Analysis task of 'Zombie' by The Cranberries

1. Callum Kilgarriff
Task 1: Choose 1 music video
State Title/Artist/Genre/Style: Zombie/The Cranberries/Alt. Rock/Performance-Conceptual
Use the following boxes detailing Lacey’s Repertoire of Elements, to analyse the text:
Genre elements Conventions
Characters –
representations,
stereotypes,
behaviour, body
language, specific
actors/stars
The characters in the video are used to portray either the violence of
the Troubles or the innocence of the bystanders, conveyed by
soldiers, children and the band in some cases. The character
portrayal is very sombre in mood, the body language only ever
reflective or angry, never happy or joyous. This shows the artists’
standing on the Troubles, conveying a moral sadness that is
apparent throughout the video.
Narrative events –how
is the narrative
ordered and
structured?
The video is generally very conceptual, focusing on the meaning of
the video rather than a narrative event. In this case the ‘event’ is the
Irish history of the Troubles, with the video opting to represent the
themes represented during this time rather than retelling the story.
Iconography – props,
symbolic codes
There are several shots of the famous houses in Derry, Ireland,
which are painted with murals that tribute the innocent dead of the
Troubles and in particular the 19 that died during Bloody Sunday.
This portrays most vividly the overall intention of the video, linking
both the ‘innocent’ and ‘violent’ aspects of the war by referencing
once point in time whereby that meaning had so much behind it
that it was impossible to ignore.
Setting- mise en scene The video is divided into scenes that represent innocence and
scenes that represent violence. This is done through the use of light
and dark colour contrasts in the corresponding scenes, Delores
painted gold and surrounded by children in the ‘innocence’ scenes
and then dressed in military gear and showing child soldiers in the
‘violence’ scenes. This is a very strong contrast and portrays the
opposite sides of both the Troubles and war in general, highlighted
most potently in the final scene whereby the same child is shown in
both scenes, once in gold and then again in black and white in the
dirt. A cross is also shown in the ‘innocence’ scenes to portray the
religious aspect of the war.
Technical and audio
codes – camera use,
editing, lighting,
diegetic/non diegetic
sound, sfx
Lighting is used to strengthen the contrasting scenes, with the
innocence scenes being bright and vivid opposed to the ‘violence’
scenes which are dark, dirty and squalid. The lyrics of the vocals also
link in with the message of the video, particularly the struggle of the
war and the innocence of children which is a fervent theme
throughout the video, ‘Another head hangs lowly, a child is slowly
taken’.

2. Callum Kilgarriff
Task 2: Now write up your analysis, using screen grabs from the video to illustrate your points. (800-
1200 words)
Task 3. Create your Advanced Portfolio Blog in blogger and email me your URL. Call the blog Your
Name: Advanced Portfolio
Lacey’s repertoire of elements is used in the video for the song ‘Zombie’ by The Cranberries in
order to create a contrast between ‘innocence’ and ‘violence’, and in order to create meaning that
represents the Troubles in Ireland.
The first element that is shown in the video is that of character. Characterisation is used in ‘Zombie’
to represent the opposite sides of ‘innocence’ and ‘violence’, through the use of costume and choice
of actors. For example, in both scenes children are portrayed, either as cherubs or as child soldiers,
playing with guns in the streets of Derry. This is a direct indication of the contrasting meaning of the
video, with the cherubs representing the innocence of the bystanders during the Troubles and the
child soldiers representing the violence of the two sides that fought. In terms of body language, the
characters are always shown to be sombre in mood, wither looking saddened or void of emotion,
perhaps stricken by the effect that the Troubles had on Irish culture. This conveys The Cranberries’
standing on the events, portraying a moral sadness which sets the mood for the theme of the video
overall.
As for narrative events, the video is generally very conceptual, focusing on the meaning of the video
rather than a narrative event. In this case the ‘event’ is the Irish history of the Troubles, with the
video opting to represent the themes represented during this time rather than retelling the story.
Iconography is a fairly important aspect of the video, used to set the scene but also to link the
different scenes together to create meaning. For example, there are several shots of the famous
houses in Derry, Ireland, which are painted with murals that tribute the innocent dead of
the Troubles and in particular the 19 that died during Bloody Sunday. This portrays most
vividly the overall intention of the video,
linking both the ‘innocent’ and ‘violent’
aspects of the war by referencing one
point in time whereby that event had so
much meaning behind it that it was
impossible to ignore.
In terms of setting and mise en scene, the
video is divided into scenes that represent
innocence and scenes that represent
violence. This is done through the use of
light and dark colour contrasts in the
corresponding scenes, Delores painted
gold and surrounded by children in the ‘innocence’ scenes and then dressed in military gear
and showing child soldiers in the ‘violence’ scenes. This is a very strong contrast and
portrays the opposite sides of both the Troubles and war in general, highlighted most
potently in the final scene whereby the same child is shown in both scenes, once in gold and

3. Callum Kilgarriff
then again in black and
white in the dirt. A cross is
also shown in the
‘innocence’ scenes to
portray the religious
aspect of the war.
Finally, technical and
audio codes are used to
further support the
contrast of innocence and
violence and strengthen
the imagery used to show
this. Lighting is used to
strengthen the contrast in
the scenes, with the
‘innocence’ scenes being
bright and vivid opposed to the ‘violence’ scenes which are dark, dirty and squalid. The lyrics
of the vocals also link in with the message of the video, particularly the struggle of the war
and the innocence of children which is a fervent theme throughout the video, for example
the line ‘Another head hangs lowly, a child is slowly taken’.
In conclusion, the video adopts Lacey’s Repertoire of Elements in order to support the
themes and meaning of the song, using the elements to create a light / dark contrast that
creates a potent meaning about the Troubles in Ireland.

4. Callum Kilgarriff