The eighth female artist I will be looking at is Sia. She is known for her Pop and Electropop music. Her number one song on Spotify is Chandelier. Many of Sia’s music videos, include a dancer, Maddie Ziegler, rather than herself (Sia). Maddie also wears a wig identical to the one that Sia would wear in public appearances. This is done in order to show the audience Sia’s inner life beyond the fame she has received and her anti-fame lifestyle. While there are no gender stereotypes seen, there are a couple counter stereotypes that can be seen in this music video.
Counter Stereotypes
As Maddie Ziegler dances around in a nude leotard she goes beyond the normal stereotypes placed on women and young girls in media. Maddie is seen showing her strength and flexibility in her dance and acrobatic movements. She is also seen showing anger, dominance, and aggressive actions which are seen as more masculine traits. Maddie portrays many emotions such as snarling at the camera which is viewed as an un-feminine emotion to express.
Sia’s music video avoids the objectification of Maddie Ziegler and aims to show the true nature of women and their strengths and capabilities.
Maddie Ziegler is also seen acting almost like an animal would, as she crawls on all four and acts not as a stereotypical woman would. Along with crawling, she hunches over, punches, and kicks all with aggression throughout the music video.
All of these counter stereotypes of females are displayed during the entire music video of Chandelier and are also seen in many of Sia’s other music videos. This goes to show that Sia is all about showing the real side of things, rather than the expected side.
Shared by: Emma Dodson
Image Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vjPBrBU-TM