Gender portrayal in popular music videos: a comparative analysis of India and Canada

Abstract

Popular culture is a powerful form of public pedagogy (Giroux, 2004a; 2004b). That is, people learn from pop culture even when they think they are just being “entertained.” Considering the prevalence of media in the current context, popular culture may serve as a more influential pedagogue than official curricula or teachers (Moore, 2014). Grounded in feminist and queer media literacies, this study used critical content analysis and QSs to analyse popular music videos from Canada and India. The analysis considered: a) the ways that gender is constructed through popular music videos in two distinct contexts; b) the potential messages about gender communicated in music videos; and c) the way popular music videos could be used in formal classroom spaces to ground broader conversations about gender. The critical content analysis and qualitative survey revealed the presence of gender stereotypes and heteronormative representations within most character relationships with power lying in the hands of male characters. This research created a Basic Inclusivity Audit Survey (B.I.A.S) to observe and practice gender-based analysis of media texts for further discussions on the portrayal of gender in Media.