Ya Mama- Fatboy Slim

    

             


What representations of the artist are constructed in this music video? How does the use of camera, editing, mise-en-scene help to construct these? 


In Fatboy Slim's 'Ya Mama' music video, three white men, stereotypically described to be 'hillbilly's' are shown to live on an unnamed Caribbean island in a seemingly 'backwards' society. They are presented as being naïve for reasons such as the lack of modern technology present in the video, they watch Tom and Jerry on television- a 1940s cartoon and they think of no better way to make money then to let people listen to their new cassette which has the 'power' to make them dance uncontrollably. As the video progresses, the scene cuts to a market place which has sellers at their stalls with signs hung such as 'This could be your cake', hand painted. This use of simple language for advertisement and the fact that it was made by hand is mise-en-scene to emphasise the backwards nature of the society and their lack of academia or even factory technology. Even the Police Station has a sign spelt 'Polis Stazion' showing that even those who bring authority to the town can't be taken seriously due to their bad spelling.

The video presents a male world. The three 'hillbilly's', the stall owners and the police are all male and all lose control of their bodies due to the music. This could have been to show how immature males are as they are presented to act like children.

At the end of the video, the white 'hillbilly' who received the cassette at the beginning of the video is arrested by a black police officer, reversing stereotypical roles for perhaps irony. However, the chief is presented as a classic, laid back police officer, as shown in tv shows such as 'The Simpsons' for a comedy effect and so is also taken over by the music.