Within seconds of observing Justin Timberlake’s Carryout Music video, heterosexual gender roles are stereotyped. Sexuality is a big topic in this music video as the lyrics and onscreen performance reflects a woman being a sexual desire and a servant to men. If you pause the first three seconds of the video the arrows flash directly at the woman’s hips, and thighs instantly illustrating the fact that this video is purely heterosexual. Furthermore the outfit worn by the woman highlight sexual characteristics’ that define her as a woman. Devor states that “…femininity must be expressed through modes of dress, movement, speech, and action which communicate weakness, dependency, ineffectualness, availability for sexual or emotional service, and sensitivity to the needs of others.” Devor’s statement is dead on because he almost all those characteristics’ that are mentioned are expressed in the video. The women’s scantily dressed bodies, their movement to emphasize sexuality, how they appear to serve the men in the video are all observed. Thus women are stereotyped to be nothing more than a good looking trophy which can serve men and their sexual desires.
As the video continues to play, the movement of the women appear to be so they can attract the men and the viewers. The women in this video constantly look at the men or viewer while showing off their sexual characteristics through both quick and slow movements. Now examination of Justin Timberlake’s pose as he is first introduced in the video reveals his dominance in this entire video. He raises his fist in the air, and stands next to one of his large friends, appearing large and dominant. Masculinity is often portrayed through aggressiveness and assertive movements typically after one goal. Raising a fist can be related to boxing, where strength, endurance, and will are necessary to survive. Obviously the lyrics and actions of both genders reveal the goal in this video and its sexual pursuit and achievement. However, this type of pursuit is nothing to be proud of as women are not only being degraded through dance, dress and lyrics but are eluded to be only temporary and quick. This idea is supported by many factors previously stated by Devor at the beginning of this article.
Availability for sexual and emotional service and sensitivity to needs of others are key. The setting of this video appears to have a drive thru appearance, with advertisements for “Hot Cakes”. In the beginning of the video, the woman with arrows highlighting her sexual attributes was standing in front of a sign which said “Hot Cakes.” This is interesting because on several different occasions Timberlake’s lyrics mentions IHOP, super-size, number one, number three and own recipe. This leads to the conclusion that women are comparable to food, or fast food due to super-size and number one and three being mentioned. As a matter a fact, Timberlake goes a step further and brings in IHOP. While IHOP isn’t necessarily fast food, its service is often open 24 hours or at least till the early morning. Thus women are nothing more than one night stands who need to serve men like Timberlake. Not one woman is served, rather they are portrayed to literally do the serving. Around scene 1:20 we see a man in a large chair being served by a woman in a maids outfit holding some kind of platter of sweets. This scene fully supports the statement that women are nothing more than servants to men. If examination of the pose is scrutinized then we see Timberlake appearing to be looking down at the viewers while the woman is moving slowly, taking up little spatial space. Going back to Devor he mentions that women appear feminine if their movements take up little spatial area, by keeping their arms together and tend to use small childlike gestures. These small gestures give off the feeling of no threat and subordination to men in this case. Furthermore, Devor goes on to mention that “Perhaps as an outgrowth of subordinate status and the need to avoid conflict with more socially powerful people, women tend to excel over men at the ability to correctly interpret, and effectively display, nonverbal communication cues.” In other words music videos such as these illustrate men like Justin Timberlake to be powerful, due to having women be nothing than servants to him while he himself is very successful. In the entire video you don’t see one woman make any verbal comments to either males or females. This was done to illustrate cooperation between women and men, as all communications involved gestures and actions. Once again Devor was correct in describing the role of heterosexual women to be dependent on men, whether it’s a need for care, rearing a child, or even sexual satisfaction. The upbeat and catchy tune of the video does little to distract viewers from the lyrics which strip away women’s beliefs of independence and ability to be self-sufficient.
Al l in all the lyrics and setting of Justin Timberlake’s video only portrays woman as one night stands strictly for fulfilling sexual desire. Furthermore, women are subordinate to men, and are meant to serve not be served. This was seen through how they are dressed, their restricted movement and sexual gestures to men. Very little women would truly admire the meaning of these lyrics as it only represents them as good looking second rate citizens. Woman often are more powerful than the servants they are portrayed as. Once again heterosexual stereotyping of women and gender roles are directly observed in most aspects of this video. Since not one woman is respected in this video through dress, movements, speech or service and are subject to the will of men. Videos such as these shape many viewers beliefs about women and often cause them to stereotype them to be vastly inferior to men even though this often isn’t the case. Lastly its important to note that Devor essay illustrates many gender stereotypes that are clearly seen in this video. It’s stereotypes such as these that affect the subconscious beliefs of viewers causing them to be looked as unequal to men.
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