The Theories of Music Videos

Una canción para vosotros:) "Tus ojos no me ven" por Joey Montana

           This week my friend got a compliment on her new shirt and quickly responded, “Thanks, I got it thrift shopping last weekend.” This reminded me of Veblen’s idea that non-conspicuous consumption is actually a way to show social status. The “new money folk” conspicuously consume, so people must show they are above that lowly “new money” status by non-conspicuously consuming. Today, buying from a thrift shop also seems socially and environmentally conscious because the buyer isn’t paying for new attire made by kids in sweatshops and he or she is recycling. When a person pointed out something positive about my friend’s new shirt, she responded by telling another great piece of information about it, it was from a thirft shop. Clearly saying that the shirt came from a thrift shop added value to it.

            Advertising that the shirt was from a second-hand store reminded me of the popular song by Macklemore, “Thrift Shop.” In the music video, Macklemore goes thrift shopping and makes second-hand, old-school clothes cool. At one point an admirer even says, “Oh he got the Velcros” about Macklemore’s new (well new from a second-hand store) sneakers. The chorus of the song glorifies non-consumption by saying, “I’m gonna pop some tags / only got twenty dollars in my pocket / I-I-I’m hunting, looking for a come up / this is fucking awesome.” Macklemore also boasts that he bought a “leopard mink” coat because “shit, it was 99 cents!” Thrift shop epitomizes the notion of cool conspicuous non-consumption. The music video, however, also makes it clear that Macklemore is choosing to thrift shop. He does it as a hobby, not because he can’t afford classy brand names. In the first part of the music video, Macklemore drives a DeLorean car, which would have cost $25,000 when the company was in business in 1981. Today, that is equivalent to spending $63, 909 on a car, so Macklemore makes a clear statement that he is voluntarily non-conspicuously consuming, and this choice to thrift shop is what makes it cool. Poor people who thrift shop to save money to feed their families are still not cool, but young white men who drive fancy cars and grab bargains at thrift shops are.

            It is interesting to think about “Thrift Shop” in comparison with 50 Cent’s song, “Window Shopper.” In the “Window Shopper” music video, 50 Cent cruises through Paris in a white Maserati and makes ridiculously expensive impulse buys. In the video he even labels everything with its price. For instance when he drives by in the car, the video pauses and words appear that say, “Maserati: 1.5 Million.” Also, at the end of the video, 50 Cent pays for a $16 million yacht in cash. This focus on money is completely different from that of Thrift Shop, which says “only got twenty dollars in my pocket.” “Window Shopper” is a perfect example of Veblen’s theory that people show off their wealth in order to gain social status and respect from others. “Thrift Shop” demonstrates that non-conspicuous consumption is a way to show pecuniary power, but conspicuous consumption is still a huge social class indicator.

            In both of these videos, males are the protagonists, so I looked up the music video of “Starships” by Nicki Minaj to see how a woman might try to show her social status. Macklemore and 50 Cent show off their status through consumption, but Nicki Minaj shows marks hers with her body. Throughout the music video, she wears bikinis and revealing swim suites that emphasize her “unreal” curves. All this attention on the body reminded me of Baudrillard’s theory about the value of females. Baudrillard says that women’s value comes from appearance and attractiveness. The better a woman looks, the more value she has in society. Nicki’s video doesn’t show her purchasing anything, but in every scene she is at least half-naked. “Starships” shows Baudrillard’s theory of women’s sign value in action just as Thrift Shop and Window Shopper illustrate Veblen’s theory.

            These music videos show more than DeLoreans, expensive yachts, and women in bikinis, they show theories about demonstrating status in action.