Deconstruction of 2 Contrasting Music Videos

The two music videos I am deconstructing are from the songs “Pain for Pleasure” by Sum 41, and “In Da Club” by 50 Cent. 50 Cent is a Hip Hop rapper whereas Sum 41 are a punk/metal band, therefore not only do their videos contrast dramatically, their music does as well.

“Pain for Pleasure” by Sum 41 is actually quite different to a lot of the songs that the band play, for one, it’s quite short, only around the 2 minute mark, and secondly, it is played in quite a comedic sense, as the song is similar to the 80’s metal sound, it is quite clear to see that the band are almost mocking the style and performance techniques used around that era. This could almost be referred to as intertextuality, only the references they are making (80’s music as a whole) wouldn’t really be considered as a form of media or as a media text.

The fact that the video contains slight similarities to intertextuality allows it to fit in almost perfectly with one of the points from John Stewart’s theory of music videos, this being “incorporating, raiding and reconstructing”. The video is incorporating stage techniques that were well known in the 80’s such as swinging their guitars around in synchronisation, and also very over-dramatic facial expressions and body language. It also incorporates the costumes and props that are reminiscent of the 80’s, such as the provocative, tight leather clothing (some containing explicit messages), the over-the-top usage of wind blowing against them to make their extremely huge wigs dreamily float behind them in a hard-rock fashion. Sum 41 are then raiding the whole ideology of 80’s music videos and performance techniques. Firstly, when watching the video it is quite clear to see that the band are not taking it too seriously, they are laughing between each other and generally seem to be having a lot of fun. This is different to common 80’s music videos as the bands always seem to be very serious, even when they are performing quite wildly. Also, Sum 41 are performing with their backs to the audience in the video, and the audience themselves are actually dressed to the punk/rock style of the modern day. This would be extremely unusual for an 80’s music video; it would be like the band facing the camera, playing music with their backs to an extremely large audience of people dressed in clothes iconic of the 60’s. Sum 41 then reconstruct the 80’s music video style by having only themselves as the characters who are getting in to the dressing up stages of the video. Also, normally in an 80’s video where it is just showing the band playing, the stage would be in a huge stadium, where the band would be performing to 100’s of thousands of screaming, idolizing fans. In the Sum 41 video on the other hand, they are playing to a group of around 100 people, and they are standing on top of a half-pipe skate ramp.

It is quite safe to say that this video conforms to some stereotypes when regarding age representation. Sum 41 (at the time of shooting the video) were around their mid 20’s, and the audience shown in the video all seem to be around 18 – 30 years old. It is quite a common stereotype that males of around this age could seem to be quite immature, this point is proven from the whole ethos of the music video – to make a mockery of the 80’s style, mainly for comedic purposes. There is also that sense of rebellion that can be perceived from the band and also the audience. The audience members are dressed up to fit their “punk/rock” persona. Again, the general message of this genre is pretty much “We don’t feel the need to obey the rules of modern society”, and Sum 41 show that they also match this message, purely from playing loud music in a public place (even if it is a skate park). Similarly, even though nowadays skateboarding is slowly more and more being linked to the ‘RnB’ genre, it mainly lies within the roots of punk rock (primarily in the 80’s), making it ideal that the band performs their song on top of a half-pipe.

Now we come to 50 Cent’s music video. Most non-political rappers of the modern day like to promote a message and (to put it bluntly) it is as follows – “Money, girls and more money”. This is pretty much all that they rap about (other than the odd racist remark). 50 Cent is no different, and that is quite clearly shown in his music video for “In Da Club”, which mainly consists of shots of him working out, flashing cash and sitting down with about 25 half naked women crowding round him.

Rap and hip hop videos tend to link to some of the better known music video theories much more easily. For instance, this video links to John Stewart’s theory as there are a lot of close up shots of 50 Cent, whether it be his face or his ripped torso that all audience members wish they had. There are also a lot of visual references to fashion, quite a lot of the time there are ECU’s of the brands on 50’s clothing, especially when he is wearing clothes that he has designed (G Unit clothing). Also, a lot of the time in the video is spent watching 50 chat up women in what we can only presume is highly spoken of club, where he shows off his money, and his diamond encrusted jewellery. This clearly allows the audience to have more access to him than just a simple stage performance would, therefore allowing many factors (including Mise-en-Scene) to be used as an emphasis for an lifestyle to desire.

Then we come to Sigmund Freud’s theory of voyeurism. 50 Cent has cleverly chosen a large selection of extremely beautiful women to appear in his music video. Not only do they appear to ooze through the swarms of people in the club to get to 50, they do so exuding elegance and a clear knowledge of the fact that every male in the club is looking at them, (and did I mention, that they aren’t wearing many clothes!?). This is an unbelievably good reason for any teenager and above male to watch the video, as they can just happily sit there for 4 minutes and 14 seconds, watching incredibly good looking women dance around with no clothes on, whilst listening to a fairly generic rap song, with a repetitive bass and drum drone in the background. This point also links with Laura Mulvey’s theory that because film makers are generally male, women are purposefully used solely for display in the video. Another point she makes is that women in music videos are often objectified. They are mostly seen as a no-clothed, dancing sex symbol, instead of a human being.

50 Cent then fits perfectly into the categories expressed within Dyer’s theory that a star/celebrity is purely an image shown in such a way to satisfy an audience. In a sense, they are a form of media themselves. This is quite obvious when it comes to rap music and also rock music, as the generic styles are very easy to incorporate into anything, making the dress code and actions very susceptible to uses for intertextuality purposes. 50 Cent himself has been made fun of many times through other people’s music videos. This theory clearly explains that what the star is made to look like, is probably nothing like what they actually are in real life. It seems very hard to believe that 50 Cent would walk into a club in real life, throw some money and some watches around and suddenly there would be a queue of women just waiting to be with him. The theories that have been used here are quite detailed. Many of the sub categories fit into the theories of Andrew Goodwin’s and Steve Archer’s also.