Satire: "Stupid Girl" by Pink

a) Music Video


b)The social issue this video is drawing attention to is that society turns women into objects that are supposed to have a certain body type and who are supposed to behave in certain ways to attract guys. Young girls are pressured to conform to certain stereotypes.


c) One key scene is where there is a shot of Pink as the President (formal dress, wearing glasses, and giving a speech) then directly followed by the scene of her dancing like the typical back-up dancers in rap videos (with very little clothing and suggestive moves.) The woman has gone from being a PERSON with an identity and ideas and power-to an OBJECT with only a body. A second key part of the song is the section that goes:


"I'm so glad that I'll never fit in
That will never be me
Outcasts and girls with ambition
That's what I wanna see"


This is important because the speaker is rejecting the stereotypical expectations for the way women are supposed to look and behave.


d) Specific techniques of satire are:
Exaggeration: the scene of girls sharing a toothbrush to vomit in a public washroom, the scene of the spray on tan where she is completely orange, the scene of her hitting a pedestrian as she is driving, the scene of her inflating her chest to get the attention of her boyfriend etc. etc. are all exaggerated and humorous but still making a point. She also highlights points from many actual music videos (where women behave in a "slutty" way like the scene of her dancing beside a rapper and the scene of her on the car and of the video she's making with her boyfriend).
Sarcasm: "Oh my god you guys, I totally had more than 300 calories/That was not sexy, no...I WILL BE SKINNY"
Caricature: The video exaggerates and distorts some characteristics of female celebrities like the sunglasses, little dogs, no brain etc.




e) The target audience is likely mostly female ages (?) 10 to 35?


f) What makes this video effective is the humour because many of the scenes are quite funny but a little realistic too. Many women feel pressured to look a certain way and act a certain way because of TV and music videos and advertisements. The visuals in the video are constantly changing and it is an interesting video to watch so it is a good choice of medium to try and get this message across. Music videos are very popular with young people (including girls) so it is likely that they would see this video and it would make them think.