Analysing Narrative in Music Videos
Music Video: “Jason Derulo – What If”
1. Jason Derulo plays both the protagonist and the narrator in this music video.
2. This video portrays an objective character identity as we see only the artists view points.
3. ‘Todorov suggests that “all narratives begin with equilibrium or an initial situation (where everything is balanced)”. The video begins with everything being balanced as the artist’s character and his girlfriend are moving in together. His theory continues with “this is followed by some form of disruption, which is later resolved”. The disruption is the part where the girlfriend is about to be run over, but time freezes just as she is about to get hit. The video revolves around time going back until the point where the two first meet. Todorov’s theory states that “with the resolution at the end of the narrative a new equilibrium is usually established”; there is a resolution as Jason Derulo ignores the girl instead of talking to her which means that she won’t get hit by the car as they would have never met.
4. Propp’s theory focuses on there being specific roles within a music video. Out of the seven roles Propp’s theory revolves around, only two of these roles exist in this music video by Jason Derulo. Derulo himself is portrayed as the hero who according to Propp ‘departs on a search (seeker hero)’; his girlfriend is portrayed as the princess as she is ‘a sought for person who exists as a goal’.
5. Levi-Strauss’s theory suggests that in a music video there has to be there must be ‘a number of pairs of opposites reflecting (and resolving) the narrative conflicts. However, in Jason Derulo’s music video ‘What If’, there appears to be no sort of opposites.
6. “Barthes’ code” is a theory from Roland Barthes in which he identifies narrative codes which readers (or viewers in this case) use to decode or understand texts. These codes are:
· Action – there are sequential elements of action in the music video as events happen in a structural manor.
· Enigma - refers to the mystery within a music video; the mystery in this music video is portrayed when Jason Derulo must decide whether or not to meet his girlfriend for the first time again.
· Cultural – based on elements of the music video which cannot be challenged and are assumed to be truthful and real. This music video challenges this idea as it features a form of time travel which is something not yet seen as a foundation or real.
· Semic - refers to there being additional meanings within the music video. This music video has the subliminal message which indicates that Jason Derulo wishes he could turn back time for whatever reason.
7. Cameron has three main ideas to do with his post-narrative theory:
· Anachronic – highlights the ‘flashback/flash-forward’ features within a music video. The whole video of ‘What If’ is going back in time and when Jason Derulo makes his decision whether to meet his girlfriend again for the first time he has a flash-forward to when she is about to be hit by a car. He decides to not speak to her as if he does they will end up doing what they had previously done in the future and she will be hit by the car.
· Forking-paths – juxtaposes two opposing ideas or events which could both happen depending on the choices made by characters in the video. This occurs in as there are two alternate events which could happen depending on the choice that Jason Derulo makes.
· Split-screens – within the music video ‘What If’, there are no features of two events occurring at the same time within the same one visual.
8. Within this music video, there doesn’t appear to be any intertextual references.
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