Economic Contexts:
-seemingly low budget, unique style of the music video was an artistic decision or an economic one? A small band at the start maybe shows lack of money they had? Ways in which the music video seems to defy or subvert music video conventions: » Whilst it is a convention of the music video form to have song lyrics interpreted on screen, the overt and deliberate way the lyrics are interpreted in this music video might be subverting this convention: * The opening line “I was scared of dentists and the dark” is interpreted explicitly with a shot of a female looking “scared” with a metallic contraption in her mouth that suggests she is in a dentist’s chair and followed by a shot of a light swinging in a darkened room. This overt graphical representation of the lyrics is largely repeated throughout the video. Riptide is relatively unusual both as a music video and specifically as a text within the indie folk genre in terms of its style, rejection of narrative and lack of spectacle or special effects. Semiotics Roland Barthes: The idea that things can be distinguished at the level of denotation and connotation, for example the pile of dollar bills which accompanies the line “Oh, all my friends are turning green”. This could possibly mean his friends are turning green with envy at his success? at his amount of money? Or all his friends are becoming more and more obsessed with money making them turn green. This is discussing the color green in relation to money and jealousy. Genre Theory: Different genre it doesn't fit with the usual indie video, doesn't fit with the existing cliche genre of a music video for an indie artist like Vance Joy. For example there is random clips and is unorganized. It also involves a lot about a girl which you may find in a hip hop genre more than an indie one. For example the part where the girl is taking off her swimming costume suggests nudity. It also fits in a lot with the horror genre to make the viewer feel uncomfortable with the cuts of knives and blood and fire. This may be intentional to attract attention or unintentional. Instead of following the set genre stereotype it differs completely. REPRESENTATION: Women in the video are repeatedly presented as an object to be watched. In one shot a woman with her back to the camera undresses out of her swimming costume and there are a number of instances where we see disembodied, isolated sections of women’s bodies such as bare feet running away or feminine hands being dragged out of shot. This can be considered the sexualisation of women or in a way that challenges the sexualisation of women in music videos. Also the representation of the woman with perfect makeup fitting in with social norms but then slowly her makeup becomes more and more messy suggesting a challenge for the representation of women. Feminist Theory – bell hooks: hooks could be used as a stimulus to explore the seemingly contradictory messages about gender in the video. Is the video objectifying women in an ironic or knowing way or is it instead feeding into the oppression of women in a patriarchal society? Theories of identity David Gauntlett : The concept of the pick and mix seems particularly relevant to the style of the video which constructs a range of different stimuli that the audience are invited to interpret. The video rejects singular, straightforward messages and instead invites a variety of different responses and interpretations. |