Womens Roles in Music Videos

In Sut Jhally's video Dreamworld, he talks about how women are used as sex symbols in music videos. In his film, he refers to the "dreamworld" as a place depicted in music videos where women are nymphomaniacs and their purpose on Earth is to fulfill the sexual needs of men. You can find women in many music videos playing different roles including anything from a dominatrix or being a jealous slut who is in competitions with other women similar to them, for the affection of the main male character in the video.



I decided to analyze "What Goes Around...Comes Around" by Justin Timberlake.

 The video starts out by Justin Timberlake approaching a women (Scarlett Johansson) on the rooftop of a 1950's Moulin Rouge circus-themed club. He begins to flirt with her and she plays hard to get. After some persistence, she ends up leaving the club with him.

The video then flashes from scenes of J.T. singing in the club and him and Johansson making love. The video continues to a scene where Johansson jumps into a pool and starts drowning. J.T. jumps in to her rescue, only to find that she was pretending to be the damsel in distress . They begin to make out in the pool.

It cuts back into scenes of J.T. singing in the club with other girls dancing with rings of fire. The video shows their relationship progressing. The next scene shows J.T. and Johansson with a male friend and three showgirls from the club. J.T. starts bragging to the male friend about how he wants to marry Johansson. His friend gave off the impression that he was jealous. I thought that the other girls could be hookers or just gold diggers. There are more scenes of J.T. and Johansson being intimate.

As we get farther into the film, he walks up a stairwell and catches her cheating on him with his friend from the club. He punches his friend in the face and starts to argue with her. He follows her down the stairs and outside. A car chase begins between J.T. and Johansson, where she crashes and dies. The video ends with J.T. staring at her lifeless body.

All the other women performers in the video are dressed in the same fashion as her and looking for a the right guy to go home with. They aren't shown interacting with men, but seen performing for an audience. I would refer to Johansson's character in the video as a succubus, because she is an attractive female and she seduces J.T. by having sex with him. The video matches perfectly to the lyrics and title of the song. She deceived the one that loved her. Karma comes back around and she ended up getting a taste of her own medicine.