Thursday, 8 October 2015

Narrative Visual Essay

The music video I decided to study is “Worth it” which is the 4th song released off of Fifth Harmony’s album Reflection also with-in the song Kid Ink is featuring in it. It’s an urban pop song about hooking up with a man at the club while maintaining control. After studying many narrative theorist, the theorist I will be discussing and relating to this music video are Kate Domaille, Michael Shore and Sven Carlsson the reason for doing these theorist is because they link best to the music video.

One of the narrative theorist studied is Kate Domaille (2001) and according to her she believes every story ever told can be fitted into one of the eight narrative types: Achilles, Candide, Cinderella, Orpheus, Romeo & Juliet, Circe, Tristan & Iseult and Faust. Each of these narrative types has a source, an original story upon which the others are based. Using Kate’s theory I consider that the “worth it” music video belongs to the Romeo & Juliet narrative type however because the song it about sex rather than love I believe it would be a modern-day Romeo & Juliet.
Michael Shore’s concludes that music video are recycled styles that contains an information overload and therefore contains views of adolescent male fantasies. Most videos contain elements of speed, power girls and wealth. All this conveys into soft-core pornography with clichéd imagery. I believe Michael’s theory links to this music video as the female protagonist are seen as powerful as the video features the ladies in business-esque attire. Taking place in an office building, they are seen as CEOs and bosses, dancing in front of a stock market ticker. The video features many feminist attributes, as it shows women working and succeeding in a male dominated world such as Wall street, and statements flashing in front of the stock market ticket such as “women in power”, “feminism is sexy” and “glass ceiling”.

Sven Carlsson suggests that music videos in general, videos in general, video fall into rough group’s performance, conceptual and narrative clips. This music video is a performance clip as it shows the group performing the song. It is one of the cheapest and easiest types of music video and is normally used to promote the main artist. This performance based music video enables the artist to show off their skills and ability to perform enabling viewers to personally connect, identify and relate to their style of music. This type of video can also be beneficial for the group as their image is portrayed to a wider audience leading them to be more easily recognized by the public and home and abroad.

 As well as the women showing power in the music video they also convey this in the song lyrics “give it to me I’m worth it” expressing that she might call all the shots, but the end results will be worth the effort. “Show me what you got, cus I don’t wanna was my time” meaning she ends the interplay by putting the burden on him. She’s proven herself, now it’s time for him to show his sexy and maybe turn a one-night-stand into memorable romance. “It’s all on you, so what you wanna do? If you don’t have a clue, I’ll tell you what to do” verifying that she will let him decide what is going to go down. Traditionally, the man take the lead in romance, but she’s up for that. However if he is unsure how it should go down, she is NOT afraid to take charge. She will take the reins and be the dominate one and that doesn’t bother her one bit. Either way, she gives consent, whatever she’s the top or the power bottom. She can submit in the bedroom without losing control of the relationship. “Come harder just because, I don’t like it to soft” these lyrics are reference to the bedroom department, she makes her preferences known in almost demanding way, so he knows what she consents to.

“Worth it” is written from the perspective of a woman telling a man that she’s “Worth it”, applying sexual connotation. However, the single could also be taken as a feminist anthem, as it can inspire “young girls to truly believe they’re ‘worth it’ and can own Wall Street or any other place on which they set their sights”. This latter view of the song is highlighted in its music video.

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