general conventions

1. SELF CARE – MAC MILLER
MUSIC VIDEO
SCOPE VIDS

2. LYRICS - GOODWIN
• The lyrics of this song are talking about Mac’s drug abuse.
• The lyrics are slightly polysemic as he could be saying that he needs self care to survive the way he is
living, or he is being sarcastic and saying that he takes care of himself when he doesn’t.
• Here is a genius annotation of the outro of the second part of the song – “Oblivion is the mental state of
being unconscious or unaware of what’s happening. It’s also defined as the state of being completely
forgotten by the public. The mental state definition of oblivion is typically used when someone drinks to
the point where they become unconscious and forget their sorrow. Mac substitutes “drinking” with
“thinking” to show that his own thoughts caused him to depart from reality. Mac became gradually less
popular in the scene over the years until spiking in popularity with his relationship with Ariana Grande.
Oblivion may be used in the second half of this verse to signify that Mac believes he’s once again being
forgotten about by the public, but finds peace in this feeling.”

3. LYRICS - GOODWIN

4. VISUALS - GOODWIN
• The visuals don’t match the lyrics massively however
there are some occasions where it does.
• “And you can find me, I ain’t hidin’” is contradictory
to the visuals as Mac is in a coffin buried alive.
• “I don’t move my feet when I be glidin’” is also
contradictory to the visuals as he is moving his feet
at that moment of time.
• “Down below” is sort of illustrative as he is ’6 feet
under’.
• “I know that the medicine be on call” as a lyric is
polysemic because it could either mean he has drugs
on speed dial or that he knows he needs actual
medicine and rehab soon. If it is the first meaning,
the visuals are illustrative as he is smoking a
cigarette, but if it’s the second meaning, it’s
disjuncture.

5. VISUALS - GOODWIN
• “It’s feelin’ like you hot enough to melt” is
illustrative as he is lighting a cigarette with a match
in a wooden casket.
• ”Self care, I’m treatin’ me right” and “We gonna be
alright” are contradictory as he is smoking a
cigarette which is can cause lung cancer, however
considering he is in a casket buried underground he
is acting like he’s going to be alright.
• We can see ‘Momento Mori’ which Mac engraved
on the casket, which is Latin for “remember, you will
die”. This works with the rest of the lyrics as it ”
shows that on drugs he forgets this, but otherwise
he knows that death will happen soon.”
• The second part of the song doesn’t directly
illustrate the lyrics, however he speaks about being
“in oblivion” which can be seen as Mac isn’t aware
of the explosions happening around him.

6. NARRATIVE - FRITH
• There isn’t a massive narrative in this video.
• From what we can see, Mac wakes up in a
wooden casket with a torch in his hand, he
then lights a cigarette, carves into the
wood, makes his way out, climbs up to the
top of the dirt, the dirt blows up around
him and he falls.
• There are many points throughout the first
part of the song where Mac is lip synching
but it is broken up with a more naturalistic
style. He doesn’t lip synch in the second
part of the song at all.

7. PROPPIAN ARCHETYPES & BINARY
OPPOSITES
• This is slightly polysemic as Mac is his
proppian own villain and hero in the video.
• As Mac is the only person in this video, there
aren’t binary oppositions, however he could
be his own binary opposition.
• He is his own villain as he is causing the
harm to himself and possibly digs himself his
own grave.
• He is the hero too as he digs himself out of
the grave.

8. TODOROV & CAMPBELL
• This video opposes Todorov’s narrative
structure as it starts with disequilibrium
of Mac being buried alive, then goes
to equilibrium as he gets his way out.
Then we go back to disequilibrium
when the explosions go off at the end.
• There is a very faint Campbell’s
monomyth as the hero is going
through a journey, however it doesn’t
come to a conclusion where the hero
”wins”.

9. GENRE CHARACTERISTICS - GOODWIN
• The hybrid genre of Self Care by Mac Miller is Hip
Hop/Rap.
• This isn’t a very common video for this genre of
song, however there are signifiers which anchor
this.
• Most examples of this are through the mise-en-
scene.
• Mac’s dirty shoes, baggy clothes and tattoos all
signify the Hip Hop/Rap hybrid genre.
• Other things that anchor this are the cigarette
which Mac had in his shoe and the knife which he
had in his pocket.

10. REPRESENTATIONS
• In this video, we get a clear focus on the artist Mac
Miller, something that Goodwin believes is a common
convention of a music video and part of Richard
Dyer’s Star Theory.
• The fact that he is the only person in the video and the
big close ups on his face anchor this.
• This isn’t shown in the narrative in this video, but Mac
Miller is straight, white male and 26 years old when
filming this video. This representation is shown widely,
however in the Hip Hop/Rap hybrid genre, we expect
to see a straight, black male.

11. CINEMATOGRAPHY & EDITING
• The first part of the video feels very claustraphobic as Mac
is in a wooden casket underground. This is anchored
through the tight framing, including the many BCUs of
Mac’s face.
• The lighting being from the hand torch also anchors this.
• The widest shot in the entire first part was the very first
shot which starts out as a ELS/LS and zooms into a MLS.
• The shots in the first part are quite fast paced.

12. CINEMATOGRAPHY & EDITING
• In the second part of the video, Mac is
mostly centered according to the rule of
thirds.
• This feels a lot less claustrophobic as we get
a bigger range of different shot types
including ELS.
• The second part of the video is entirely in
slo-mo.
• There are many shots of Mac Miller falling in
the second part which are notable.
• The lighting is back-lit when Mac climbs up
the dirt mound and then it gets darker from
the explosions which then turns a tinted red
at the end.