Theroists on Music Videos: Todorov

Todorov's narrative theory:

The theory that there are five stages in narrative structure-

* Equilibrium
* Disequilibrium (disruption)
* Recognition
* Reparation
* New equilibrium

Here is an example of this theory applied to a working example:

The View - Same Jeans (Official Music Video). Watch more top selected videos about: The View

The first shot illustrates the equilibrium of lead singer Kyle with dark lighting and a medium close up of him sleeping in bed.

The disruption occurs when someone knocks on the door calling his name and waking him up. This is illustrated with a close up on his face, and a shift in lighting and perspective giving the impression of morning light.

The recognition begins when we see a close up of Kyles legs (in jeans, which is also a link to the title of the song) as he gets out of bed, and he walks over to the curtains where a wide angle shot reveals him opening the curtains and looking out to the view of the morning, resulting in a change to bright lighting and the beginning of the music, signalling a start to the video.

The reparation is signalled by Kyle walking on stage to the gig he is performing at, finally completing the task he was woken up to do. With a drastic lighting change, to red strobe lights and a typical mise-en-scene of a bustling rock gig, with fast edits on beat and close ups of the band members. We then see Kyle come off stage and work his way through numerous house parties, with point of view shots, and a hand held camera. He walks the streets until he arrives back at his hotel.

The new equilibrium is restored as Kyle makes his way up to his room and we see him fall onto the bed illustrated in a slow motion wide shot, as he gets ready to go back to sleep.

The representation of male figures in the video is residual in the fact that men are viewed as slovenly creatures with poor hygiene and lazy tendencies, leading a hedonistic lifestyle of drugs rock and roll and parties, as well as the stereotypical 'rock and roll' band. Having a young white male construct the narrative is also typical of music videos, and therefore the video doesn't really challenge these residual stereotypes of gender, and the only emergent idea is that of the females in the crowd scene who are showed to be in the midst of the action being pushed and dancing wildly, as this view of 'moshing' is more commonly associated with men.