Textual Analysis 50 Cent ft Olivia- Candy shop
The video I am going to be analysing for my textual analysis is 50 cents candy shop, which was made in 2005 and it is featuring Olivia. This song is in the genre hip-hop or gangster rap. This music video has many codes and conventions that come together to make the song look how it looks.
The video starts off with 50 cent pulling into a mansion driveway, with big black gates, driving a tinted out red Ferrari. These conventions at the start are used to show the audience that the main character in the video is entering a dark place, which could be dangerous. This then shows the audience that 50-cent is brave and strong, which helps to connote his masculine personality. The red Ferrari is used to connote that 50-cent is rich and has a lot off power, which makes the audience feel safe. This is a common convention of the rap genre. The story then enters the house and an eye line match from the woman to 50 cent as he looks at the girls in the room. This shot has been done to show the audience the realisation of where he is, almost like it’s a brilliant surprise. This is shown through the eye line matches. Mise-en-scene is location, props, costume, make-up etc. everything in the video that is used. This is used very frequently in 50 cents music video ‘Candy shop’ seen when he walks down the hall and meets the lady with the pink skirt, top and the whip. This costume is used to show the audience the sex appeal and sexual tension between both characters in the video. Furthermore the slutty costumes that are being worn by the female actors in the video are short and tight, connoting that they want 50 cent to come to her, and also to show that 50 cent has a choice of any girl which is every mans dream. This is a stereotypical representation of men AND women in not only the hip hop genre, but almost all media text. Furthermore, each women 50cent walks and finds, they have a different scenario, which appeals to him. For example he walks into a female actor when she is dressed as a nurse in
her “doctors setting” which connotes that she will look after him, this also relate back to the videos name ‘Candy Shop’. The nurse costume reinforces the common male fantasy of the ‘sexy nurse’. As a kid or as an adult when you enter a sweet shop you automatically don’t know what to look at first as everything is so colourful, good looking and tasty. This can then reflect the video as 50 cent walks around the house there are so many women dressed in different costumes offering something different. This is clever how they have linked the video name to the narrative in the video, as it helps the audience to understand the music video and the lyrics. Another convention they have used which is similar to a thriller convention is how they made the main female character easy to detect from the other females. They have done this by the dance routines and the clothing. The dance routines have been choreographed so that the main character ‘Olivia’ is at the front. This shows the audience that she is the sexiest and the one everyone wants OR that she is the queen prostitute in the brothel called ‘The candy shop’. This also relates to the ‘Candy shop’ title as she is like the nicest most expensive sweet in the shop. The clothing has also singled ‘Olivia’ out as the rest of the dancers have the same red colour as ‘Olivia’ but she has ‘sexier’ clothing on which is revealing but sexy. Red simply connotes lust and sex- again reinforcing the gender stereotype. This is done to show the audience that she is the girl that 50 cent is looking for, but has to find her first. This chase connotes how he has finally found his ‘candy’, which can be seen as a sexual connotation. This is a common representation of men and women, meaning that the male has to chase the female if he wants her, and furthermore this also is a typical antistereotype of women that they are just sexual objects that men can just use when they want. Another convention is the high angle on ‘Olivia’ at the start as 50 cent walks through the door. This shows at the beginning that she is in control and the leader of the house. This connotes a ‘whore house’ and she is the most premium whore, meaning she has the most people want her. This then shows the audience that 50-cent will pursue her, as this shot is followed by a close up on 50 cents face as he is looking at her up and down. This shot also shows the audience that she is the best girl there and he is the best boy in his crew so he by default gets the girl. This is another representation on a rap music video that the men are in control and get everything they want. Furthermore there is a lot of close ups in this music video, especially when 50 cent meets the different girls in each room, with different sexual fantasy’s. One of the main close ups is when 50 cent is in the room with the girl in the tight pink lycra nurses outfit. They have done this to show the audience how sexy she looks and to also show that she is all over 50 cent, and that she is ‘horny’ for him, something that is a common representation of the rap genre. This video, and many other videos in this genre exploit women to be these sex magnets that men can show off like trophies. However they have created so many stereotypes of women that many people now think it’s the norm, for these types of stereotypes like women should be half naked in music videos to look sexy. This is shown a lot in this video and is wrong. I feel that this video is made well and linked into the man, however they have exploited the women to much, and its gone past sexy, its now slutty and crude.