Britney Spears- Toxic

The music video toxic features Britney Spears and was produced by Joseph Kahn. It explores an interesting and overreacted response of a women to an unfaithful partner. Most of the stunts Britney performs in this music video mirrors most action movies such as Mission Impossible as the character Britney plays has made it her mission to get revenge on her unfaithful ex.

The music video stars of with an open shot of doves flying past the camera, a plane then comes into sight and as the plane comes closer we are shown the inside.  This opening makes references to the work of John Wood; a Hong Kong based film director and producer. His work was very successful therefore ideas were taken from it in the hope that they would get the same response.

Britney adheres to traditional gender stereotypes by taking on the roles of: secretary air hostess,waitress, each occupation emphasises highly sexualised costume & behaviours.
We are then shown Britney's first character; a blond flight attendant. This is typically a females job, feminists can argue that this is a negative representation of women as the job is not well paid and it makes women conform to their gender stereotype which is to be caregivers. This role is fully exposed when Britney gives a blanket then kisses a little boy.

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Britney then calls over an overweighed man and leads him back to the toilet. The director said he decided to have the overweighed man so that the ‘common man’ can be represented. This type of man is one of the main targets for this music video therefore by representing them they are more likely to watch the video. However Britney then takes the mask of the man and reveals that he’s actually a good looking young guy, this could have been of putting for the ‘common man’ as it’s suggesting that it’s unrealistic for them to get a female like Britney.

A medium close up then reveals that Britney is using her sexuality to her advantage as she is kissing the guy and without him realizing she is able to steal a black pass from his pocket. Post-feminists would agree with this representation of women as they argue that when women are using their sexuality to their advantage then they should have a right to be sexually attractive. 

Britney is then dropped into the back of a motor bike driven by a shirtless Tyson Beckford, they are driving through a futuristic Paris. Here vertical intersexuality is used as references are made to the film Blade Runner which an older audience might be able to recognise. 

Scene from Blade Runner

Instead of the women being a sexual object here the role is subverted and the male is only there for female pleasure. This is done to attract the female audience as Tyson is a well know male model and actor who a lot of women are attracted to. 

 Nevertheless, men are still entertained by the women, such as two girls shown frolicking, this is done as men are known to like girl on girl action. Here the women reinforce Laura Mulvey’s theory in which she argues women connote to-be-looked-at-ness and are the object of the male glaze in music video.

 Britney is also dressed in a sexy tight black outfit, and has saucy red hair. This look was inspired by the character Sydney Bristow from the television series Alias, fans of the popular show would recongnise this and enjoy the video as a consequence. 

Sydney Bristow - Alias

As the bike passes a woman her dress is lifed up, this is homage to the icon Marilyn Monroe scene in the film The Seven Year Itch.  They have made a homage to Marilyn Monroe because she's an inspiration to a lot of women because she was so beautiful, successful and a very powerful female which is what this music video mostly highlights for women to be.

Marilyn Monroe

 Throughout the video, there are scenes of Britney Spears naked covered in diamonds. This soon became an infamous scene, however some channels banned the video from being shown during daytime because the scene was too raunchy. From a feminists perspective this scene is unacceptable because Britney’s motive is to sexually arouse men, she is therefore being objectified. A negative image of women is painted here as women are portrayed as being promiscuous.  This scene was compared to that of Kate Bush in the music video “The Man with the Child in His Eyes”. 

Kate Bush

More recent artist have mimicked Britney as nudity in music videos has become more familiar.

Katy Perry

Nicole Scherzinger

Pink

lady GaGa

We are then taken to a scene where Britney breaks into a vault and steals some poison. As she leaves she triggers of the alarm but manages to avoid the lasers with her dance moves. Here she is able to show of her dancing ability, which is one of the main reason people watch music videos. Here she’s portrayed as being smart, courageous and strong as she’s able to leave the place undetected this is a positive representation of women. 

We are then shown a shot close-up clip of the ex and the girl he has cheated with in the shower this is done so that the audience can keep up with the story line, by seeing this they know why Britney’s character wants revenge on her ex.

Dressed as another character Britney scales into the ex’s building and kisses him before pouring the poison in his mouth, which kills him. Although Britney here is shown as being violent she is empowering as the men in the video are subordinate to her, she’s in charge and able to manipulate them into doing what she wants, and when they violate her (like her ex) there are serious punishments. She does't allow men to abuse her in any way.