Representation of my Narrative

As part of the planning of my music video I wanted to investigate the representations in my music videos, and what angles I wished to convey.



By now it is clear the narrative of my music video follows the stages of a relationship in reverse, including first meetings and dates, going round each others houses, and then the downfall of the relationship with the girl going off with another guy, to which her original boyfriend finds out and leads to their breakup. Therefore I wanted to make clear of the protagonist and antagonist of this story which the audience can then identify with.



Whilst researching this representation I looked at You Me at Six's'Underdog' track, a good example of representation and stereotypical views of women in media. The storyline basically follows two girls and a guy. We at first see the guy making out with the blond girl, whilst the brown haired girl cries on some stairs. This already follows stereotypical views of blonds being the antagonists and having control over men because of their looks. We therefore identify the brown haired girl to be the protagonist and should be the one we sympathies during this scene. However as we get further into the narrative this representation changes, as the scene is played again but the brown haired girl being the one kissing the guy, with the blond girl seeing this and going off in floods of tears. This then makes her appear to be the antagonist, with her upsetting the blond girl as well as kissing the guy and then leaving. Basically this video shows an act of revenge towards the brown haired girls supposed boyfriend who is actually cheating on their people. Her kissing him in front of the blond girl he cheated with makes the blond feel like ‘the other woman', and also leaves the man with nothing.



It’s interesting that during this whole video, the guy appears passive to being the good or bad character of the plot. However it is his actions of kissing both girls in the first place that this has all lead to, so generally he should be viewed as the antagonist. However this purposely seems not to be the main focus of the video, as the director intended for the girls to be the main source of the problem.



As an influence to my own work, I found this very useful in the differentiating of characters and the directors intended representation. Therefore for my music video narrative, I aim for the main male character to be the protagonist. In contrast, I want the female character to be the antagonist, with this only being revealed half way through the narrative. As she obviously cheats with another guy, it could be argued who out of the two cheating on the main male character is the antagonist. From one perspective it could be the second male being the one taking the female away from the other man. However it could also be the female’s choice to go off with the other man and leave her boyfriend.



With these two possibilities, I have decided to keep the girl the antagonist in the relationship as it is her motives of going off with another guy that caused the breakup. The person she cheats with will then appear passive (much like the make figure in the Underdog video) as he was only an intended catalyst in the main couples breakup. Also as the shot of her boyfriend walking in on them two cheating will be in 'her house' it is therefore understandable that she is the wrong-doer in this relationship.



As representation of males and females go, I wanted to go against the usual conventions of the male being the dominant figure and the one that cheats on someone.  I feel this is over played and taking this view would give an interesting alternate perspective on the norm. Also in comparison to the underdog video, I want the blond male to be the one to be sympathised with rather than the brunet, therefore showing my music video challenges conventions and creates individuality in my representation as a director.