Bodies’ voices: bodily capitalization in Russian and British music video

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article presents the results of a comparative visual analysis of popular Russian and British music videos. The sample was based on the most viewed music videos on YouTube in 2019. The authors used the modern interpretation of Bourdieu's theory of capital as a theoretical framework for analysis. Bodily capital is considered as an independent type of capital that has physical, erotic, gender, and aesthetic dimensions. One considers that the capitalization of corporeality in a music video is connected with the plot visualization of the accumulation of bodily capital, i.e. the process of body transformation, by working on its physical features, constructing gender identity, modeling erotic behaviour, and aesthetic attributes of appearance. Moreover, the capitalization of corporeality in the video includes demonstration of obtaining direct or symbolic benefits resulting from the conversion of bodily capital into economic, cultural, or social capital. The crucial features of the capitalization of corporeality in Russian videos are the replication of markers of video characters' social status through body attributes, demonstration of aesthetically idealized bodies, and general irony over corporeality. In the British videos, there is less tongue-in-cheek narrative, especially associated with corporeal attributes; more unified body types are demonstrated.