The document analyzes the music video for the song "Fluorescent Adolescent" by the Arctic Monkeys using various narrative theories. It identifies the main characters according to Propp as the man in the black jacket being the hero and the clowns being the villains. Todorov's model of narrative identifies the initial equilibrium of the clowns attacking, the disruption when the men fight them off, and the recognition of disruption when the clowns get angry. Barthes' semiotic analysis finds codes of action, reference, and semantics, with the main enigma being that the hero and main clown were actually friends as children. Levi-Strauss suggests viewers typically see clowns as evil

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.