This video can be understood using a
structuralist perspective, using a Todorovian narrative analysis we can see
that there is a three act structure. The first act is when she finds the book
and gets the publishing deal, she seems to seek and enjoy the fame, so this is
the equilibrium. Act two consists of her putting on a play of her story to
fame, within the play when the publisher looks at her book and red lighting
appears, inciting a warning to the disequilibrium, then we see the play repeat
itself- a play within a play. The new equilibrium comes into action quite late,
the actors and audience turn into trees right at the end, this brings us back
to the begin of when she starts in a forest, and Bjork’s happy again J, her
struggle has been resolved. This conventional three act structure drives the
audience’s anticipation and our desire to watch the end, because mainstream
audiences universally always seek ideological closure and a happy resolution.
The returning back to a forest setting makes it have a circular narrative, this
gives the audience closure because she is happy again like in the beginning.
Wider intertextual narratives can also
help us understand the video. The video builds upon films to do with American
Hollywood and exploitation (King Kong, Fight club etc.); films where books are
pivotal in the story line (Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code etc.); films involving
broken/destructive relationships (The Shining, Gone Girl etc.); films where unknown
ordinary people get discovered as a star in Hollwood (Slumdog Millionaire, The
Hollywood Complex et.). Enabling the audience to interpret and respond to the
Todorovian narrative and the journey Bjork goes on, because they can reference
for example the over extravagant American Hollywood with e.g King Kong, they
could prefigure her downfall.
Prefiguring is one of Barther’s (another
structuralist) concepts of narrative devices, it enables the audience to
foreshadow/anticipate the closure they expect, or give them
surprising/unexpected closure and keep them gripped to find out this out.
Another method used is symbolic devices, the book is one of the most obvious of
these. As her story develops and she gains more fame, the book increases in
size, this could symbolise her ego or alternatively her fame. Therefore this
intertwines with the narrative strand of American Hollywood discovering unknown
talent, when she’s unknown her ego is small, when she has fame her ego is
bigger. Moreover this book is also an enigma code that the audience want to see
an answer to, because of the fast paced editing accompanied by the ludicrousness
of its size, connoting distress and her becoming overwhelmed, the audience
start to anticipate her downfall and want to see closure to this. Moreover
camera shots transition from many point of view shots to wider handheld shots,
this also helps the idea of Hollwood changing her suggesting she’s becoming
consumed by it. Trains/transport and black and white filters are used to incite
ellipsis and a sense of movement, these symbolic devices drive the story
forward and construct narrative movement. Once the black and white and the
trains/cars are no longer seen it is suggesting that we are now in real time,
whereas previously she was telling us a flashback, this could be when
anticipation is at its climax because the audience feel that they will soon get
closure/an ending and have all these enigma and proairetic codes they want
answers to.
The clear 4/4 beat drives the music, and
the regularity of the beat creates a cadence that builds our expectation of
closure, the regularity of the beat creates a cadence that promotes audiences
anticipation. By synchronising many of the cuts to the beat of the song, the
music video reinforces the pivotal and central nature of the musical cadence,
further building anticipation. At the same time, the song structure and
lyrics/rhyme play with the audience’s expectation: the song follows a structure
of verse-verse-chorus-verse-verse-chorus-verse. The absence of a middle eighth
surprises the audience, because audiences anticipate a particular structure,
the final singular verse which refutes the other expected structure which would
usually have two verses and the removal of the middle eighth adds surprise and
a lack of closure. This structure therefore is a proairetic code that the
audience don’t get to see closure to, propagating Bjork’s motif of going
against the norm/mainstream and being arty/different. This is perpetuated by
the absence of repetition of many choruses, which pop songs have to get a lot
of anticipation and therefore a lot of catchy parts the audience can sing along
to, which is one reason why they are popular because they are easy to remember.
However the two choruses we do hear contain ostinato and clear repetition
(Leave
me now, return tonight) so are still built upon anticipation and closure which
drives the song forward. The lyrics use an alternative rhyme scheme which forms
anticipation because the audience expect a rhyme at a certain place, therefore
this closure of the rhyme is anticipated and providing a periodic sense of
return. But the use of half rhymes and internal rhymes oddly placed contradict
the sense of anticipation because there’s no clear and conventional pattern
used with them. The repeated refrains and choruses make up for this because
these then reinforce the anticipation and closure again.
The music video also utilizes the use of
different narrative units to build anticipation and closure, these are
revisited through the text, building a complex structure. The narrative builds
a cumulative sense fame becoming too much for her leading to her downfall, this
is implied throughout the video (The book and its increasing size; big extravagant
city; her increase in popularity and the presence of people surrounding her; the
play within a play). The variety of narrative threads (nature; relationships;
theatre; Hollywood; the book) are woven throughout the text and intertwine with
each other. These are small narrative units that change and develop across the
video, in many ways the narrative units are symbolic of the story and its
outcome, the only unit which spans across the whole video is the concept of
nature and presence of trees. This connotes a struggle of natural balances therefore
making the audience foreshadow her downfall, because all the other narrative
units are building up to her downfall and indicating her becoming overwhelmed,
for example her love interest is all good in the beginning but the they beak up
later on. Therefore these narrative units are pushing the story forward and acting
as a proairetic code that the audience want to see closure to. Also this is critiquing the
celebrity/fame/ the labyrinth and confusion of the modern music industry and
the losing of one's sense of self because not only is the video implying that
fame etc leads to her downfall. All these narrative units come to an abrupt end
at some point in the video, this could be suggesting Bjorks mid life crisis, as
it is implying that all the good things in her life have ended therefore for
she lacks a sense of purpose and meaning. This could also imply the ’15 mintes
of fame’ reality of Hollwood and celebrity life.
Annotated lyrics and how they demonstrate cadence
‘Bachelorette’
by Bjork
(Verse)
I'm
a fountain of blood
In
the shape of a girl
You're
the bird on the brim
Hypnotized
by the Whirl
(Verse)
Drink
me, make me feel real
Wet
your beak in the stream
life
internal rhyme
Game we're playing is Alternative rhyme
Love is a two way dream Assonance/half rhymes
(Chorus)
Leave
me now, return tonight
Tide
will show you the way
If
you forget my name
You will go astray
Like
a killer whale
Trapped
in a bay
(Verse)
I'm
a path of cinders
Burning
under your feet
You're
the one who walks me
I'm
your one way street
(Verse)
I'm
a whisper in water
Secret
for you to hear
You are the one who grows distant
When
I beckon you near
(Chorus)
Leave
me now, return tonight
The
tide will show you the way
If
you forget my name
You
will go astray
Like
a killer whale
Trapped
in a bay
(Verse)
I'm
a tree that grows hearts
One
for each that you take
You're the intruder hand
I'm
the branch that you break
Hum-yeah!
Different Narrative strands visually demonstrated
