Representation Essay

In the 50 Cent “Candy Shop” video, 50 Cent is considered to be the handsome, rich man and the women are seen in this video as sexual objects for his pleasure. This is seen in the cinematography, camera shots and in the editing throughout the video.

The Mise-en scene in the video tells us the target audience how the women and the men are represented throughout the video.

The location is set at a mansion at night. This gives off a sense of wealth already at the start of the video showing that they are wealthy people. At the beginning, 50 Cent pulls up to the mansion in a red Ferrari. This tells us that he is a very rich person and as a man he is also very successful. The colour of the car being red as well connotes lust and love. As he walks into the mansion there are a lot of women standing there by the door waiting for him. All the women are wearing revealing clothing such as lingerie and revealing dresses. Their costumes suggest that the women are really sexual and provocative like the woman in the sexy nurse outfit which emphasises her assets and has a whip in her hand. The whip she is holding resembles is an icon for sexual activities such as foreplay. This tells us that the house he walked into is a brothel and the women he met are potential sexual partners. 50 Cent is seen wearing different clothes throughout the video. He is seen wearing a lot of designer brands such as the red and white trainers with his “G-Unit” label name on the shoes which tells us again that he is really wealthy. The lighting starts off really low but at different points throughout the video the lighting gets higher when 50 Cent is with a girl. For example, when he is in the nurses room there is high key lighting and the lighting shows off the nurse’s curves and her body. When you see close ups of the girls you see them biting their lips or they have a very erotic facial expression which shows that they are having sex with him or they are lusting over him. The Mise-en scene throughout the video tell us that the women in the video are really sexual and provocative whereas 50 Cent is seen to be very successful and wealthy.

Throughout the video there are a lot of close ups of the girls showing their facial expressions and how erotic, provocative and how sexual the girls look. There are a lot of low angle shots on 50 Cent when he is rapping which makes him look really powerful, dominant and intimidating. You see a few mid shots of the women showing us what they are wearing and what they are doing in this case how they were dancing provocatively as a group.

The editing in the video also shows us how the men and women are represented throughout the video. There are a lot of cut scenes in the video and in the cut scenes we see 50 Cent with a different woman. This shows us that he is really promiscuous because he is seen with more than woman. There are action match ups of the girls dancing, showing different angles of their body whiles they are dancing. There are also action match ups when 50 Cent is with a girl in bed and also when he is with the sexy nurse.

To conclude, the women in this video are shown to be very erotic, provocative and sexually active. They are also seen to be sexual objects for a man’s pleasure. 50 Cent is seen as a successful and very expensive man who wears a lot of high class brands, drives expensive cars and is also seen as a promiscuous person as he is seen with a lot of women.