Music Video Analysis

1. Fluorescent Adolescent – Arctic Monkeys
Music Video Analysis

2. Andrew Goodwin
Within the music video, Goodwin’s theories about music videos are adhered to in different ways. For example. I feel
that Arctic Monkeys are kind of like an embodiment of indie and alternative music more than other bands that I have
studied, such as The 1975 because they go against a lot of typical stereotypes and in my opinion are very dedicated to
the music, hence why a lot of their videos are not performance based. Some of Goodwin’s music video theories are
justified in the music video but most are not.
• The relationship between lyrics and visuals is rather contradicting, as the music video and the lyrics both tell a
different story to each other, as is the relationship between the music and visuals. The visuals are quite sinister but
the tune of the song is quite upbeat, which is a convention, of sorts, of the indie/alternative genre because it
signifies a difference to other bands.
• One theory is actually challenged within the video because the band are not actually shown, therefore there are no
close ups of them. I think that this kind of hides their identity a little bit as this shows that they care more about the
music they make than what people think of them.
• There are no voyeuristic views and the video is not primarily audience based, so Goodwin’s theories are rather
challenged and I think that the video is an example of something edgy and sharp, unlike a lot of singers today who
abide by rules. I found that in almost all, but not all, music videos that I researched, women were not used to grab
viewer’s attention because indie/alternative bands are known more for caring about their music and not grabbing
people’s attention from half dressed women dancing around for attention.
• There is no intertextuality that I noticed, again sending out a message that perhaps they want to be remembered
for them and not for something they put in their video to make the listeners reminisce something they once watched
or saw or had.
• The video is very narrative based, with no performance whatsoever, and even though I prefer performance based
videos due to the idea we can be with them as they perform, the narrative is cool and quirky and original.

3. Narrative theories
Todorov:
I have noticed that there is a storyline in the video, making it a narrative music
video rather than a performance based one. The equilibrium is that the scene
is set in an abandoned factory/parking lot, where men are proceeding to steal
something and we are looking from one of the clown’s point of views as we
enter the fight scene. The fighting continues as members of each group break
off and continue to fight. One of the clowns, most likely the ‘protagonist’ in this
sense, has a flashback when he was friends with one of the bad men (the
enemy) we see at the beginning of the video. The realisation is that the clown
has realised that things have changed and the enemy is no longer someone
he is friends with and the new equilibrium is established when the clown finally
puts an end to the enemies bad ways by blowing up his car. I think that a
narrative helps any music video, not just of this genre, to have some
substance and it makes it worth watching because it is essentially like a
miniature movie so the audience are engaged.
Strauss:
In the video, there are some binary opposites that are very clear, for example
Good V Bad is probably the most evident one, from start to finish, for example
the ‘good’ is the clowns at the beginning that are fighting the ‘bad’. This could
also link to a Hero V Villain binary opposite, indicating roles in the video to give
the narrative a more interesting, engaging tone.
.
Propp:
For me, I didn’t really recognise any specific characters, except possibly the
protagonist, who is the clown, the enemy/villain who is the man from the
opposing clan. The metaphorical ‘princess’ is the suitcase that the men are
trying to steal.
The bag, ‘princess’, the
thing everyone wants.

4. Technical elements
Quite a portion of the video is made up of handheld camera movements, incorporating panning
movements with this to give it a rough, edgy look. A lot of the handheld camera movement is at the
beginning, when we are looking at the scene and situation from someone’s point of view. It’s very cool
to see it from a point of view that is there because it’s as if we are there too and I think that this
portrays the message to the fans that the band want their fans to feel like they are close to the band on
a personal level, even if they are not in the video. The scenery is seen from a long , tilted shot, giving
the impression of a shaky hand holding the camera. There are a lot of medium long/long shots, though
not of the band, of things being broken and smashed (near to the beginning of the video). I feel that
this could send the message across that the band are breaking boundaries, by not being in the video,
by not following stereotypes of their genre, which makes them different and edgy.
The villain could represent society and the clown
could represent the band trying to challenge
society’s standards.

5. Technical elements
Even though the band are not in the video, I said that the clowns could represent the
band – they can be amusing but they care most about making people smile/happy, like
clowns. The costumes of the clowns are challenging stereotypes of the indie/alternative
band also, being bright and colourful rather than scruffy and dark. The estate setting is
something that could be linked to the genre because it’s quite unkempt and derelict,
which are words that could normally be associated with this particular genre. The
majority, if not all, of the lighting used in the music video is natural lighting, which I found
to be quite gritty, which could link to the lyrics of the song, which send a hard hitting
message to the fans about a serious topic (prostitution/sexuality/age).
This medium close up of the main clown that we
see in the video shows us his face makeup and
his clothes, which are bright and colourful.
However, his facial expression is
sad/exasperated, which contradicts what clowns
are supposed to be like. I feel like the overall
message sent through the visuals alone,
especially the characters within the narrative, is
that even if things look happy, they might not
be, and the band sends quite hard hitting
messages in most of their songs.

6. Technical elements
The editing is quite fast paced throughout the video, with a lot of quick straight cuts jumping from one
scene to another, creating tenseness and suspension, which could represent how the band’s music is,
always creating tension due to the mature themes and messages received by the audience. There are
also jump cuts during the action scenes, quickly jumping into the action, closer and closer. It’s effective
because the intended emotion that was to be created was most likely suspense and that is definitely
created.
There is also a slow motion pan used, as if freezing the moment in time. I think this was used to make
the audience think about the themes and ideas portrayed in the music video which would also make
the audience think of the band because they are the ones coming up with the themes because this is
how they want to be presented, as mature and able to deal with things that they want to sing about. I
know that a lot of their fans would look up to them because they don’t sing about money and girls in
the way that some bands and artists do.
By using facial expressions on the narrative
characters, such as this one, it creates the
idea that not everything is happy and
sometimes things in life are upsetting and I
think that the Arctic Monkeys are good at
letting people know this through music
because a lot of their audience, teens, are
most likely to listen if it’s through music, which
of course is very popular with this age range.