This is the Final Edited Version:
I worked with the group up until the last edits, when I decided to focus on commercial video while they fixed the music video. This is the final version that was made and that I really like seeing without the top layer transparency that is in the first video.
This is the first music video:
The ultimate goal of the video was to express the repetitious nature of the music into a narrative. Thus, the main theme of the video deals with the idea of infinity or monotony. For the woman in the video, every day feels the same. She is stuck in the normalcy of everyday life. This is further accentuated by the literalness of her being trapped in the background layer of the video. By having the first half of the film playing forward and the last half replaying the same video in reverse, our intent was to show how the woman wishes she could reverse life, go back and change her state of isolation.
ReplyDeleteThe women’s entrapment, the strawberry, and the cat are all symbolic objects in which different meanings can be drawn.
The women being trapped can represent the idea of not being able to escape from the norm. She is trapped within what society expects of her where you can “never explore.”
In the beginning the woman in the film does not seem particularly unhappy, but more like she feels unsure about her feelings. One thing is for certain she is trapped. The video shows this by only using scenes where she is in the house or walking in complete blankness. The song speaks of “searching the world for what’s right here.” This means that she has already found what she was searching for.
The first interpretation is to see the video as a question. Asking, did she find what she wanted? A way to interpret this idea is to see the cat and the strawberry as representing herself. She is supposed to be like a cat. Be trapped to wonder for eternity in this house, and take her cereal with milk. But the women doesn’t seem to fit the role of a cat, seen when she drops the milk on the ground. The milk isn’t for her.
ReplyDeleteSo is she like a strawberry, she wears pink like a strawberry, she looks sweet like a strawberry, but she squishes that strawberry.
The truth is the woman seems bored and fidgety with this repetition. Everything over and over again and then she snaps. She squishing her strawberry and symbolically squishes her life. Struggling to eat the strawberry, struggling to cut the strawberry. This shows that despite her collected demeanor perhaps she is not sure about this “never explore” idea. This is also shown in the last line of the song where it is almost like a question that the singer is asking them self “So now I’ll never explore?” Is this what I really want?
She is figuring out that what she thought she really wanted, what society told her to want; maybe it’s not really for her. Sometimes people can’t handle disorder, but also sometimes people can’t handle order. Sometimes it’s the normal things that make us crazy, the repetition that makes us crazy. Seeing the same things every day, doing the same things every day. This can make a person snap just as much as disorder can make a person snap. Some people were meant to explore and search the world. Not be boxed into this ideal situation, ideal world, that everyone else seems to fit into so well.
The second way the video could be read is by seeing the women comfortable and accepting with the isolation. The lyrics say, “I don’t have to leave anymore, what I have is right here.” This conveys the woman is almost becoming content with her isolation. She is growing concerned she won’t want to change her life if she remains comforted by only her own company. The lines of the song that state, “I am yours now, so now I don’t ever have to leave,” defines this feeling of security with being by herself. The intent was to have the audience be captivated by how her life is portrayed, but also almost bored, so they truly feel the entrapment of her lonely situation.
The longest scenes in the video are of the woman spinning. Their extended length is due to the important symbolism, showing how she yearns for real life transformation, not simply a change in clothing.
Using this second outlook the cat and the strawberry can also be seen to take on different meanings. The old adage of “curiosity killed the cat” is what the cat’s presence announces. She is afraid to follow her curiosity in life; therefore she remains in her isolation. The strawberry is the symbol for her frustrations. She can be seen eating it, cutting through it, and ultimately at the end smashing it. A final sign of how, even though she seems content, she really wants to break free.
The women’s flaw is her indecision or comfort with her isolation this repetitive cycle must be broken or she will be trapped forever.