Music Video Analysis Considering Mulvery's Theory

This is a music video from the punk rock band Paramore for their song Misery Business.

Throughout the duration of the video there are many different shots and camera angels used. The shots that are most consistent though the video is of the lead singer, Haley Williams, the other main female character. The two are posed as two characters that are at opposite ends of a spectrum. The lead singer being a character on she side of all the students shown in the school and the other character being shown as being singled out, against everyone. The fact that both have many close up shots during the video is almost like they are challenging each other.

At one point of the video there is a shot of a group of cheer leaders, which leads on to clode ups of their upper legs. This converges with Mulvey's Theory of the male gaze as that shot is purely there to arouse the male audience and compel them to continue watching.

The main costumes in the video that are important is between the two main female characters. The lead singer is wearing dark clothes, jeans and trainers. Whilst the other female character is wearing a dress revealing alot of cleavage. The converges and subverts from Mulvey's theory as the female character in the dress is wearing that dress simply to gain male attention. this is further as there is a shot where she is walking down a hallway and one of the male students reacts and moves out of her way. Although this may show the female being dominant, the original concept of wearing provocative clothing for the pleasure of men reverts the dominance back to the men. Further more there is another shot in the video where she pushes a male with an arm in a sling, apparently broken, against a door. This once more displays dominance but she is only dominant over a male that has already been weakened by a broken arm.

The leads singers character wearing dark, almost male type clothing, with no distinguishing female characteristics. She also is the only female member of the band and she receives more time on screen than the other male band members. The video is mainly focused around her and in a way the male members of the band are objectified as they simply are playing instruments in the background. She has clearly shown dominance over the male members of the band emphasizes the narrative of the video.