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The audience theory that applies to the music video I have analysed is the ‘Uses and Gratifications theory’. This theory is an audience centred approach and has four main categories, these are: personal identity, entertainment, integration and social interaction. The theory is based around the idea that people watch music videos in order to satisfy their own needs.  The main category in which the music video I have analysed fits into however is entertainment.

Features of the entertainment category that apply to the audience are the feeling of escape, or being diverted from problems the audience has at home in their normal life. Also intrinsic or aesthetic enjoyment from watching the video, emotional release from viewing it and also sexual arousal.

 

 

In the ‘your love’ video by Nicole Scherzinger we see Nicole dancing around the beach wearing a range of very provocative outfits. For example we see her at one point wearing a black cut out swimsuit showing off her slim body and lustrous curves, this is because this makes Nicole look very attractive and appealing to look at therefore more people are going to be interested in watching the video as this is linking in with sexual arousal . In the video also there is also a lot of extreme close ups featuring just her face, this is because it is showing off the fact that she is very beautiful and appealing to look at. This links in with Laura Mulvey’s theory of the ‘Male Gaze’ as the whole video is being viewed from a male perspective- looking at an attractive woman, Nicole being viewed like this is getting her a lot of attention from males and therefore they will watch and listen to her video making it become more popular which is exactly what Nicole wants.

 

 

The video also links in with escapism as it shows Nicole appearing to be having a really great time on a luxury beach in Malibu which is aesthetically pleasing for the audience to be looking at. This can have a positive effect on the audience by making them feel as if they are having just as good as a time at home by watching the video because they are seeing Nicole have a good time. This can make them forget about their current problems therefore they carry on watching the video in order to create this sense of escape. However this can also create a negative effective on the audience as they could feel jealous of Nicole having such a good time whilst they are leading their normal lives, having to deal with everyday problems, making them feel worse by watching the video, this could therefore be creating an emotional release from the audience.