Narrative and theme development

In order to collect our ideas we developed a chart to show the themes which promoted narrative ideas that were developed when discussing which song to chose and what narrative to demonstrate along side the narrative.

Music Video Analysis Lady Gaga – Bad Romance

The music video begins with an establishing shot of the dancers within the video. As shown below all the men are wearing black and all the women except from Lady Gaga are wearing white. From this we can connote that the men are the ‘bad’ in the romance because black typically connects with death or darkness which are both very negative things. Whereas the women are in the white throughout the video which signifies purity, innocence and naivety. Lady Gaga is sat on a throne and is wearing gold which signifies power so we assumes that she is in control of these people or at least the situation, it shows she has power.

The next location is in an area of coffins. The screenshot below shows that one coffin has a cross and the words “Monster” underneath and the others don’t, this is Lady Gaga’s coffin. The cross suggests that she is the God or Messiah of the little monsters (her fanbase) this is because they follow her every move and worship her like a God (idolise her). The rest of the room is white which suggests it’s a science environment, this develops the idea that they are being treated like aliens or monsters (fanbase)

In the scene below we are presented with a long shot of Lady Gaga, she is wearing all black this signifies that behind the mask that she wears in public there is something darker. We believe it to represent the dark part of her journey to becoming an artist. However she still wears her crown. This could signify that although she is in a dark place her fans still see her as a goddess maybe the mirror represents social media as she is talking confidently into it, she’s still trying to deliver to her fans. Her hair is long and flowing which is different to everything before this scene which suggests that she is starting to let go of the ‘image’ she is maybe being forced into, although not completely as she still has her eyes covered, however this could also suggest that she is naïve about the world at the moment. The dark times of her life theory is also suggested by the low lighting in the shot it creates an eerie environment
In this scene her eyes are presented as extremely wide, this represents innocence. Her hand is moving in an animalistic way which suggests that she’s is trapped or because her hand is out of the bath that it starts to glitch out which suggests that she is losing herself due to the media making her change. The colours used in this scene are pastels and white, these colours represent innocence and purity, it shows she’s in her early stages of developing fame In the scene where she has come out of her coffin and is dancing around she’s wearing all white and her eyes are covered it suggests that her eyes are being covered to the truth of what the media does to people while it is happening to her. This is shown through the white clothing however the skintight clothes represents her changing.

This scene shows us Lady Gaga having a liquid forcefully poured down her throat it represents drugs and how it is forced onto new artists through their innocence to do things they may not have wanted or would have done before it will also make it easier for the industry to sexualise them which means the artist will be more successful. These couple of scenes show the ways that she has become sexualised. This is through her music and the actions shes doing could represent the things that arrise in the tabloids to create the image that is desired by the record label for her to have in order to create her to become more successful. She continues to move in an animalistic way she moves towards the man by crawling which could suggest that she is crawling for the fame but she still does it in a sexualised manner.

The last scene which is presented to us is her on a bed which has been burnt this could represent the society that has been created around this false image which is created by artists. It is her way of reverlutionising against the image that the record labels want her to have.  It overall displays the fact that she still has power and that the media can’t control her.

After some research after writing my analysis I discovered that the song is about a “Tough female spirit”

In an interview she states that “There’s this one shot in the video where I get kidnapped by supermodels. I'm washing away my sins and they shove vodka down my throat to drug me up before they sell me off to the Russian mafia." (1)

Comparing the bad romance music video to the music video for the paparazzi we see the way she challenges the typical conventions and uses taboo topics in order to get attention towards her music videos, which in turn continue to work.

In the Paparazzi music video we see things like her face on the dollar bill it signifies that she has power and has wealth. This can be compared, as it is similar to where she is on the bed at the end of Bad Romance as it also signifies power and that she continues to support herself.

Both videos show the effect the media and the industry can do to people. In Bad Romance it is signifies that men rule the industry and women are used to be sexualised and to be controlled. The Paparazzi video shows that the industry uses them to get a story. It also shows that even when an artist is getting publicity for something that wasn’t the artists fault. As when the man pushes her off in Paparazzi it could suggest that the media is pushing her “off of the edge” in order to get a story.

Bibliography

(1)  Vena, J. (2009) Lady Gaga says ‘bad romance’ video is about ‘tough female spirit’. Available at: http://www.mtv.com/news/1625848/lady-gaga-says-bad-romance-video-is-about-tough-female-spirit/ (Accessed: 16 September 2016).