Textual analysis based on Goodwin’s theory

Textual analysis based on Goodwin’s theory

Links between visuals and lyrics

This song is sung by Bruno mars, the song is called ‘just the way you are’, and it was produced in 2010 and sold millions of copies. Furthermore, in the music video there are a number of relationships between the visuals and lyrics. This can be

visibly seen throughout which makes it easier to analyse. An example is when Mars sings the words "her hair, her hair” and then a picture of the woman's head appears on the screen and the hair in the image moves, which brings the audience's attention directly to her hair, linking it with the lyrics being sung. One more example of this is when Mars sings the lyrics "and when you smile", an image of the woman smiling is made from what looks like tape from a recorder or something. This is a clear indication/link between the lyrics and the visuals of the song.

Link between music and visuals
Throughout the music video there a number of links between the music and visuals. The first one that I noticed was at the beginning which is before Bruno mars starts actually singing. What you hear is a beat of a drum and then on the screen there is an image of a drum being flicked to the beat appears on the screen. This is a link between the music and visuals here as what is seen on the screen is perfectly in time with the music playing in the background. The last link that I spotted was seen more than once as it is shown a number of times. There are images of Bruno Mars which has been made up of the tape that was seen before singing to the lyrics of the song. This is a relationship between music and lyrics as Mars' mouth is lip singing the lyrics at the exact time as they are being sung and this is seen more than once.

Male gaze theory

Within this music video there are two noticeable connotation of Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory. Moreover, the first one is at the beginning of the song when the camera is positioned at the woman's upper body and then it tilts up towards her face. This is stereotypical as this is suggesting that men always look at a woman’s chest area first and then look at their face. It is also supports the idea that there is a male gaze theory shown within this music video. The second example of this in the video is when there is a shot from behind the woman of her getting up from the chair to move somewhere else. The camera is positioned so the audience can see the rear end of the woman and you can clearly see that this has been done on purpose. This is suggesting that men always at certain features of a woman rather than their face. This suggests that there is use of male gaze theory is this video as they think this will please the male audience who watch this however they do not take into account people that do not follow the stereotype.

 

 

Iconography

Iconography, there are two examples throughout the video. Firstly , we see Bruno wearing a hat, he wears this hat throughout the whole video. This is seen in almost every music video he is in. this becomes apparent after you watch about three of his music videos. This is therefore iconography as it is recognised in most of his videos and people know this as it is pointed out a lot. Moreover, the second example isn't shown until later in the music video. However, this is to do with him playing the piano. This is also iconography as it becomes something that he constantly does in all of his videos

 

 

Demands from record label
Record labels when producing a music video want to make as much money as possible therefore the will do everything they can to ensure the most money is made. Moreover, there are two demands from the record label in this video. The first one is that there are constant close-ups of Mars throughout the video. This is done because he is the artist, and they want him to be shown as much as possible so that everyone knows he is the main man and he is the most important person in the video. Moreover, the next one is that there are quite a few close-ups of the woman in the video, which is the woman who is believed to be Bruno’s crush/partner. This is done because the song is describing this woman, and close-ups are needed so the audience can see what she looks like and how when Mars describes her.