ADVANCED PORTFOLIO 

The Uses and Gratification Theory

 

I believe that the Uses and Gratification theory best apply's to this music video; as it is watched to satisfy somebody's needs. The theory has four main categories of why people use media, these are: Personal identity, Information, Integration/Social interaction and entertainment. Within this music video i believe it can apply to multiple category's, the best suited ones are entertainment, emotional interaction and personal identity.This is because the audience are encouraged to escape their problems and recieve aesthetic or intrinsic enjoyment from the music video. I also believe that the video makes certain references throughout in order to relate to its target audience, which implies emotional interaction and personal identity. 

 

The main singer of the song is Rihanna and Calvin Harris, former DJ, features in the track as he creates the sound of the song. Rihanna also features in the video as one of the main characters, who is in a relationship with the troubled male. The video starts as a positive and happy atmosphere where Rihanna and the male find 'love in a hopeless place', you then begin to see their relationship slowly deteriorate and at the end you see Rihanna leave the male in the flat. I believe that Rihanna has chosen to express an abusive relationship, not necessarily physically, but mentally. The relationship between them seems to be very controlling on the males side, which could relate to her female target audience. This is becasue it encourages females to be independent and perhaps rethink their intentions for having a relationship, as i think a lot of females believe that they are weaker without men. This relates to the uses and gratification theory as the music video applies to the emotional interaction and personal identity category, as the video feautures similar events that occur in her target audiences life. Additionally i believe Rihanna is creating the message that love can be found anywhere but doesn't mean that it will last, and can bring you a lot of heartache instead of happiness- like in the music video. Therefore I believe that Rihanna's target audience are able to recieve personal identity from the video as they can echo the evenst in the music video to their lives and also recieve emotional interaction as they are able to relate to the same feelings as Rihanna. The intention of Rihanna's music video is to positively impact on her audiences lives, by using media to give advice to those who may need it.

 

On the other hand i believe the target audinece of Rihanna's music video could also be aimed at males. This is because a range of close ups and extreme close ups are used on Rihanna to reveal her appearence which is this case is sexy and provactive. The shots reveal Rihanna's body as well as expressing her sassy attitude and personality.This is sexual arousal entertainment as Rihanna will attract a male audience as they will find her pleasing to look at. This also links to Laura Mulvey's Theory of 'The Male Gaze' as they video is viewed from the males perspective and will continue to watch the music video as they find Rihanna visually pleasing.   

 

Overall, i believe that the references throughout the video enhance various interactions to her audience by expressing her emotions through her lyrics and acting in the narrative music video. Also by wearing provocative clothing and being an attractive female she also entertains her audience through this perspective.