Music video narrative analysis

1. Fluorescent Adolescent – music video narrative analysis
Theorist Example – Arctic Monkeys ‘Fluorescent
Adolescent’
Propp  Hero – Man in black jacket
 Villain – Clowns (main clown)
Todorov  Equilibrium: Clowns attack
 Disruption: Guys in jackets fight them
off
 Recognises Disruption: Clowns get
angry at being fought with
 Attempt to repair: Clown and guy in
black jacket used to be friends – shot of
the past
 New Equilibrium: Clown kills his friend
– looks regretful
Barthes  Action code – fight
 Referential code – clowns fighting men
 Semantic code – main black jacket
hero, and main clown
 Enigma – we think they are enemies
the whole time but it turns out they
were friends as kids
 Symbolic – a symbol of how friends can
grow apart
Levi-Strauss It could be said that people’s view on clowns is
typically that they’re evil, these days. And so
we view the main clown as a simply evil
character, conforming to the stereotype. But
he does have feelings, as we see when he
realises he’s killed a friend.