[DF] Deconstruction - Music Video (4)

Representation

Blink-182 - 'Feeling This' (LaChapelle, 2003)

How is the band represented?

The band is represented as youthful, energetic and rebellious, and thus their star image of this is reinforced. This video can also be said to be a continuation of their metanarrative in that it follows the same youthful energy and rebellious nature seen throughout their previous videos. This may be considered strange, however, as the album it is from is often seen as an evolution to a much more mature sound, while the video does not seem to have progressed as such. This helps to sell their product as it may serve to 'ease' fans into their more mature style, through a familiar video. On the other hand, the core concept and narrative of the video may be considered a more serious topic - that of oppression in society - and therefore a maturity in their thinking.

Still of the final shot of the video, showing the band

How are different social groups represented in the video?

There are two main types of people shown in this video - the oppressed teenage students, and the oppressive teachers. The teachers are shown to be more like prison staff, as can be seen by their costume and non-verbal language in their stern, controlling actions and shock at rebellion. The students are shown to be rebellious in their costume as they strip their uniform, representing a freeing from oppression. Their angry, uncontrolled and energetic actions bring a link between them and the band, causing the audience to sympathise with them, and see them as the same group.


The teacher in guard uniform wielding a baton and aggressive non-verbal language


What is the ideological discourse?

Perhaps the most obvious ideological discourse is the negative representation of authority. The school is shown as a prison, with the teachers as prison staff, suggesting that they are unneccesarily oppressing the youth. This reinforces the dominant ideology of anti-authoritarian ideals (and stereotypes) in youths.


Femininity is also shown to great extent. In the video, women tend to be commodified, and this is done in many ways. Firstly, their costume is almost always just their underwear. Secondly, and to highlight this, the camera work emphasises their feminine features through dismembering close-ups of their breasts, and many of the women in the video seductively touch or stroke themselves - 'the feminine touch'. It is also a man who initiates the rebellion. Furthermore, all the women in the video are the stereotypical idea of a woman in terms of figure - thin body, large breasts - however the hairstyles seen are perhaps more different than expected, although this may be to show that they are teenagers.

Medium close-up showing a dismemberment of a female in the video

In relation to Richard Dyer's two paradoxes (outlined in 'Stars' (1998)) that the star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary, and that the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer to create an incomplete, incoherent and enigmatic star image, we can see both of these at work in this video. The band are ordinary in that they are grouped with one of the social groups within the video - the rebellious teenagers - and thus are relatable, however they are extraordinary because the whole situation is highly exaggerated to make its point, and is therefore unbelievable, or 'extraordinary'. The band are also shown to be present by their actual prescence in the video performing, but absent as they are in a cage and in an exaggerated situation, and therefore not in 'reality'.