Blink 182 digipak analysis
- 1. Blink-182 Digipak Analysis Holly Taylor
- 2. Front Cover The band blink-182 are a pop punk band who are synonymous with the “toilet humour” and exploring themes such as: relationships, high school, sexual exploits and themes of their own personal interests such as the lead singer Tom Delonge’s particular interest in aliens, which is shown in one of the tracks on the album. The target audience of the band is mainly teenagers aged from 15+, as older people are particularly interested in their music as well. However, the teenage demographic is their main target group as the themes of the songs that feature on this album include being angry at parents and relationships in the high school setting. The main cover star is a woman called Janine Lindemulder who at the time was an adult movie actress, this suggests straight away that the album will contain quite sexually gratified lyrics and themes but in humorous satirical manor as she is pulling on her nurse’s glove in a suggestive manor with quite a lascivious facial expression. The title of the album is called “Enema of the State” which is a humorous title as it is a play on words of the common title “Enemy of the State” this therefore further highlights the fact that the band are often mocking of other people etc through their music. The pulling of her latex glove is associated with the lewd humour of the band, as the title contains the word “enema” this is further highlighted by the nurse in a medium shot seductively pulling on her glove as the procedure requires the use of one and so they have used her to mock the whole idea of an “enema”. Her tattoos are also on show on her arm, which is a typical convention of the Punk/Alternative genre. Janine Lindemulder’s makeup is quite bright and lavish; her red lipstick makes her appear quite alluring and represents promiscuity, which is also seen with the flash of her red bra. A blink-182 badge is sewn onto her shirt adjacent to her cleavage, this draws the audience’s attention towards that area and so who the CD belongs to is established, but also as the badge is quite small in comparison to the main image, this suggests that the band is already well established within their fan base to go against typical conventions of having their name across the front of the album. The band’s name is in a red and white font, the red colour further relates to the sexual themes of the album and the tracks which feature on it. The title of the album does not feature on the front of the CD, this is unusual as the album therefore isn’t identifiable by its name. However, the band have chosen to not include the title on the front CD cover of the digipak, this is because the image has become iconic and the CD is easily recognisable through the image of Janine Lindemulder. There is a parental advisory sticker towards the bottom left of the CD cover, this therefore relates the album further with the pop punk genre which is synonymous with taboo language and themes.
- 3. Back of the digipak Main Image: The main image on the back of the digipak is quite large and takes up the majority of the space of the back of the album. The main image features the same cover star, however this time also features the band members involved in the narrative aspect of the artwork. A long shot of the band and the nurse helps to establish the setting and purpose of the band being at the nurse’s clinic. In this particular image, the nurse is perched on top of a black stool with her legs openly spread, this suggests a sexualised theme to the album and also objectifies women which is typical in the pop punk genre, this is also prevalent in a lyric from one of the tracks that feature on the album, Dumpweed- “I need a girl that I can train”. In the mise en scene, the nurse’s costume is a short white nurses’ dress, white sheer stockings and red latex looking high heels. The colour white connotates a sense of innocence and purity and so this is a juxtaposition with the sexual nature of the nurse’ costume and pose. The colour red has connotations of sexuality and therefore further highlights the sexual themes of some of the tracks on the album. She is featured in the foreground of the image, making her the most eyecatching when the audience looks at the back of the digipak. The nurse is also holding a large syringe which is quite a phallic symbol and therefore highlights the sexual nature of the album. The band: The band in the mise en scene are stood and sat in the background of the image, this suggests that the band don’t need to be in the foreground of the image as they are well established with their audience. In the background, the band member’s are all shirtless which creates a juxtaposition to the usual female objectification which is usually prevalent in the Pop punk genre, in particularly blink-182’s song lyrics such as in Dumpweed which features on this album: “I need a girl that I can train”. Instead, the males are objectified as well as the nurse but more so as they are cornered in the room by the female nurse and are partially naked. Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge are the main central focus of the back of the album which is interesting as they don’t feature at all on the front cover, this suggests that the band feel quite well established enough to not include a image of themselves on the cover, it is also a recurring feature of blink-182 albums, as the band have never featured on the front cover of any of their studio albums. In this particular shot, Tom Delonge’s and Travis Barker’s tattoos are visible which further establishes the pop punk genre. The only character to make direct address with the audience is the nurse, this creates a feeling that the nurse is letting the audience in on what should be a private matter which highlights the humorous aspect that blink- 182 include in their music. Tracklist etc: On the back of the album the tracklist features at the top of the back of the digipak, with the ongoing colour scheme of blue, white and red, which are all quite clinical colours and so further highlight the fact that their cover star is a nurse. Typically, a barcode, record label and list of people involved in the making of the CD are featured, which is a typical feature of a digipak.
- 4. CD,colour scheme and inside. The CD is multi-coloured and has a psychedelic aspect to it, this relates to the themes of drug use being prevalent in the particular genre. On the CD features the band’s name and logo and so their brand is promoted to their audience. Along the rim of the CD is a load of symbols such as crosses that again reinforce the nurse/medical theme of the digipak. This colour scheme is prevalent throughout the digipak of blink-182’s Enema of the State album. The overall colour scheme has a clinical theme towards it, however the colours could also connotate other things. Such as the blue colour, light blue is associated with health, healing, tranquillity, understanding, and softness which further reinforces the clinical theme of the album. The red colour is particularly bright and lavish and is seen on the cover stars lips and shoes, this colour connotates joy, sexuality, passion, sensitivity, and love. The sexual aspect is further highlighted in the themes of the tracks on the CD such as the song “Dysentary Gary”. The white colour connotates: White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity, this is juxtaposed however with the lewd themes of the songs about sexual experiences on the album. This particular image is a long shot of a group of men in a line against some lockers the line- up contains the three members of blink-182 in boxers and socks which suggests a sense of immaturity and therefore links in with the narrative of quite a humorous album. The males on this part of the digipak all have conventions of members of the Pop/Punk genre, as each of them have tattoos and quite Punk rock hairstyles, therefore identifies the genre of the CD. Mark Hoppus is dressed in the most revealing outfit in the black speedo shorts; this is another humorous aspect of the digipak and also identifies him as one of the key members of the band. Tom Delonge is wearing white shorts with a red heart on the back; this again identifies him as one of the key members and is again humorous, given the underlying subject of the nurse on the front cover. The setting of this part of the digipak is at a High School in front of a set of lockers, this suggests that the tone of the album and the tracks are going to be centered on experiences at High School, which again suggests immaturity within the band and the themes of their music.