Jamara Royle

Characters

The digipak has a stereotypical female gender representation; this can be shown on the front cover by Rihanna’s face, she is heavily made up with make-up expressed through her long eyelashes to create a sense of flirtation. She does not have direct address and seems to be looking down exposing her eyelashes more clearly to create quite a submissive appearance. She has red hair and red lipstick creating a colour scheme that implies lust and passion suggesting to the audience her album is about love. The inside cover photo also shows another stereotype of the female gender as she is lying on a bed of roses in a white wedding type style dress suggesting she is in love or just out of it. Usually in pop music it is stereotypically the girl groups or female solo artists that sing about breakups or love as it is typically them who are most affected by it. The back cover seems to generate a stereotypical provocative female genre representation as Rihanna is in a very seductive position with her hands between her legs making her look quite suggestive. The fact that she is sitting like that could allude to her trying to get over a past love by attracting the attention of other male suitors.

Narrative Events

There seems to be two narratives represented on the covers of this digipak. As the colour red is the most predominant colour the narrative is suggested to be about love which is implied not only thought the colour red but through dress codes like the white dress that's like a wedding dress and the roses. The front and the middle cover infers that it is set when this woman is in love as she is in the dress lying in rose looking like she's in a dream. The back cover seems to allude to the fact she has had her heart broken and has taken this break up badly so she becomes this seductive 'man-eater' kind of person. There is two sides to Rihanna on this digipak however you can only assume this is what happened as the digipak generates narrative enigma as you question who was it? What happened? Why did it happen? Etc.

Technical codes

The front cover is a close up of Rihanna's face emphasising her features, showing her makeup and expression clearly. The fact she does not have direct address to the audience could imply she is being quite flirtatious but also quite submissive like she has giving into to love. The front cover has love key lighting casting shadows which could imply the mood has been set. The back cover is symmetrical as the writing is symmetrical to the image of Rihanna sat on the stool. The typography is quite sophisticated which is juxtaposed to the way she is dress and her body language as she looks open and revealing. There is also a long shot/high angle shot used to capture Rihanna lying in the roses and another long/mid shot used to show Rihanna sat in a suggestive position. Unlike most digipak the back cover of this digipak subverts the stereotypical design of the Guttenberg principle the primary optical area (POA) and the weak fallow area (WFA) are the two most prominent areas as they have the most information in them. The bar code which would usually be place in the WFA had been placed in the POA which is uncommon as they usually put the barcode in the WFA to make that area look useful. That leaves the strong fallow area and the terminal optical area to draw you to the image of Rhianna.

Iconography

The colour red is very predominant on this digipak symbolizing love and passion but could also signify danger. The singer has red hair and red lips stick; the colour red on the album suggests it is about a love story or the songs are based on love or growing out of love. This can also be shown through the bed of rose she is lying on a red roses are symbols of love. Surprisingly she is wearing a white or ivory dress alluding to a wedding dress like there was a wedding representing a heterosexual romance. On the back cover there she is wearing a very short skirt and a crop top/bra type top implying that maybe she is trying to seduce someone. The clothes she wears on the back cover are quite modern creating a sense of uniqueness like she is making an alternative fashion statement. The American flag is very iconic because the stars and stripes symbolise patriotism, the flag also alludes to setting linking to some of her songs such as 'California King Bed'. The fact she has the American flag on her digipak creates a binary opposition between patriotism and rebellion as she may come across as sweet and innocent however her defiant sense of style and dress along with her suggestive stance allude to the audience that she has a rebellious nature.

Setting

The digipak seems to be set in America which is shown on the back cover through the Iconic American flag appearing behind the curtains. The back cover seems to look like a stage alluding to the fact she's a singer or infer that she is some sort of dancer on a stage because of the suggestive way she is sat and her body language and facial expression are quite seductive. It also looks like a hotel room with the curtains leading to the balcony maybe linking to the narrative the digipak is telling. The inside covers shows her in a wedding type like dress implying there maybe was a wedding or some sort of celebration that happened.

Digipak Rihanna Loud Analysis

Jamara Royle