A analysis of music videos going by Goodwin's theory

1. Analysis of music videos

2. Goodwin's Theory
• Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
• There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals
• There is a relationship between the music and the visuals
• The demands of the record label will include the need for lots
of close ups of the artists and their artist may develop motifs
which recur across their work
• There are frequent references to the notion of looking and
particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body
• There is often intertextual references to films, TV programmes
and music videos
• Whether the video is primarily performance-based, narrative-based
or concept-based and how element of each is used to
it.

3. “The One That
Got Away” Katy
Perry
(narrative)

4. Relationships between lyrics and visuals
“The One That Got Away” is a song by American singer and songwriter Katy Perry. It is a ‘pop ballad
song’. The song is a narrative-based song which tells a obvious story of her losing a partner and
how she has to live into adult life with the regret of losing the partner. The song tells the story of
their eventful and fulfilled teenage/young adulthood time together and what they got up too. The
song describes how she is overly happy within the relationship and knows how special it is. Then,
a argument occurs and the partner flees the place where they are staying, leaving Katy Perry
distraught. Then, while driving angry and upset, the partner skids the car in the road avoiding a
boulder and goes off a cliff, subsequently being killed due to the crash. The video starts and ends
with a elderly Katy Perry regretting not telling the partner that he was everything to her. The video
presents past and present moments of the characters life. The lyrics are heavily reflected in the
visuals of the music video, as the video all through it goes through the ‘flashbacks’ and moments
of their relationship together. There are moments in the video which match the lyrics entirely, and
these are some examples of a strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals..
“And on my 18th Birthday
We got matching tattoos”
“Sometimes when I miss you
I put those records on”
“But in another life
I would be your girl”

5. There is often intertextual references to films, TV
programmes and music videos
“We'd make out
in your Mustang
to Radiohead”
“So I don't have to say
You were the one that
got away”
“In another life
I would make you stay”
“I was June
and you were
my Johnny
Cash”

6. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups
of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across
their work
There are a lot of many close-ups of Katy Perry throughout the song. By putting all the close ups in the
music video, it brings the audience closer to the artist and it distinguishes the artists role in the music video.
Close ups are widely used to make a point and show emotion, as well as link the character and the lyrics of
the song. Katy Perry tends to use a lot of close ups in her music videos, making it also look natural by
usually not looking into the lens. There are only one or two videos she has produced which has her looking
into the lens as the main character of focus. Here are some examples:

7. Frequent references to the notion of looking and
particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body
This theory is applied to a lot of music videos. A lot of videos that are circling the media at the
moment have a lot of voyeuristic treatment of the female body. It is a kind of craze and trend to
have a video involving half naked, sexually orientated women. These are some examples of
particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body in music videos..

8. Beyonce has a lot of references in some of her music videos to the notion of looking and
particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. Beyonce’s videos in the past few
years of her career have mostly been narrative and always had a happy ending. But
recently, there has been a lot of her videos which are becoming more concept-based. A
lot of her videos now have a lot of particularly voyeuristic treatment of females body's
and her own body, opposed to the last few years when it wasn’t focused on her body.

9. Performance, concept and narrative based videos
Goodwin’s theory suggests that any music video is primarily performance-based, narrative-based
or concept-based. Some videos can be two together and it works well. Stereotypically, a
music video is a story through the visuals and the lyrics making it narrative but there are also a
lot more concept and performance based music videos which are popular. These are some
examples…
Narrative based Concept based Performance based

10. Music demonstrates genre characteristics
There are a few musicians who have a complete stereotype and do not leave that stereotype of the
genre of their music. But there are other musicians who music videos totally distinguish and show
their genre characteristics. Examples are..
When Taylor swift came onto the music scene she portrayed herself
through her public appearance and music /music videos like a
innocent, everyday country girl. She always made
narrative/performance based videos, and all the songs had a story
through visuals. But, since technology and fashion has come further
over the years, her videos and her genre characteristic has changed
dramatically from 2007 to 2011.

11. Most famous example of genre characteristic change
Miley Cyrus’s change that seemed like it was overnight is the most known example of genre characteristic change,
not only within her music but within her general appearance.