How useful are ideas about narrative in analysing music videos? Refer to CSP “Ghost Town” and “Letter to the Free” in your answer.

Narrative in a music video is important because it brings structure and meaning and a story to the video. Todorov said how each narrative should follow a structure of equilibrium, disruption and then new equilibrium. This just gives the narrative story excitement and meaning. Vladimir Propp talks about how each story has 7 different character types which correspond to the story. Lastly Lev Strauss binary opposites and how in narrative there are binary opposites within the characters.

Looking at the music video ghost town, it has an equilibrium, disruption and a new equilibrium. It starts with the band driving along the road, set in east London, giving off a ghostly atmosphere. The middle shows the band suddenly drive out of control, representing the employment state, and how it has become a large problem, as unemployment rates in the UK were rising significantly. For the end of the music video, it shows the band throwing rocks along the water on the beach, representing the calmness that has been resonated, and how everything has returned back to normal, suggesting the economic state has retuned back to normal.

For letter to the free, the equilibrium would be the man playing the drums on his own at the beginning, the disruption would then be everyone else joining in, and then the new equilibrium would be the man singing and playing the piano on his own.

Linking back to the question, narrative is useful when analyzing music videos, as it allows the audience to capture the perceptions and messages. As using just a speaker to convey a message can be difficult, so applying narrative to music videos is important.