Narrative Analysis of Pop/Rock Genre

The Script – For the First Time

Within the first forty seconds, we are introduced to the main singer (Hero) and a main girl who we assume will be the (Princess) which relates to Propp’s theory. The way the editing jump cuts from the scene on the left to the scene on the

right just as the lyrics begin suggests a link between the two characters.

We are then introduced to the girl’s boyfriend which

is quite entropic for a music video as the main singer is usually in the

narrative.

There is a sense of a journey and a quest by the shots of the

motorbike and the link between New York and her home, Dublin as

seen from the postcard. The audience will sympathize with the

girl as she is clearly upset and missing home.

There is a mixture between good and bad emotions in this video and this relates to Levis Strauss’ theory. The

audience are likely to sympathize with the girl as she is clearly missing home and is upset and it looks like she is the good person and the boyfriend is also a reason for

her being upset as they appear to be falling out and she flinches away from him in the beginning so the audience

will take sides with the girl as they take pity on her.

They are many shots in this music video, especially at the beginning which clearly shows there is a problem to be resolved. In the girl’s life in terms of her missing home

and their relationship. From Barthes’ theory, we can tell that this intrigues the audience and keeps their attention

and is called The Enigma Code which relates to the audience attention being grabbed by the fact that they

are intrigued by the need to solve a problem.

The music video is visually exciting with varying shot types and effects and includes some levels of entropy. For example, the girl is writing a postcard home which seems happy and positive but she is upset and it is clear that she is missing home so as the shot is edited from the happy postcard to her upset face, the audience is surprised and

it is unexpected.