D-d-do you got a first-aid-kit-hand-y?

I have always found Danity Kane to be alternatively entertaining. That is to say, my friends and I find a good deal of humor in their lyrics, dance moves, etc. due to the sheer absurdity of it all. I have examined the music video for their song "Damaged." The video is consistent with others in its genre since it is primarily intended for consumption by a younger crowd looking to stay in touch with and reproduce the culture and behaviors that are exhibited in the video. Here are some screen shots from the video:




In these two shots the women of Danity Kane are laying down with the camera directly above them. In the video they are writhing around in their individual "space beds" caressing themselves. This gives the audience the sense of not just looking down on these women but of being on top of them as well, as though they are waiting to be dominated.



In this shot the women are anonymized by showing only their bodies and leaving their heads and faces out of the shot. This technique of anonymizing women requires that the audience's full attention be on their bodies, and primarily their breasts or butts. In emphasizing their bodies to the audience in this manner it is made clear that the only important part of a woman is the way she looks, and how it is pleasing to men.



In this shot we have one of the women watching their dance routine on a screen. This is the same concept we see in many movies where a woman looks at herself in the mirror and usually through the male gaze. This shot is about the woman needing to look at herself in the mirror to reaffirm herself and her identity, unfortunately that identity she is looking to reaffirm is the one constructed by our patriarchal society. This shot also can be seen as reinforcing the stereotypical beauty that women are told to strive towards because they are looking elsewhere to find it.



Here we see a shot of a black man lying on his back but the camera angle on the shot suggests that the women are seeing the man from below him, as though she is pleasing him, this being due to her vantage point which places her rather near his crotch.



Here the man finds a note left by the women saying that they are done with him in whatever capacity. However, we can see from the man's face (and even more so upon watching the clip) that he is clearly not bothered by the note. This attitude suggests that the man views the women as dispensable and invaluable; he is quite unconcerned with their leaving him. Another interesting point here however, is that the women are grouped together. It clearly requires five women to work together to please one man, they are not substantial enough to relegate any importance separately. We see this also in the way that they sign the note "DK" as though they were all with him or involved with him in some way and now are leaving him. This part of the video also does a good job of reinforcing sexist norms of a woman bound to her man and his servitude; it's degrading in that way that it continues the installation of a patriarchal society. Referring back to a previous shot where the camera is above the women and they are all laid out next to each other, this shot suggests that the women are laid out on display and available for choosing at the whim of any man. They are scantily clad and have their make up applied with a paint roller and their hair has been frozen in place with eight cans of an aerosol, not to mention the countless re-touches that I'm sure took place after the shooting rapped.