Taylor Swift - Textual Analysis
- 1. Blank Space is sang by Taylor Swift and directed by Joseph Kahn, it was filmed in only 3 days and has reached over 1 billion views on YouTube. This song is a pop song and it has many characteristics associated with this genre pop. This video includes conventions of music videos. One convention it includes is the excessive use of costume and location change, in this video Taylor changes costumes around 20 times and they range from formal wear to casual wear, this allows the audience to have a versatile view of their relationship. The story/narrative of this video is a love story which is common of music videos, however this video does challenge normal conventions as it is very graphic in the way that it shows the breakdown of their relationship. Another convention that is typical of pop music videos is the lip syncing performance, this is used alongside the narrative as this allows there to be a storyline created but also enables the audience to see the artists performing. Taylor Swift – Blank Space
- 2. There is a relationship between the use of narrative and lyrics in the video. For example the lyrics ‘because were young and were reckless’ is reinforced by her carving their names into the tree as this has connotations of being young as this is something thought to be done only by children yet it also has direct reference to the lyrics ‘and I’ll right your name’ as she is writing his name next to hers on the tree. The lyrics ‘screaming, crying, perfect storm’ is supported through use of the medium close ups to show them arguing, this is cleverly done as the use of lip syncing performance and the characters acting shows the lyrics being involved in their actual argument in the video, almost as if using the lyrics are being used as a form of diegetic sound. The lyrics ‘they’ll tell you in insane’ is emphasised by the mise-en-scene, the props including a knife, axe and a t-shirt which is on fire all reinforce the fact the she’s ‘insane’ as acting this way in a relationship is something we would only associate with insanity, the low angle shot in when she is throwing the shirt down clarifies to the audience her power over the man in this video. However you could criticise this video as the narrative glamorises mental health issues and domestic violence to a young audience who are watching.
- 3. There is also a relationship between the music and the visuals. The video is cut to the beat and as the music gets slightly faster and deeper the video changes pace and direction. At the beginning the video is nice, the two characters are getting to know each other and are doing ‘lovey’ things like picnics, horse riding, dancing, painting and carving their names in the tree however as the song goes on the music gets slightly louder and deeper which is when things start to go wrong for the two characters. When using costume and location changes, it doesn’t always cut to another shot, for instance at 0.26 into the video it uses a medium close up to show her extending her arm, the next scene she is in, she is also making this gesture. This allows continuity in the video and could give the idea that before the drama there was stability in their relationship. In this video Taylor’s character is juxtaposed and is portrayed as both sweet and likeable and evil and insane. The company and director are trying to sell her as a spoilt rich girl but they are also trying to sell the ‘love story’ that goes wrong in this video; this has been used as it is a common storyline used in pop music videos. However, this video may appeal to women as usually in pop music videos, the man has all the power and it ‘controlling’ the women but in this it’s the other way around. This video relates to her previous videos such as Wildest Dreams and I Knew You Were Trouble as they both have a storyline of love and losing it.
- 4. Although there isn’t much there is intertextual reference used in this video, in the sequence of close up shots it uses straight cuts to cute between Taylors character and the male character, the use of mise-en-scene through props and acting creates almost a reference to the fairy-tale character ‘evil queen/wicked witch’. As in the films she is an antagonistic character it could portray how at first their relationship was a fairy tale but her jealously has taken over and allowed her to spoil everything, on the other hand it could be illustrating her domination and control over the man, which is deviating from other media texts (not just music videos) as usually women are objectified and shown as a piece of a game, whereas in this music video the female character in this video is the stronger, more dominant character. The video for Blank Space conforms to the structural aspects of typical pop videos as it uses a common story line of the love story however it also deviates as many, even the videos about break-ups, tend to miss out the arguments whereas this is a key focus for many parts of this music video.