The Killers - A Dustland Fairytale (Mandler, 2009) (Genre and Narrative)
This music video conforms to Goodwin’s theory of characteristics of many music videos. For example, it uses characteristics of the indie genre such as a strong story being told in the narrative made up of two lines of action from the present day and flashbacks.
The idea of the music video telling a story is further emphasised in this video by the song not starting until after the first minute of the video. By this point the basis of the story being told has been set by the shots of the old man standing in the same locations as the flashbacks to an earlier time.
As the story told in the narrative seems to get darker, lower lighting is used in both the performance and the narrative, another typical characteristic of indie rock video.
The performance uses typical shots of the band, such as close ups on each member and their instruments as well as mid and long shots of the whole band. The narrative and performance are shot in a desert which is conventional as rural locations are also typical of indie music videos.
Goodwin also talks about the link between the music and lyrics with the visuals. This video shows an amplified relationship between the lyrics and visuals; both telling a story about a couple in from the past, although the details of the stories told are changed. Because of this, parts of the video relate to the lyrics, for example, the first verse is about a young couple meeting and the happy times in their relationship. This is made apparent through lines such as ‘a dustland fairytale beginning.’
The second verse shows the man in the couple watching the girl cheat on him and the lyrics amplify this once again, for example the line ‘like sinking ships we persevere’ which connotes the relationship struggling. The lyrics to the chorus of the song suggest an ending, for example, ‘he’s getting ready for the showdown’ and ‘I saw the ending where they turned the page’ which fits in with the shots of the two men fighting throughout the video, eventually ending with one killing the other. Barthes’ narrative codes are also relevant here, for example the enigma code can be used by the audience to piece together how the story will end after seeing the fight scene and the main character with the prison release form.
This video has an obvious story, and although it is shown cutting between present day and flashbacks, the story is clear and no narrative fuzz is created. The ideas and representations of each character shown in the video are conforming to traditional social conventions, for example a regressive gender stereotype is created in the flashbacks scenes, with the men shown fighting and the women looking hysterical in the background. This is similar to Goffman’s theory of function ranking in which he suggests that women are often used just as a decorative or supportive role whilst the male characters perform the main part.
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