Music video can be thought of as a step timed to society, a form that meets a new criterion of entertainment. Before music video, listening was a more active process. The listener created a personal image of the song. With MTV, however, so compelling is the visual image that it imprints on the brain, the song cannot be divorced from the video. In this sense, music videos do not require the viewer's active attention or imagination.
Music video does provide a place where new and important film techniques can be tried and developed.
The Cars' video, which won best video of 1984, exemplifies this stage of technological advancement. This video employed some of the most recent discoveries in film computer graphics. Music video can help exploit new ways of using film as an artistic expression. While the methods used by music videos might be new and innovative, the content seems stereotypical and trite. The figure of women in music videos is a large part of this stereotyped content.