A Critical Look into "Dear Future Husband" by Meghan Trainor

A Critical Look into "Dear Future Husband" by Meghan Trainor - Rhys Wallett

In the "Dear Future Husband" music video, the product has shown to be rife with representation of both males and females, and is a peculiar video to me personally as it fights feminism per se with stereotypes and regressive ideologies, thus it is controversial whether women and men are being represented in a positive light or not.

Female wise, you could argue that the video is in fact feminist using evidence such as how she states that "You work that 9-5, but baby so do I." which suggest how she works which can be considered as a feminist statement as she is breaking from the stereotype that women should be unemployed and be housewives. Moreover, later in the video, we see a series of mid shots of Trainor mixing Pastry batter in a bowl and close-up shots of apple pies being incinerated with the lyrics "so don't expect me to be home baking apple pies." which clearly subverts the stereotype that women are a) good bakers and b) spend the day cooking for their men when not cleaning. Yet while a feminist audience would agree for the most part that this is feminist, it does it very ironic as the mise en scene shows Trainer wearing an apron in the cooking scene, which has connotations of housewife, femininity and could create a regressive ideology. It is unfeminist feminism if you will.

However we can also use technical codes such as layout and design to form opinions of the piece, however, you would typically argue the layout typically creates a regressive rather than progressive ideal. One example would be at 1:46, where the mise en scene shows a long zoom shot where Trainor is kneeling on the floor washing the kitchen floor, with that and kitchen cabinets being the background. This is very regressive as it definitely links back to the stereotype that women stay at home and clean and do little else. plus it is obvious that due to her direct address and cleaning method, we can see that she is cleaning the floor poorly, little yield has been obtained from her method. This has been because Trainor's primary objective is not to clean the set, but to attract the typical males attention to attract a wider audience, which means Trainor is assisting in Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze and has allowed it to be prevalent in her video, which has been proven to generally disagree with a feminist audience.

Furthermore, you can also find anti-feminist content in this material by how the whole song itself is based on Trainor searching for her "Dear Future Husband" and how if a man fails, such as when male number 1 presents Trainor with a dainty meal which the mise en scene shows a close-up shot has been used and the contents of the plate includes a scallop, two grass blades and three very minor dabs of ketchup, Trainor refuses to eat it and this results in a huge "FAIL" image being slapped diagonally onto the screen, they are forgotten immediately. This can have mixed views as one critic could argue that this is regressive regarding female stereotypes as Trainor's sole purpose in this video is to find a husband, showing that while she is attempting to break stereotypes, she is just portraying herself as co-dependant and unconfident, thus suggesting that women can only be happy if they have husbands. However, another critic could argue that this is, in fact, feminist as the fact that she is in charge over who she gets married to suggests how she refuses to settle down and conform for males. She is the boss and she decides her match.

Moreover, when we look at male representation in "Dear Future Husband", the feedback is not much better in terms of objectifying. An example of this can be when there is a scene in a bedroom, where the mise en scene shows Trainor laying in the bed seductively (Again enforcing a sexual image that women belong solely in the kitchen and bedroom) and 4 men wearing pink shirts, braces and straw skimmer hats. This can be taken in many ways as due to the men wearing an iconic, slightly more effeminate look, you could argue that the men are solely there to enforce Gamman and Marshment's Female Gaze which will help attract more of a typical straight female audience, and potential homosexual male audience. However, if you wish to be truly critical, as all these men proceed to do their moves in unison, you could argue that this is because men have no say and are in fact controlled by Trainor, showing how men have lost their power and independence.

Plus, how men are admitted and discarded by Trainor suggests how their vital purpose is to be test subjects for Trainor and have no other purpose other to serve Trainor, suggesting a sense of not feminism, just reverse sexism in a manner.