Challenging Stereotypes in 1950's Britain: Dizzee Rascal's Impact

1. Dizzee Rascal- Dreams 2004

2. 1950’s Britain In the 1950’s the first Caribbean immigrants came to Britain on a ship called the Windrush. Its said that on arrival the immigrants were met with the press, interest and curiosity. Some of white Britons do not accept black Britons into British culture, this is hinted at through the use of a 1950’s middle class white woman in the video looking disgusted by the behaviour of Dizzee in the video. Even though there was a shortage of people to do certain jobs some places still would not employ someone if they were black. A lot of the immigrants were forced to accept jobs that they were over qualified for as they were not given certain jobs. West Indians were discriminated against making life more difficult for them. For example they were faced with signs that said ‘room to let- no dogs no coloured’.

3. Antisocial behaviour and hoodies in the UK A hoodies was considered to be a sign of a political symbol During the 2007 riots most of the people interviewed by the guardian news paper were said to be wearing a hoodie. This leads the public watching the riots happen that a hoodie is a sign of trouble or some kind of illegal activity. Also linking to illegal activity the newspaper also explained that when interviewing teenagers involved in the murder of Billy Cox also wore tended to wear hoodies. David Cameron said hoodies were “a way to stay invisible in the street. In a dangerous environment the best thing to do is keep your head down, blend in, don't stand out." Furthermore Bluewater shopping centre in Kent banned hoodies saying that they would not tolerate antisocial behaviour. The promotion of this music video and the artist in general was a young boy that had at times in his life not behaved the way he should have, Dizzee himself also tends to wear hoodies as part of his clothing as this is a statement piece of clothing for the area he grew up in and the people he surrounded himself with. If he was not a well knows star he may also fit into the category with others his age as trouble and associated with gangs just for wearing a hoodie.

4. Music video The Dreams music video was based on a children's TV programme which started in 1946 called Muffin the Mule. They used the same set and character as the TV show in the music video. The chorus of the song is the exact same as the chorus to a different song called happy talk by captain sensible. The chorus was also sung by Annette Mills who sung in Muffin the mule. By having this part of the song sung by Annette Mills also links to the children where she sings with muffin the mule. It also brings an element of child like innocents to a serious matter. The chorus of the song contrast the seriousness of the whole song and the issues it is addressing. However it mentions that dreams can come true which is also an important part of the song and the message dizzee sends out to children and teenagers that if they put their minds to it they can ‘have a dream cone true’. When shooting the music video they shot the puppets first making sure that there was a space left for where they would later edit Dizzee Rascal into the video. They used a green screen when filming Dizzee which made the able to put the footage of the puppets on dancing on the piano behind him while also shrinking him down to fit in with them. The innocents of the music video/ the original TV show contrasts the seriousness of the song itself and the message it is sending

5. Early Albums His first album was ‘boy in da corner’ which was released in 2003 which went on to win the mercury award. The album reached number 23 in the British album charts and by 2004 had sold 250,000 copies worldwide. His second album was called showtime which was released in 2004. the album overall got good reviews from a 3.5/5 rating from the rolling stones to a 9/10 rating from NME. The album sold over 100,000 copies.

6. Representation Social groups within the Dizzee Rascal dreams video are represented through the puppet characters as well as both the contrasting characters if Annette Mills and Dizzee Rascal. The main ethnicity and age that was represented within the video was a young black British group who all wore hoodies. The reason for them wearing hoddies in the video was to challenge the stereotype that young male in particular wearing hoodies were often there to cause trouble. To further challenge the stereotype they included mainly male characters in the music video. The social class of the video was mostly working class to show the audience that it is possible to achieve what you want to or your ‘dreams’.

7. Andrew Goodwin Andrew Goodwin’s theory explains that there are 5 main conventions within a music video which are genre characteristics, visuals between the lyrics and the music, the motifs/close ups, the notion of looking and intertextual references. The notion of looking and the lyrics linking with the visuals are both shown when the song says ‘And when the girls would walk by we would try to catch their eye, And if they didn't show face we would act immature’. The music video recreates a the scene being described in the song using puppets while also having the male puppets watching the girls as they walk past which shows the notion of looking. Close ups are also used specifically on the middle class womans face to show her reaction to what was going on around her and to link the reactions of white middle class people to working class black teenagers in hoodies. The genre characteristics were challenged by contradicting the lyrics with the innocents of the music video and the children's TV show its inspiration was from. By contrasting the video with the song and the struggles he faced trying to get his music heard with a life that seems so simple for some people makes the song more powerful as it creates a more realistic view on the music industry.