Sunday, 5 January 2014
Music Video analysis - MGMT 'Kids'
The opening image features an intense clash of neon green
against an orange background of flames; it is accompanied by a dramatic and
almost tragic score of violins. This is then overlapped with what appears to be
extracts from a police or emergency related radio system. The entire
composition of the shot depicts an overwhelming impact on the audience almost immediately.
The connotations of fire in this circumstance, may represent danger, the
domination of the flames in the shot suggest possible helplessness. The flames
practically engulf the screen.
Along
with the sound of violins the fire may also imply the idea of destructiveness;
the sound of emergency station in the foreground reinforces the idea of
something negative happening. Overall the shot effectively attempts to conjure
a strong emotional response. The shot combines things that we associate with
danger or death and juxtaposes it with the band’s name, in green neon lights.
This could have been done to create a possible contrast between life and death;
the green representing fertility and nature whilst the red flames represent
hazard and devastation
When the previous track finishes the screen fades to black. It is followed abruptly with the sound of children counting down from 5. The numbers shown in the foreground of the shot resemble that which would be found in a children’s television show, this placed on top of images of children in the background creates a strong contrast from the previous images the audience have just seen. To place seemingly innocent imagery against such a powerful one, raises the question of how the two will link together.
The next shot is a close up of a toddler in a large crib.
The outside of the crib is completely dark with the exception of what appear to
be claws reaching for the child. This reinforces the quote from previous shots,
and merges the two opposite images of childhood innocence and the evil of a
monster. The noticeably large crib resembles the bars of a prison cell,
suggesting not only that the child is trapped but that he is immune to the
outside world, he is protected from the dangers around him. This could imply
that childhood is itself oblivious to the evil.
In the proceeding shot we see a low angle and possibly a
point of view shot of the ‘monster’ characters.
The concept of evil has been embodied into the typical image of what
society deems hideous or terrifying. The low angle shot reinforces an order of
stature or power, the child made helpless by the towering entities that stand
above him. The imagery on screen may be reminiscent of what most children fear
growing up, the notion of ‘monsters’ that come out to get us at night.
In the next sequence, we see a complete juxtaposition of
atmosphere. The child being cradled by his mother creates a sense of security.
The matron figure is what children are accustomed to growing up; they are seen
as the protector which is why the child remains in a calm state when around
her. The child is also in the comfort of his own home, an environment he feels
comfortable in.
When the mother takes the child into the streets, the
monsters we saw in previous shots return in the form of ‘civilians’. In this
sequence the mother seems completely immune or oblivious to the sight of the
‘monsters’ which raises the implication that it is only the child that can see
the evil. There are different interpretations we can take from this, one being
that the child is afraid of the public in general, strangers he’s not familiar
with yet. There are more complex ideas that this video could suggest, it could
be a representation of how the innocence of childhood is taken away when fully
grown. These ‘monsters’ could represent the corruption in society and how when
you reach adulthood you become tainted yourself.
When in the car, the child the car seat eerily resembles
this idea of a prison cell, there are bars on either side of the child
suggesting once again that he is trapped. The clothing of the child also features bars, this compliments the bars of the car seat and suggests a frequent theme of the child being imprisoned.
The video then pursues a completely different direction when
the child watches TV in the backseat of the car. Surreal imagery is shown to him through
the medium of television. The first shot in this next sequence is of a man with
the head of a wolf, he dances in front of an explosion of lucid colours. This
distortion of reality could be the only thing that has been projected to the child, essentially blurring his perception of what is real or not; if so, this theory is supported by the use of monsters constantly surrounding the child.
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