Author
Kristy
Sexual Objectification and False Female Empowerment Through Media's Male Gaze: Analyzing the Music Video of "So Crazy" by T-ara
Sexual objectification reflected through stylistic choices of Korean girl group music videos often translates into a form of false empowerment to female audiences. In T-ara’s music video for “So Crazy”, power dynamics between men and women are observed through the enabled female ability to gain attention from increasingly sexualized images. By using suggestive outfit, choreography and lyric choices, sexual objectification is further emphasized as T-ara members end up gaining the power and attention of men through this image. However, I do not believe that this accurately reflects empowerment to female audiences as it is still under the influence of the male gaze through the governing of entertainment industries.
Before discussing the issues of sexual objectification in terms of stylistic choices, we must briefly examine the music video’s narrative, especially in terms of military and masculinity. The members of T-ara first appear as cafeteria workers often ignored and ridiculed by other male workers and military personnels. The initial reaction towards T-ara changes as they are invited to and wins the “Miss T-ara” contests, transforming from cleaning ladies to a sexier and more mature idol image.
It is interesting to see how they’ve chosen to put this in the context of military, especially with Korea’s history of Mipalgun Shows, and how they initially used female performers alongside sex workers in military bases, portraying women and femininity as opposite and subordinate to men and militarized masculinity (Saeji 2019). Feminist film theorist Mulvey explains this idea of sexualization for visual pleasure as an unconscious film form, especially in the way that “male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly… so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness” (1975:11).
As military reflects the right of passage for many young Korean men, the sexualization of the female body can also be interpreted as a way of measuring female acceptance into society’s standards. Through the research of Xi Lin and Robert Rudolf it is confirmed that revealing costumes, suggestive choreographies, and lyrics in K-pop are used in ways that “manipulates young female idol’s femininity in order to meet socially prescribed role expectations in a male-dominated society” (2017: 28).
In this case, the outfit change from regular t-shirts, shorts and aprons to the highly sexualized marine uniforms reflect the media industries’ demand for increasingly provocative images of female idols, given the incentives to do so from ineffective censorship regimes (Turnbull 2017: 133) Lyrics like “힐끔힐끔 왜 자꾸 쳐다봐” (why do you keep stealing glances at me) also suggests the targeting of male audiences, or at least one that is familiar with the male gaze and assumes women in the position of being looked and acted upon. Along with suggestive dance choreographies that focus on sexualized female body parts, close-up and low angle shots are also used to highlight specific facial expressions that convey both the sexy and cute image. These hyper-feminine behaviours of infantilised aegyo is then a representative form of “private and intimate seduction” (Hong and Puzar 2018: 3).
Towards the end of the video, T-ara wins both the contest and hearts of the men and is seen no longer doing the dirty work of cleaning but instead sitting amongst those in military uniforms. Although one may view their success in attaining a more sexualized image as something empowering to female audiences, I believe that everything is still happening through the male gaze, which ultimately objectifies female idols regardless. The issue of sexual objectification here is that women are sold the idea that their value should come from the concept and ability of being sexy and sexually wanted (Heldman: 2013), especially in the context of men. Here, however sexual objectification is portrayed in a way that should not empower women in contrary to what the video is reflecting. This transformation from being cute and clumsy to a more sexualized and mature representation of women is then shown to cater to male audiences (instead of empowering women).
Before discussing the issues of sexual objectification in terms of stylistic choices, we must briefly examine the music video’s narrative, especially in terms of military and masculinity. The members of T-ara first appear as cafeteria workers often ignored and ridiculed by other male workers and military personnels. The initial reaction towards T-ara changes as they are invited to and wins the “Miss T-ara” contests, transforming from cleaning ladies to a sexier and more mature idol image.
It is interesting to see how they’ve chosen to put this in the context of military, especially with Korea’s history of Mipalgun Shows, and how they initially used female performers alongside sex workers in military bases, portraying women and femininity as opposite and subordinate to men and militarized masculinity (Saeji 2019). Feminist film theorist Mulvey explains this idea of sexualization for visual pleasure as an unconscious film form, especially in the way that “male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly… so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness” (1975:11).
As military reflects the right of passage for many young Korean men, the sexualization of the female body can also be interpreted as a way of measuring female acceptance into society’s standards. Through the research of Xi Lin and Robert Rudolf it is confirmed that revealing costumes, suggestive choreographies, and lyrics in K-pop are used in ways that “manipulates young female idol’s femininity in order to meet socially prescribed role expectations in a male-dominated society” (2017: 28).
In this case, the outfit change from regular t-shirts, shorts and aprons to the highly sexualized marine uniforms reflect the media industries’ demand for increasingly provocative images of female idols, given the incentives to do so from ineffective censorship regimes (Turnbull 2017: 133) Lyrics like “힐끔힐끔 왜 자꾸 쳐다봐” (why do you keep stealing glances at me) also suggests the targeting of male audiences, or at least one that is familiar with the male gaze and assumes women in the position of being looked and acted upon. Along with suggestive dance choreographies that focus on sexualized female body parts, close-up and low angle shots are also used to highlight specific facial expressions that convey both the sexy and cute image. These hyper-feminine behaviours of infantilised aegyo is then a representative form of “private and intimate seduction” (Hong and Puzar 2018: 3).
Towards the end of the video, T-ara wins both the contest and hearts of the men and is seen no longer doing the dirty work of cleaning but instead sitting amongst those in military uniforms. Although one may view their success in attaining a more sexualized image as something empowering to female audiences, I believe that everything is still happening through the male gaze, which ultimately objectifies female idols regardless. The issue of sexual objectification here is that women are sold the idea that their value should come from the concept and ability of being sexy and sexually wanted (Heldman: 2013), especially in the context of men. Here, however sexual objectification is portrayed in a way that should not empower women in contrary to what the video is reflecting. This transformation from being cute and clumsy to a more sexualized and mature representation of women is then shown to cater to male audiences (instead of empowering women).
Reference
Heldman, Caroline. “The Sexy Lie: Caroline Heldman at TEDxYouth@SanDiego.” Youtube video, length. January 20, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMS4VJKekW8&vl=en
Lin, Xi, and Robert Rudolf. “Does K-Pop Reinforce Gender Inequalities? Empirical Evidence from a New Data Set.” Asian Women 33, no. 4 (2017): 27–54.
Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Feminisms, 1975, 438–48.
Puzar, Aljosa, and Yewon Hong. “Korean Cuties: Understanding Performed Winsomeness (Aegyo) in South Korea.” The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 19, no. 4 (June 2018): 333–49.
Saeji, Cedarbough T. “Masculinity, Male Image, and Mandatory Military Service.” Lecture, October 30, 2018.
Turnbull, James. “Just Beautiful People Holding a Bottle: the Driving Forces behind South Korea’s Love of Celebrity Endorsement.” Celebrity Studies 8, no. 1 (February 2017): 128–135
Lin, Xi, and Robert Rudolf. “Does K-Pop Reinforce Gender Inequalities? Empirical Evidence from a New Data Set.” Asian Women 33, no. 4 (2017): 27–54.
Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Feminisms, 1975, 438–48.
Puzar, Aljosa, and Yewon Hong. “Korean Cuties: Understanding Performed Winsomeness (Aegyo) in South Korea.” The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 19, no. 4 (June 2018): 333–49.
Saeji, Cedarbough T. “Masculinity, Male Image, and Mandatory Military Service.” Lecture, October 30, 2018.
Turnbull, James. “Just Beautiful People Holding a Bottle: the Driving Forces behind South Korea’s Love of Celebrity Endorsement.” Celebrity Studies 8, no. 1 (February 2017): 128–135