Influences and inspiration from art, fashion and culture

Women's Land Army (Land Girls)

  • Due to the feminist undertones in our chosen track 'Sit Still, Look Pretty', we decided to take thematic inspiration from various events concerning the role of women throughout modern history.
  • The first reference which we were influenced by was the Women's Land Army. Operating during both WWI and WW2, they provided invaluable agricultural labour whilst men were away serving in the armed forces.
  • The reason why we wanted to focus on the WLA, or 'Land Girls', was because we felt they provided a good early example of female empowerment and how women could in fact do what was considered "men's work".
  • Being a British organisation, they could also provide a clear indication that our own act is a British female aiming to promote the same kind of message.

1950s Housewife

  • During the 1950s, the role of women was often confined to a domestic setting, with many considering their place to be in the home or kitchen.
  • Hardly any women held positions of power, with those in work often taking up secretarial jobs. Often, (see right) sexism was prevalent throughout society.
  • Female roles and the supposed place of women in the home was reinforced by publications such as 'My Home' & 'Good Housekeeping', as well as shows such as Woman's Hour on the BBC - with headlines including "Hooray for Being a Housewife".
  • We wanted to use the housewife persona for our own video in order to create a strong contrast to the message of the song, which encourages female independence and empowerment

Puppets; Dolls

  • A further idea which we wanted to explore was the concept of inanimate objects, which would link much closer to our lyrics...

-"I don't wanna be the puppet that you're playing on a string"

-"dream of picket fences and trophy wives but no... I don't wanna be"

  • We felt that this would not only provide decent representation around the issues of objectification and fixed roles, but that it would incorporate Andrew Goodwin's theory of music videos:

"there is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals"

  • In bringing together these numerous different influences from popular culture and female roles throughout the decades, we also aimed to accomplish another of Goodwin's points:

​"there is often intertextual reference"