Katy Perry - Firework Music Video

People who feel that they are different and go through emotional and physical pain are being represented in the text through the use of the singer Katy Perry describing the narrative in the lyrics (e.g. "You don't have to feel like a waste of space"). The representation is fair as it is not a biased representation, the audience see the injustice/sadness of the different characters. The change in facial expressions, body language and actions is an opportunity for self-representation for the characters (e.g the homosexual who feels a lone in the club seen has a depressed face expression, then after he has "ignite the light" he gains the confidence to approach another male and kiss him.)

The "firework" has many connotations in this text referring to each characters situation for example when the two children are listening to their father abuse their mother, the lyrics change to "like the 4th of July" referring to the American Independence, so in this case the fireworks connote freedom. This is when the young boy decides to intervene and stop his father from arguing and abusing the mother. The firework shown in the medium shot of the boy coming between his parents can connote anger and a spark of emotions.

Another point to note is the colour scheme of the text as whole, everything starts off dreary, dull and depressing (e.g the hospital, the pool party) but when the fireworks come to each character the whole text appears to have more colour.

Jessie J - Who's Laughing Now Music Video

The persona of Jessie J as a child is being represented through the use of her iconographic hairstyle which is used to allow the audience to identify with the protagonist of the text. The representations is from the persona's point of view, therefore the representation is not fair however it could be argued that we are shown the protagonists point of view as the audience would sympathise with the little girls experience of school.

The other girls in the video are all dressed in pink, which connotes femininity something the protagonist clearly  lacks, the different costumes are used to portray Struass's theory of binary oppositions. Ironically the representation of the protagonist would at first seem to be tough and mean however through the rest of the text is shown to be the opposite, as opposed to the seemingly stereotypical girls who bully the protagonist. The setting of the text is also significant to the 'story-telling' of the text as the audience see the protagonists journey from being an outcast to a star.

The audience are expected to identify with the protagonist as she is being bullied and overcomes with her fame and fortune hence the chorus "Well who's laughing now?". The role of the music allows the audience to understand the story from a child's point of view as there are children speaking/singing through the song. The values that the text embodies are that one can overcome adversity as the protagonist does in the video. There is an alternative ideology of the protagonist shown, most people would stereotypically associate the young Jessie J to be a bully due to her costume and body language, however in the text this is proven wrong as she is the victim of bullying.

The text features Jessie J as herself in the classroom as well as the many other roles in a school (teacher, caretaker, dinner lady), and the persona of a young Jessie J are used to represent the strong and determined characteristics of the artist Jessie J.

The text has been distributed via iTunes.