Textual Analysis of Music Video (Arctic Monkeys)

Narative and Themes:

The narrative is set right at the beginning of the music video when we hear non diegetic dialogue, this immediately grabs the audiences attention.

In the music video we follow the narrative of a female prostitute living in a poor, urban area and how she makes money from prostitution to survive. We also follow some parts of her 'pimps' narrative where we see him handling her and dealing with the men he's setting the female up with. A common theme running through this video is prostitution and run down urban life styles. We see this through the use of the lyrics. For example the lyric 'scumbag' is quite derogatory and describes someone quite near the bottom of a social ladder. This relates to the video as the female characters actions (prostitution) and her lack of cleanliness and money connote the idea of a 'scumbag'. Male dominance is illustrated through out this video an example ive picked out is where the male pushed the female character around, grabbing her arm and even stealing food off of her plate. The idea that he is her 'pimp' also shows an unjustified male dominance. This is a stereotypical representation of gender.

Visual codes:

The music video takes place in a run down urban area with connotations of poverty and a lack of hygiene and success. The characters are represented as miserable wearing dull grey and brown colours which are quite negative.

An interesting shot to mention at the start and end of the music video is where the female character looks directly into the camera breaking the fourth wall. It's only common for the artist to look directly at the camera in music videos and as she isn't the artist this is quite interesting and I believe it is used in an attempt for the audience to connect with her character and feel sympathy.

Audience:
would say that the audience of this music video are most likely young adults between the ages of 18 and 27 and they would have to be relatively mature as the video deals with serious topics. I don't think that the video is gender specific as whilst a male audience would most likely be watching for the artist, a female audience could relate and feel sympathy for the female character.

I don't believe that Todrov's narrative theory is applicable to this particular music video. The female character clearly doesn't start with a state of equilibrium and I don't believe she ends with one. The audience is thrown into the ongoing 'disruption' of this woman's life and are pulled out of it just as suddenly without witnessing anything being resolved.