For my 9th portfolio post I will be analyzing One Direction’s song “Diana”, from their Midnight Memories album. This song focuses on a woman who needs to be saved from her sorrow, loneliness, and troubles. We can see how the woman in the song is described using stereotypical feminine traits, and we can also see how the boys are referring to themselves with stereotypical masculine traits. The first set of lyrics that stood out to me when looking at gender roles are as follows:
You’ve been lonely,
You don’t even know me,
But I can feel you crying
These lyrics can show how the boys are describing the woman as lonely, crying, etc. This presents the woman as soft, delicate, fragile, and emotional. These traits are stereotypical of femininity. It is okay within society and media for women to express their emotions. Along with this, women are seen to always be needing “saving” within media. Men are the ones who exhibit their “strong” masculine traits in order to save women. The next set of lyrics show the idea of women needing to be saved:
Let me be the one to lift your heart up and save your life
As we can see in the above lyrics, the boys want to lift this woman up and “save her life”. They want to be strong and dominant and be seen as the hero in the situation. The boys also state:
I wanna reach out for you,
I wanna break these walls
These lyrics show the boys’ assertiveness and urge to save this woman. They are expressing how they want to break down the walls between them, which presents their strength and passion (stereotypical masculine traits). Overall we can see the stereotypical masculine and feminine traits presented within the song. This song definitely reinforces gender stereotypes.
Shared by: Abigail Gonnering
Image Credit: Teen Vogue