The Just a Girl Music Video: One of No Doubt’s Really Great Music Videos
The women, in the beginning of this particular video, are rightfully in their space – the female lavatory and the men are also rightfully in their space – the male lavatory. The earlier part of the video shows the female symbol (any person would see this feminine symbol on the door of a women’s bathroom at any public establishment) in blue and white, against a black background, flashing very fast. Different women and Ms. Stefani (the only female band member in this particular rock group) are in the women’s restroom and all the male band members are in the men’s bathroom. Gwen is sitting on the ground when she sings, “Take a good look at me.”
There are some women, in this video, who are putting on their makeup, there are some women looking at themselves in the mirror, there is one woman putting on lipstick, there is one woman fixing her hair, there is one woman tying her hair with a bow, and there are three women smiling at each other. There are three women who show their perfectly white teeth to the camera. Ms. Stefani licks both her lips and her eyebrows. She is wearing a white tank top and blue striped pants. We see her doing push-ups (female style) in the middle of the female restroom floor.
One elderly female lady is sitting in one corner of the room (in the background) (to the right of the exit door) and another elderly female lady is sitting in the opposite corner of the room (in the background) (to the left of the exit door). (There are two white exit doors in the background.) The two elderly ladies are seen behind Ms. Stefani as she sings, “Oh . . . Am I making myself clear?” Both elderly ladies appear in almost every shot of this particular music video. Ms. Stefani is twirling a small orange flower in her hands, holds her microphone, smiles to the camera, and sings, “I’m just a girl. That’s all that you’ll let me be.” She jumps, kicks, and screams both after and as she says this.
The microphone has a long cord that leads off camera. The lead vocalist is seen shaking her head really fast – almost otherworldly like. So many women are now seen in the women’s bathroom dancing to the music. Two men, in the male restroom, lift another man and his guitar up. I assume this particular man wants to both sneak into the women’s bathroom by exiting the men’s bathroom via an open ceiling panel and enter the women’s bathroom via another open ceiling panel. We see a man depicted on the toilet with his pants down. The men’s bathroom depicts three very dirty urinals (only for males) in the background and the men’s bathroom also depicts a very dirty grayish white wall. One can tell that this particular wall has never been cleaned.
The women’s bathroom depicts two very beautiful pure white sinks. A single orange flower with a green stem is situated in both of these two particular beautiful pure white sinks. The floor is a newly waxed and polished all wood floor. There is one major step towards the back of the women’s bathroom (almost looking like an actual stage). The two elderly woman are seen in the very back of the female restroom on opposite sides of this particular platform. The wall in the women’s bathroom is painted a kind of orange color halfway to the top and the wall is also painted a kind of bluish turquoise color halfway to the bottom.
The chair on Ms. Stefani’s right side is where a wall mirror can also be seen. This is probably where all the females can each, one put on their lipsticks, two put on their makeup, three fix their hair, four put ribbons in their hair, etc. and so forth.
Ms. Stefani is shown right in the middle of a white light and a pretty picture in one of the music video shots. I really can’t make out what the picture is depicting. The picture is on Ms. Stefani’s left and the light is on Ms. Stefani’s right. This is another shot where Ms. Stefani is smiling and showing all her pretty white teeth. Music video watchers are all introduced to various ladies’ combs, various ladies’ brushes, and various ladies’ metal bottles of perfume (all material objects that the feminine world uses to beautify themselves). Asian American women as well as American women are all depicted in this video.
There is a sense of real beauty in all these particular women. The video really depicts femininity as a natural wonder of the world. The women’s bathroom is kept very neat and clean, but the men’s bathroom is very dirty and nasty looking. I can tell that this video is both depicting women being more attractive than men and women being more cleaner than men. I have to say that not all men are dirty and disgusting human beings.
A majority of men in our culture are depicted as being filthy. Women, like we have discussed in class, on the other hand, are depicted as the symbol of purity. The “Just A Girl” video, with this in mind, is depicting women in a more positive state of being than men. It would understandably seem that way just because this video is clearly both about women and beauty.
Beauty is about the female . . . freshening up, putting on their makeup, fixing their hair, putting on their lipstick, smiling (by showing their pearly whites), doing push-ups (feminine style), and looking in the mirror at themselves. This video is placing women, way up high above men, on a pedestal. It is, since the video is spotlighting all women everywhere, appropriately titled, “Just A Girl”. There are almost no women in the female lavatory earlier on in the video, but throughout the video a group of men are always in the male lavatory.
Ms. Stefani is seen in the female restroom with the two elderly women throughout the video. We see shots of females, however, either putting on their makeup, looking at themselves in the mirror, putting on their lipstick, fixing their hair, tying their hair with a bow, or smiling at each other. Ms. Perry says: “I argue that although we find some clearly gender liberatory images and arguments we also find abundant examples in which the feminist message in certain songs is neutralized by an objectifying visual image of the artists singing those songs.” Ms. Stefani is a woman. She is ultimately making a statement when she says and sings, “Oh. I’m just a girl.
Take a good look at me. . . . Am I making myself clear? I’m just a girl in the world. That’s all that you’ll let me be. I’m just a girl, living in captivity . . . Oh. I’m just a girl. What’s my destiny?” One guy, towards the end of the video, came into the women’s bathroom from the open panel in the ceiling and then all the guys started to flood into the women’s bathroom any way that they possibly could. Some males even crossed over the set walls (the female bathroom was clearly shot right next to the male bathroom) and some males came into the female lavatory by naturally using both of the entrance doors.
Television viewers and fans of this music video could, literally, see what was happening in both the pure female restroom and also in the filthy men’s bathroom. Both male and female blue and white symbols (gentleman/ladies, boys/girls, guys/gals, etc. & so forth) (that any person would see on both the female restroom door and the male restroom door in many public places) flashed on and off over an all black background.
The males, thus, are now singing and dancing with all the females in the female restroom (where the music video’s final shots take place). This is not to tell all males to actually join women in every female lavatory. All the band members, plus tons of male and female extras, are in the women’s lavatory dancing and singing. Ms. Stefani continues to sing the great lyrics of this song in spite of everything that is ultimately going on around her.
Ms. Perry says: “In such troubling moments, we should all look for a gender critical voice, in the world, in ourselves.” Ms. Stefani speaks to all females everywhere about her identity as a women in this particular music video. All women, as well as men, have freedom to express themselves. The females, depicted in this particular music video, are a role model to all of humanity. Women are all seen having the ability to be pure – something that men are not seen to have. We all could learn something from women whether viewers watching this particular video are either female or male.
The comparison between the two sexes are depicted in a very unique way – a clean female restroom and a simply filthy men’s bathroom. It is never the case to find a filthy women’s bathroom and a clean male restroom. The society, depicted in Ms. Stefani’s video, has definitely shown men to be more like our animal counterparts.
It is fair to assume that Ms. Stefani’s “Just A Girl” music video is depicting all women everywhere as pure beings – the kindest, most sweetest souls, and the purest of the pure. I have to give credit (& 100 kudos) to Ms. Stefani for taking this ingenious approach on depicting femininity in this manner – a music video that is not only entertaining, but kind of saccharin sweet (for the eyes and ears) as well.
