Analysis of Music Video
The music video that I will be analysing is Lonely Digger by Caravan Palace. I came across this song accidentally while browsing youtube and immediately I was impressed by the animation, thus I thought that it would be a good idea to try and analyse the video. Firstly I must argue that in the present there are a myriad of music genres that fuse into each other in such a way that they overlap and sometimes distinguishing one from another is extremely tedious, nonetheless, this song in particular could be categorised as Electro Swing since it has influences from swing and jazz but combines them with House, Hip-Hop and EDM to make it easier to consume for the modern listener.
Before proceeding, you can watch the video for yourself:
So, now that you have watched this, there are a few things that immediately stand out. For instance, the characters are all animals, but straying away from the blatantly obvious, there is a sense of exclusivity when the trio of cats enter the club, needing to be checked by the bouncer. In some way this music video is just one of the thousands that play on people's dreams and desires of the party life. Furthermore, another common trope that it uses is 'sex sells' by having the female animals be very clearly voluptuous and wearing revealing clothing. The tension between the gang of cats and dogs must also be addressed; the fight is foreshadowed by the mere breed of animal and condemned to happen as a sort of struggle for power after the dirty looks they give each other. When the fight finally breaks out the scenes are very explicitly gory, portraying mostly predators clawing and biting at each other as a means to assert power and get the glory of victory. This could be interpreted as a criticism of violence leading nowhere as the only survivors at the end were those who did not instigate any aggression.
In regards of portrayal of gender it is also very clear that the female animals are there for the consumption of male animals, the former being relegated to the role of strippers and/or eye-candy. The female animals, especially the stripper are shown as being completely oblivious. Not only that but they are prey such as zebras and antelopes meanwhile the male animals, as stated previously, are for the most part predators. This establishes a power imbalance between both, making us see the females as docile and weak sex objects and the males as powerful, aggressive 'hunters'.
So in conclusion gender roles come heavily into play in this video, showing negative stereotypes in both portrayals but also errs on the side of abusing the male gaze (like putting human breasts on the female animals like what to heck?). Also, it gives a very negative view of society as some kind of violence-ridden chaos.
Before proceeding, you can watch the video for yourself:
So, now that you have watched this, there are a few things that immediately stand out. For instance, the characters are all animals, but straying away from the blatantly obvious, there is a sense of exclusivity when the trio of cats enter the club, needing to be checked by the bouncer. In some way this music video is just one of the thousands that play on people's dreams and desires of the party life. Furthermore, another common trope that it uses is 'sex sells' by having the female animals be very clearly voluptuous and wearing revealing clothing. The tension between the gang of cats and dogs must also be addressed; the fight is foreshadowed by the mere breed of animal and condemned to happen as a sort of struggle for power after the dirty looks they give each other. When the fight finally breaks out the scenes are very explicitly gory, portraying mostly predators clawing and biting at each other as a means to assert power and get the glory of victory. This could be interpreted as a criticism of violence leading nowhere as the only survivors at the end were those who did not instigate any aggression.
In regards of portrayal of gender it is also very clear that the female animals are there for the consumption of male animals, the former being relegated to the role of strippers and/or eye-candy. The female animals, especially the stripper are shown as being completely oblivious. Not only that but they are prey such as zebras and antelopes meanwhile the male animals, as stated previously, are for the most part predators. This establishes a power imbalance between both, making us see the females as docile and weak sex objects and the males as powerful, aggressive 'hunters'.
So in conclusion gender roles come heavily into play in this video, showing negative stereotypes in both portrayals but also errs on the side of abusing the male gaze (like putting human breasts on the female animals like what to heck?). Also, it gives a very negative view of society as some kind of violence-ridden chaos.
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