Music Video Analysis 5

Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me

Genre: Country Pop, Teen pop

Relationship Between Visuals + Lyrics

This music video is Narrative based which means the lyrics and the visuals synchronize.  When taylor tries to confess her feeling for the boy next door she writes on a paper "I love you" but when she tries to show it to the boy he leaves.

When she sing "what you've been looking for has been here the whole time you know" she shows her while looking in the mirror.

Genre Characteristics 

This music video is a mix between country pop and teen pop. "You Belong With Me" shows the genre quite clear. Taylor Swift is playing a teenage girl who goes to school and she likes a boy who already has a popular girlfriend. 

The story follows typical teenage drama. The geeky girl protagonist a popular girl antagonist and a boy who creating this love triangle between the three. 

Intertextuality 

There is some intertextuality with the film "Mean Girls" which was a hit of 2004. In the movie the antagonist was a popular girl who had her own car and wears a lot go pink. In the music video the antagonist was wearing a pink top, black sunglasses with a pink inside and on a red car. 

This song was released in 2008, looking through the video I noticed some similarities with the music video which was released in 2007 by Avril Lavigne Girlfriend. Artists Avril Lavigne was very popular in mid 2000. She has released a number of albums but this song stood up particularly. It is a love triangle as well but with a twisted story which does not follow the stereotypes compared to Taylors'.

In the music video the antagonist was played by Avril Lavine as well as protagonist. The use of mise-en-scene made a huge difference between the two and made it look like completely different people. Taylor has herself for antagonist and protagonist as well using mise-en-scene such as clothing, pops such as cars and wigs.

Performance, Narrative and/or Concept?

This is a Narrative based video, we get a story where Taylor is the protagonist and she is also the antagonist playing a different character. 

It is a love triangle story, where she likes a boy who has a popular girlfriend. 

This story follows Todorov's 5 part Narrative Formula

1) A state of equilibrium at the outset (when Taylor is reading a book)

2) A disruption of equilibrium by some action (when Taylor sees his girlfriend)

3) A recognition that has been a disruption (She when she declines the invitation from the boy to go to the prom and he writes "Wish you were")

4) An attempt to repair the disruption (she takes her glasses of and decides to go to prom)

 

5) A reinstatement of the equilibrium (Taylor finds the boy and they kiss)

Looking/Mode of Address

In this music video there were a lot of "looking" references. Taylor looks directly into the camera when she wants to show the audience her feelings for example when she took her glasses of and looked directly into the camera to show her decision to go to the prom. 

When the two characters communicate throat writings they look into the camera to give the audience sense of connection. At the start Taylor was looking into the mirror and dancing wearing different types of cloth going from pyjamas, hippy, goth to ego. This created a connection between the audience. 

Audience in Video

All the audience in the video are teenagers, wearing prom cloths, jeans and t shirts. All the characters in the video are caucasian. As you may see in the photo there are not even one person of a colour. 

You may see the people in orchestra are all caucasian and even the football players.

Male Gaze

In this video we got shots of the antagonists body. Short skirts and tight tops. 

She is also wearing a lot of make up such as eyeliner, eyeshadow, lipstick and well done eyebrows. 

On the prom night the antagonist was wearing a red dress with cuts of the sides and lipstick which signifies danger at the same time love.