Explore how gender and/or ethnicity is represented in at least three examples from the media (TV, film, magazines, music videos, games, film, advertising etc).

In this essay I'll be looking at the various representations of black people across different media. I'll be looking at a U.K drill video "3+4" by A.M, a Chinese laundry advert by Qiaobi and a U.K rap video "Black" by Dave.

3+4 A.M (Music Video)

This is a drill music video and the majority of the people in the video, including the artist, are black males. The video represents gang culture in London which is often associated with black males. In this music video black people are represented as violent and disrespectful. Mainly black males. The mise-en-scene shows the men are masked, trying to hide there faces to not get caught for the crimes they are going to commit. This represents black people as immoral criminals. It also shows them making hand signs, as if they are shooting people and holding up bandanas, these are things commonly associated with gangs, gang culture and black on black violence. The lyrics speak about many immoral and illegal activities like drug dealing, assault and shooting. Examples this include "Said he got guts, I'm tearin' it out" and "Back my shank in the baitest place, and for that I'm guilty". These violent lyrics describe the gang activity this music video represents black people as being part of. The video also depicts black on black violence as black men assault another black man after being set up by women. The artist then goes on to describe woman as degrading words suck as "sket" and "bitch" which suggest black males don't have much respect. 

Qiaobi (Advert)

In this advert black people are represented as negative due to the black man being shown as dirty due to paint being on his face and him wearing dirty clothes. The black man is the literally and figuratively cleansed and turned into an Asian man. Physical symbolism is used as the woman sits on top of the man shows her dominant position but when the man is turned Asian the woman looks up at him and there is high key lighting. This representing the Asian as an angel and in a position of power as the woman is looking up at him. Black men are shown as undesirable in this advert and dirty. The black man is also forced into the washing machine showing him as vulnerable. This advert says a lot about the racist Chinese culture as in china the advert was seen as normal but only got attention internationally. The company admitted they did this for sensational effect as it was different to things other company. They also addressed foreign countries of being too sensitive which shows how racist this company and advert are.

Black Dave (Music Video)

Unlike the last two examples Dave's representation of black people show them in a positive light and critiques media for representing black people negatively and the improper treatment of black people. Visually the video shows various different black people living their daily lives and black people proudly together in communities. The song tells us about struggles black people go through and there ability to overcome them, showing them as a strong group of people, for example growing up with one parent. Dave also goes into the past, talking about slavery and dismissing claims that black people are barbaric, Dave instead states black people are kings and queen evaluating there status and representing them as a virtuous people. The lyrics describe various different struggles black people have been in the past and the present. The first lyric of the song is "Black is beautiful, black is excellent" this represents black people as a proud race and he is trying to elevate the race from all of the social stigmas around them. The video goes into black identity and how black history is being erased. The video also shows black people being arrested, representing the unfair treatment they get by the police. Dave uses a play on words by saying the blacker the berry the sweeter the juice, a kid dies, the blacker the killer the sweeter the news". Here Dave is trying to expose the news using black people as a tool to get attention.