Film Review: Dreamworlds 3

Dreamworlds 3 is a documentary about music videos, specifically about the way music videos portray men and women. It calls music videos out on the way that they perpetuate the beauty myth, normalize abuse of women, degrade women, depict men as having more power than women, and make porn-like depictions of women mainstream. Music videos are directed mostly toward adolescents, but a lot of music videos out there today look like they should be rated R. There was a quote in the film that said "MTV teaches us how to be men and women." Teenagers watch this everyday. They watch girls doing nothing but shaking their butts, and being involved in sexual activity. The narrator said they are shown to be "sex crazed nymphomaniacs" and "ravenous creatures that only desire sex." What is this telling young people in our society, that this behavior is all we expect out of them? Music videos never show teenagers volunteering at shelters, or being responsible, turning down drugs and alcohol, or obeying their parents. If the media normalizes this unacceptable behavior then teens will think nothing of it, they will think this is the way they are supposed to act. The narrator mentioned that women are portrayed as having no deeper meaning than a sex object. So we have established that Young women are sent the message that it is okay to be promiscuous, uneducated, taken advantage of, and used as a sex object. Now, what messages are they sending to young men? They are telling men that it is okay to look at girls whenever they want to, even if the girl doesn't like it. One example of this is the Justin Timberlake video where he breaks into the girl's house and is stalking her. Another way this is conveyed is when the camera lingers on a woman's body as if there is someone watching her. Music videos also could give the impression that it is okay for men to abuse women. One example is in the video where Fred Durst kidnapped a woman and is holding her against her will in the woods. It is not okay to kidnap someone so why would you show yourself doing that. The narrator also talked about women being aroused when they were held against their will, I do not think any woman in her right mind would want that. That is why it is called "against her will" she did not want that to happen. I think this documentary should be shown to every teenager so they will understand why all these images are being forced on them, that it is just so these singers and industries can make a profit. I think that it was a great analysis of music videos and someone needed to say it.