Music Theorists

Many, if not all, of the above theories were not intended for music video. Indeed, in the first place, many of them, particularly that of Propp, were in fact noted as base plot devices in fairy tales and were developed back in the 1920's. However, due to the similar nature of many narrative sequences, I can see that the themes can easily be carried over, as can be seen by the results of my video research involved in this presentation. Some theories last better than others. Whilst Levi-Strauss' binary opposition theories are still very much used due to their versatile nature and range of possible subject matter, and ideas of equilibrium can still be retained, the nature of narrative now differs greatly in the modern day to that of fairytales, and many stereotypical character roles as specified by Propp are now often rejected in favour of more realistic narrative plots, or nonsensical entropy.

Of course, there are also theorists that have studied the music video specifically - Andrew Goodwin is a clear example. As aforementioned, Goodwin recognised that music videos can either illustrate, amplify or reject a song's meaning in its visual representation. He also identified several other key features of music videos:

• Record companies will demand a lot of close ups of the main artist/vocalist
• Voyeurism is frequently used, particularly in the treatment of women, but also more generally as a term of "looking" - e.g. mirrors, cameras, mirrors etc.
• There is likely to be some form of intertextual reference, referring to either other music videos, films or television programmes etc. which heighten the audience's enjoyment and involvement in the video

Applying the Theories

30 Seconds to Mars - Hurricane

Wanting to understand how these theories work in context, I've found the new music video for 30 Seconds to Mars' song "Hurricane". Breaking the modern standards of a music video (loose narrative, simply a visual accompaniment to a song), "Hurricane" is instead has a very strong narrative presence and, as in the video of Lady Gaga's "Telephone", the use of credits give it the representation of a short film rather than a music video and, indeed, at 13 minutes long, divided into chapters, it appears that "Hurricane" has been intended to be exactly that - a short film. Indeed, the music in the video seems to act simply as a soundtrack to the action in many places, overrode with voice-over narration in both French and English.

Though both Branigan and Todorov's theories can be applied to the narrative of this video, though I feel that Branigan's is more relevant - Todorov's theory requires an attempt to fix the disruption in the narrative, which doesn't clearly take place. Rather, there is an "emotional response" and "complicating actions" as percieved by Branigan. During the course of the video, we are shown an initial equilibrium, and introduced to the setting and characters: establishing shots, aerial and from the P.O.V of the motorbike that band member Shannon Leto is seen riding, and other shots of member Tomo Miličević make us aware that the video is set in a large American city and reveal to us the first to members of the band, whilst progressing shots to a bedroom reveal the sleeping/awakening frontman, Jared Leto. As the video continues, the "explanation of the state of affairs" is slowly revealed - Jared is presented with photos in a blackmail style before being pursed by a masked hitman, Shannon meets a mysterious woman and Tomo seems to rescue another, and we are able to note their emotional responses through frequent close-ups of their faces (a specification noted by Goodwin to appease fans and the record label). As these inital actions progress, their nature complicates - the "complicating actions" and the scenarios intensify in action. The outcome however, can be noted by Todorov as a "return to equilibrium", whilst Branigan would note it as the outcome: Jared is able to conquer his pursuer, and Shannon and Tomo 'get the girls'.

The voyeurism noted by Goodwin is very clear; cuts from the narrative to sometimes suggestive, and sometimes overtly sexual shots have caused the video to be heavily censored and, even now, is considered not acceptable to be played by MTV. The women in the video are very much sexualised and, whilst sometimes apparently empowered - e.g. when the blonde woman stabs Shannon - they are mostly represented as being submissive/bound and controlled by men.

There are also vague intertextual references, though only mostly to other 30 Seconds to Mars themes and songs - another song from the same album, "Escape", is heard near the beginning of the video, whilst the triangular 'triad' necklace Jared wears is the new symbol for the "This is War" album from which this song has come.