representation

1. Representation of unhealthy/destroyed relationships in the music video of ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy
Vance Joy (James Gabriel Keogh) is an Australian singer/songwriter who
signed a 5 year record deal with Atlantic Records. He released his EP
‘God loves you when you’re dancing’ the same year, then his first studio
album ‘Dream your life away’ on the 5th September 2014 in Australia,
then on the 9th elsewhere. The singer specialises in the indie pop and
indie folk genres. His most successful song, ‘Riptide’, was voted number
1 on the 2013 Triple J Top 100 in Australia. It is known for being a
‘coming of age love story’ and is featured in the 2014 film ‘The
Inbetweeners 2’ and Australian soap opera ‘Home and Away’.
The music video of ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy has a clear motif of
representing unhealthy relationships and the progression of them. Every
shot is used to create imagery for the lyrics, making them look random
as if the video follows no narrative of its own. This is untrue because
though the mise-en-scene, it demonstrates the female’s desperation of
escaping the relationship and joining the ‘dark side’. Firstly, there is a
shot of a girl escaping from being tied to a tree and then running down
to the river. This is an example of hedonism as she aims to please her
own self. The same women are shown throughout the music video and
the artist is not – implying that the song is about how the hegemony of
his emotions is being laid upon her. This reference Levi Strauss’s theory
of binary opposites because the female’s thoughts about their
relationship are not visualised in the video, there is only one perspective
described and visualised.

2. Representation of unhealthy/destroyed relationships in the music video of ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy
The lyric ‘she has been living on the higher shelf’ may suggest that the artist has always worshipped his girlfriend
and beholds her status above other people in his life. However, it could also mean that the singer has been
neglecting his girlfriend and not giving her enough attention – the visuals display a worm’s eye angle shot of her
looking out over a balcony with binoculars. This could be an indication that she is trying to look for someone else
who would treat her better. Additionally, this could connote to an inter-textual reference of the common fairy-
tale theme of a ‘damsel in distresses‘, waiting for a man better suited for her to rescue her from the toxic
relationships she’s in (e.g. Rapunzel). Andy Medhurt stated that stereotyping is shorthand for identification. The
song is directed towards a female and the visuals of the video heighten this as it lacks appearances of male
characters. Therefore, this automatically places the women in the position to be observed. The target audience
may like this as songs about women attract those who love romance (especially females), but perhaps some
viewers want to listen to songs that focus on other themes/subjects. For example, Lorde’s ‘Team’ focuses on
teenagers ‘coming of age’ and finding out the portrayals of life.
The short depth of field shot of the people swiftly transforming to the shot of the dollar note connotes to the lyric
‘all my friends are turning green’. Perhaps ‘turning green’ is a metaphor for being greedy for something, and
money is common depiction to signify greed. This could also resemble their jealousy towards the artist due to his
girlfriend.
The music video begins a shot of a bright blue sky. The riptide scenes gradually become darker as the song
progresses – eventually finishing in low lighting. Adding to the obscurity, the colour red becomes more prominent
within the final minute of the video – the blood on the woman’s neck, the colour of her nail varnish in the knife
scene, and the background of the close up shot of the gun. Typically, the colour red symbolises danger. The video
endures the path of violence, subverting the literal approach of the visuals in correlation to the lyrics. The use of
fill lighting in the footage at the beginning of the video creates a metaphor to foreshadow the gradual decay of the
relationship. As the women is running to the riptide in the dark, it realistically demonstrates the lyrics ‘taken away
to the dark side’ in opposition to the literal imagery the lyric is normally accompanied by (e.g. being pulled into the
darkness).

3. Representation of unhealthy/destroyed
relationships in the music video of ‘Riptide’ by
Vance Joy
‘Riptide’ also portrays the women agenda as being vulnerable – a
stereotypical and hegemonic remark. This is shown through the progression
of the same shot of the women singing the lyric ‘I love you, you’re going to
be singing that song, and I’ve got a lump in my throat cos you’re gonna sing
the words wrong’. Every time it is shown the women looks more and more
estranged by the relationship due to the running tears/mascara down her
face and her smudged lipstick. One of them shows a hand grasping her neck.
The subtitles also show how she struggles more and more to sing the lyrics
correctly. This shows the collapse of the relationship as she struggles to
come to terms with reality. The meaning of these lyrics can only be
recognised once this gradual change is viewed, making the visuals more
subversive to the lyric. Furthermore, this emblematic scene of the music
video takes a voyeurism approach - it inflicts with the high pitched pace of
the song. Because of this, it is not obvious to the audience what the song is
really about – apart from the women looses inability to sing the words.
Laura Mulvey’s Male gaze theory is represented through the lyric ‘I was
scared of pretty girls and starting conversations’. At ‘pretty girls’ there is a
medium shot of a women taking off her swimsuit from behind. This could be
interpreted by the viewer as an example of objectifying and sexualising
women because in this music video slim women undressing themselves are
labelled as ‘pretty girls’. This could be a connotation to the failure of the
relationship as the artist was too afraid to speak to other girls he was
physically attracted to – too involved in this own relationship so talking to
other girls would be noticed. However, it could be misunderstood that this
contributes to the later events in the song because the viewer’s focusing on
the sexualised scene (Stuart Hall’s theory of oppositional reading?). For
example, the music video of ‘Anaconda’ by Nicki Minaj was so sexualised
the artist herself had to address the issue herself, by explaining how it
actually signifies feminism because Nicki is displayed as doing what she
pleases in her music video. This is a far more erotic example to compare
‘Riptide to’, but it shows the extreme scale of sexualisation that even a
women showing a bare back can be labelled.
In conclusion, ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy represents the theme of unhealthy relationships
rather effectively, but it also carries serious messages about the other inevitabilities in life.
Analysing this music video has inspired me to take a similar approach towards my own – I
wish to embed a significant message underneath visuals that make it unobvious to deduce
correctly. This is because I want mine to be interpreted in different ways so it interests the
viewer what the narrative/representations are really about.