analyse it, I'm going to explain and discuss what Semiotics are. Semiotics are mainly based around signs and communicating through a symbols, icons, etc. This can be done in a variety of ways. The reason we chose to focus on Pink's music video is because of the way she presented several different images using each of the following semiotic approaches:

• Iconic
• Indexical
• Symbolic

Now, I'm going breakdown the video slightly and discuss some of the key semiotic points that I noticed in the video. 

Scene 1

Here, in this early scene during this video, you can see what is called a Symbolic and Iconic sign. Where the young girl is sitting, she has two heads floating above either side of her. This sort of image is usually associated with the good and bad side of the "spiritual realm" in a religion. Most Europeans associate such images with the Devil and God who are icons in the Christian faith. I believe Pink chose this image to do the scene in this way in order to illustrate how the girl must choose between what is right and wrong. 

The reason why it was easy for me, or anyone else familiar with western culture, to recognise these images as the Devil and God is because we are familiar with the different ways each image was represented in the scene. For example, the angelic figure on the right was surrounded with clouds, white colour and softness which is usually what we as westerners relate to goodness, heaven and angels. The Devil however, was surrounded in fire, a deep red colour and her facial expression was harsh which is what we as a western society associate with evil, hell and demons. 

In eastern cultures such as Asia, they may not recognise or understand such symbols as the Devil and God. For example, Buddhism does not believe in such things as hell or the devil. Rather, they believe in karma and suffering for a brief period for your sins. Therefore, when seeing an image of the devil in the scene above, they may not recognise or understand why we believe fire and the colour is so evil. A symbol or icon may come across looking the same physically but it will always be useless unless someone actually understand the meaning behind it. 

Scene 2

I have included two captions from this scene because I spotted two separate semiotic points. In this first image, you can see the woman is flipping her hair. Flipping your hair is usually associated with being young, flirtatious and feminine. In some ways, flipping your hair can even be associated with sex. This is what I believe is called an indexical sign. I'm certain that this sort of action is not common worldwide because as I mentioned before, a sign is meaningless unless someone understands it. In places such as west Africa, flipping your hair is usually connected to childishness, restlessness and fidgety behaviour. I also noticed how the scene was set somewhere in the early 1950s where feminism was not very widespread and women were still taught to "behave lady like". In some parts of the world, there are still schools made especially for Girls Etiquette. I believe Pink purposely chose to use a 1950s set scene because this was a time close to the 1960s "freedom of women" era. In my opinion, she didn't over exaggerate the scene, she simply added humour to an action that we as Western society still practice today. 

Here, in this image, you can see the same woman biting her nails just seconds after she flipped her hair. Biting your nails is usually a sign of bad habits and, in some cases, stupidity in girls. The fact that this part was included in the scene just seconds after she flipped her hair, illustrates how Pink wanted to show that despite all the "suffocated" flirty actions, this sort of behaviour is only practiced among girls of lower intellect. I believe this is an indexical sign that should be quite recognised in most places around the world. I would say that western countries connect it more to bad habits. 

Scene 3

This is one of the most entertaining scenes of the entire video in my opinion. I say this because of the fact that she was able to clearly mock another music artist (50 Cent) without mentioning their name. In this scene, you can see that Pink is still in the video but she makes herself seem almost unimportant and to an extent, scarce. She does this by wearing a black hat to cover half of face and faces side ways to ensure that the camera is focusing on the male rapper rather than herself. In this short scene, there is an almost endless list of signs and symbols. I believe that the way in which she presents herself in this scene and purposely tries to make the male rapper look superior to her is known as indexical text. She's making it obvious how modern rap and hip hop music have exploited women in many ways. The way she dresses also represents that message. 
Her tight tank top and leather shorts are usually associated with sex, prostitution and promiscuous behaviour. Also, the setting for the scene is quite dark and "mysterious" and I believe that they purposely chose to use a dark, street like setting for the scene as such places are usually related to gangs, urban music and ghetto estates. In a way, this can be considered as iconic text. But like I mentioned earlier, the setting just look like a normal dark street to someone who may not be familiar with western culture. They may not understand what the ghetto looks like in the western world as we may not understand or recognise what the ghetto looks like in the eastern world. 


Scene 4
This is probably the most icon scene in the entire video. Pink is stood on a high platform, dressed formally and looking as if she could be a potential politician or president. Either way, she looks as though she is in high power. The the camera angle is pointed makes it seem as though we as an audience are below her, therefore illustrating that she in control and we  are in a lesser position. I believe that this scene illustrates an iconic text and also an indexical text. The fact that she was stood on a high platform with was looks like the American flag behind her, is what I'm recognising as an iconic text. All the presidents of America have been considered an icon. Also the flag being represents America which I also believe is a iconic text. As I have mentioned previously, this scene may come across as meaningless to those who do not understand or recognise the american flag. Although, I'm sure that most people will understand the sort of message she's sending across in this scene because of the way she's dressed, her posture, facial expression and the way she clenches her fist as if to say that she is in control. 

There are more scenes that I would really like analyse from the video, but you can see where I'm coming from when it I'm describing the semiotics in this video. There are messages in everything we see around us, especially media, art and design related areas. Please click on this link http://estherakinola.blogspot.com/2011/12/hes-at-your-window-signs-semiotics.html to read an analyse of another video that I selected.