Carry Out

The music video for Carry Out by Justin Timberlake and Timbaland has several sexually suggestive scenes, lyrics and theme. For starters, the video deals with a drive in “fast food” that serves women as food. At the beginning of the video, there are several female dancers shown in front of bright neon lights that say “Drive In” and “Hot Cakes”. The women are presented as food items that can be bought. This is consistent with Devors idea of femininity since the women are objectified. They are shown as mere items that men can order to fit their every desire. In the subsequent scenes, several women are seen dancing sexually to the pleasure of the artists. They are seen serving the men food and taking their orders on notepads. The women are portrayed as having no inhibitions and being content with pleasuring the customers. Furthermore, the women are presented as prostitutes on a menu who are chosen by men like a drive thru. This is done to make the men seem more powerful and superior than the women. It creates the impression that the women should want to be with the artists because they are wealthy and can afford to buy them many times over. They seem so happy and eager to dance for the men. I believe it is important to note that although the women were blatantly objectified, it was made to look as If they liked it. This is because the lyrics read “I take you home, baby, let you keep me company”. The women are made to look like they have no choice in the situation. Also, Timbaland states that he would let HER keep him company. It sounds like he is doing her a favor by taking her home. It’s as if she’s been dying for his attention all along and he was finally just caving in to her desires. Devor believes that traditionally, women are expected to get married to men, have children and take care of them and the family as a whole. This statement is true and because of these expectations, women are associated with sex and family. Several men feel like women are sexual creatures and are obligated to satisfy their sexual desires. These are the ideologies that fuel the thinking that women belong in the home and are supposed to support their husbands. This idea is clear in the song when Timberlake says “Have it your way, foreplay; Before I feed your appetite”. The first part of the line says that the woman can have it “her way”. This is disrespectful to women because the artist just assumes that the woman is interested. He claims that she could have it “her way” as if she had dreams of how their encounter would go. In the second portion, Timberlake claims to want to feed the woman’s appetite as if she was hungry for sex. This is extremely stereotypical because it compares a woman’s desire to have sex to a human instinct to eat. Our appetites are a very important part of our livelihood. It keeps us alive and is constantly happening, therefore to compare it to a woman’s desires to have sex is excessive. It means that women constantly want to have sex and can’t live without men which is not true. It is just a plot to create an image of fantasy since it makes it seem like women constantly crave men. The lighting of the background throughout the song is also very important. This is because pink was the color that was used. It is a color that is often associated with females. Therefore, it was just used to represent all the women in the fantasy world that the artists were in. Another important aspect of the video was the attire that was worn by both sexes. When it came to the women, they wore outfits that were very exposing. Most wore lingerie and they were just trying to be sexy the whole time. Every time the camera zoomed in, it revealed just enough of the half naked body of a female to keep the viewer wanting more. On the other hand, the men are shown wearing suits and looking well put together. They look confident when they are around the women who seem to gravitate towards them. It seems like whilst the men were portrayed in their best light, the women were shown as hookers. This is done to support the idea that men have power over women. It also supports the vulgar message of the song. Whenever the artists were shown with the women, they were either whispering in their ears or acting extremely calm whilst the women seemed infatuated with them. The men were shown as dominating people who got what they wanted. They looked like hunters and the women looked like their submissive prey. This was incorporated in order to perpetuate gender roles into the song. Also, the choreography in the music video was very suggestive. The female dancers were constantly performing suggestive dance moves. On several occasions, women are seen bending down right in front of the cameras or have scenes filmed between their legs. The alternating dancers made it look like the artists were just using them for decoration and entertainment. This objectifies women as accessories and condones sex with multiple partners. Finally, there is a part where Justin Timberlake orders two number 3s and ends up with two African American twins in matching uniforms. Their uniforms are barely able to cover their butts and exposes their underwear. I believe that the image of one guy with two girls really captures the essence what the video is all about. It promotes promiscuity and having several sex partners. To many, having sex with more than one girl at a time is a big fantasy. Therefore this video tries to glamorize that heterosexual lifestyle by showing the objectivity of women. All in all, the stereotypes were incorporated in order to attract people to that lifestyle and make it look desirable.