Production (My Essay)

Are Narrative Theories needed to make a successful music video in the 21st Century?

Introduction

This essay will be looking at the values of narrative theory and what they truly add to a narrative, what is universal through any type of media and what is unique to the music narrative alone. The theories that are included in this essay are Todorov’s Equilibrium theory, Propp’s Fairytale theory and Levi-Strauss Binary Oppositional theory. Looking into if music videos have a narrative and to what degree of the narrative theories' is used to make a clear and successful music video.

Todorov Equilibrium Theory

‘Music video presents a range all the way from extremely abstract video emphasizing colour and movement to those that convey a story’. (Vernallis, 2004)  This shows that music videos can range of differing types. This means music videos can bend, and in some cases break, rules that films must follow for continuity. Todorov’s theory is going over and showing the audience that there is a point in every action the ‘characters’ make. ‘… many terms do-or may-have similar meanings in both music and fiction. This is particularly true of certain aesthetic concepts of the kind to be discussed…’ (Wallace, 2009)This quote goes on to say that among many different subjects like balance, clarity, ambiguity and more equilibrium is a ‘mode of expression-… successful comparative criticism must always keep in mind.’ (Wallace, 2009) This is showing that equilibrium theory is something to always consider for a music video if it is the right way to express the music.

Also, when music videos were developing, they seem to look like films especially music videos that were for music that was then used within a film to help prompt the film and the music at the same time helping each other. A good example of this would be ‘Movies, especially those aimed at teen-agers like ''Risky Business'' or ''The Breakfast Club,'' featured sequences that looked like music videos. Later, of course, they could be extracted as video clips. With tie-ins proliferating, a song from a film could be released as a single, with a video that looked like a trailer for the movie.’ (Pareles, 1989)

The positives of this theory are that there is a clear structure within every piece of media, a narrative everyone follows and in doing so creates a storyline everyone can easily follow without being drawn own of the immersion. This is particularly needed within music videos, as their purpose is to sell the music rather than be entertainment, like a film. However, over the time music videos have been around they have become more about entertainment and rather selling the music it is there or to sell the artist. 

There are 5 stages in equilibrium, which are:

1.       Equilibrium

2.       Disruption

3.       Realization

4.       Restore Order

5.       Equilibrium Restored

The example music video that shows the equilibrium theory is ‘Firework’ by Katy Perry. This is showing a narrative, it starts off with Katy singing at the camera she is on her own and it is quite peaceful.  Then the music video goes to the disruption stage quite fast as you see different struggles people are going through, the realization is shown when Katy gets to the chorus and seems to be singing to those individuals and they see the problem, they see what they have to do to fix the situation and prepare to take on their own battles. This is another way the music video creators saw a successful way of selling the music and the video this was to make it relatable to them. This showed the audience that ‘someone understands’ them and made them want to listen to the music more. The next, restoring order happens soon after the realization happens for some of the individuals. This is showing that it takes a different amount of time to realize and to fight their battles and this would differ from person to person. This restoring order section lasts through the next verse of the song until they get to the second chorus. Then the equilibrium is restored. This is shown with a big group of people running and creating a formation, them smiling and dancing. They are showing a new light with the visuals of the fireworks being their confidence and their weapon when facing their battles through the last stages of the narrative. Going over the five stages using the song firework and its music video’s narrative shows that music videos with structure can sell the song in a subconscious way.

The other music video that this essay is going to cover is ‘OK Go- upside down, inside out’ This music video doesn’t have any narrative, the beginning says how they shot the video but other than that it is the same point in the narrative. In Todorov’s theory it states that disruption is needed and in the music video there is no disruption, nothing is ‘going wrong’ and there is no progression in the plot. This is also meaning there is no realization or need to restore order as there was no problem, to begin with, and the video ends in the same frame as the start. The character learned nothing and they didn’t gain new experiences. When this video was made it was successful, however if both these videos were to be released now Katy Perry’s video would be way more popular and OK Go would have to rely on their current fans to make the video a hit, whereas Katy’s music video would get more publicity because of the topics it covers and how they are portrayed. This shows that even though OK Go’s video was successful it wasn’t, like Katy’s video, moving forward and creating a fresh look on music videos. Therefore, her video would still work now as it would back then.

Propp’s fairytale theory

In music videos now there seems to always have a certain set of roles of ‘characters’ more like a short film or short story. ‘…there’s no better way to put your content and message into context than with a real story.’ (Wedmore, 2013) This shows as time went on selling artists had to sell not just the music but selling the story within the song, because like this article goes onto say ‘…let’s face it, everyone loves a good story…’. As this became more and more prominent a set of characters were clearly shown within the plot of every music video and when breaking down that plot it has the same structure as, what we have primarily seen within a film. These characters, as shown in the Propp’s Fairytale theory, are:

1.       The Hero

2.       The Helper

3.       The Villain

4.       The Princess/ The Prize

5.       The Dispatcher

6.       The Donor

7.       The False Hero

(8. The Oracle)

There is seven base characters within this theory but looking into it further it is shown to have an eighth type of character that could be debated in being within film and music videos just as much as the other seven. This character is called ‘The Oracle’; they are the wise and ‘all knowing’ character that gives the hero information and guidance when they go out on their journey. (Unknown, 2013) The argument is that between the helper, dispatcher and the donor they do this making it unnecessary for them to be a whole other character needed for this role.

I believe for films this character is needed but when it comes to any music video I think you only need 3 / 4 of these characters. The ones I think are unnecessary are: The Hero, The princess/prize, the helper and the false Hero/ villain.

Every video has the artist and because the music video is played from their point of view, they are clear to be some sort of ‘Hero’ or the protagonist being a better way of phrasing. Then in most ‘love song’ genre, there is a love interest or ‘Princess’ character that the protagonist is singing to or about. Helper characters are the mass of people in videos that are on the side of the protagonist, you could even say fans watching the video are included in this role as they are relating and projecting themselves onto a helpers’ situation. The last and the optionally debatable 4^th character role in this would be the false hero or villain, some sort on antagonist to the protagonist. This could be a representation like a corrupt company or just one person fighting agents the views shown in the protagonist. The music video I am going to show this in is going to be Taylor Swift- 'love story'.

In this video you see Taylor and the prince they are already our hero, Taylor in this case meaning the roles are reversed, and the love interest. Even though these are the only two characters seen we here about the ‘villain’ within the lyrics, this is how the music video can bend the rules of the narrative theory, her dad telling him ‘…stay away from Juliet’ (Swift, 2009) later in the song he comes around and the visuals on the screen are showing you this character without actually having to physically show that character. This example doesn’t have helper characters within it but an example of them are within the previously discussed song Katy Perry- Firework.

The helper characters would be the ones shown going through their own problems and, like Katy is singing about, getting over them. The song also is phrased with the visual context seems like Katy had already overcome her problem before the video started and was encouraging the others to get over their own struggle. This is shown in the beginning where the lyrics say ‘…Do you know that there’s still a chance for you ‘cause there’s a spark in you…’ this is Katy saying that she has been there, and she knows it seems impossible but there is a way to overcome this. (Perry, 2010)

Conclusion

Going back to the original question do music videos today need narrative theory to be successful, after looking at my socks and the arguments within them, simply put yes, they are. However, looking more into it as this essay did develop, I do think that unlike film, music has an advantage over these theories in the fact that they can bend and break these theories to how they want to use them. As time moves forward and the new way of making music video goes on the do seem to be making more and more similarities to film and soon it is highly possible to be able to take the music away and watch it see a short silent film, rather than a music video muted. Overall, music videos today are getting more narratives within them. They are bending the theory but it is clear to see the theory being used is there in most if not all of the modern-day music video especially within popular and successful music videos that end up going viral on the internet.

Bibliography

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