Analysis - Genre, Language, Narrative, Represntation

The XX - Islands



Genre:

I would say this video is of an alternative rock/indie pop genre, this is apparent as it is set in what looks like an expensive studio, however unlike artists in the pop genre the focus is more on the lyrics and the style of the video opposed to the appearence of the band, the dancers in the video actually draw attention away from the band. The dark clothing and the dark lighting show that the genre is alternative rock. The fact that everyone in the video is wearing similar clothing in the same colour suggests they have been styled, however their look is different and edgier than people of the pop genre. The darkness of the setting with the illuminating light through the x's gives a magical and mystical atmosphere to the video. Furthermore it is apparent that they are of an indie genre as they have their logo in the central background this indicates that they are not well known and are trying to get people familiar with them. It is strange however that the band are not playing their instruments, for artists of this genre instruments are almost always displayed in their music videos, you could say that the xx are therefore breaking away from the typical stereotype.

Language:

The editing in this video is repetitive which is typical of the genre, even the band seem to be tired of the dancing around them, it begins with a close up of the X and slowly and smoothly zooms out, the video this creates a monotonous tone but at the same time engages the audience and makes them interested. The audience also think they know exactly what to expect, however this is wrong as everyone minus two people begin to disappear as the music changes. Also at the end of the video the bright lights become flames and the set looks completely different from the start. The editing is uncommon as repetition is rarely used to that extent, the idea of the repetitive dance is quirky which is common in their genre.

Narrative:

I believe the narrative structure is a mix of linear and non linear as the video keeps going back to the start however as the video goes on it is evident that little things are constantly being changed in the video. There is a distruption just over half way in the video when the first dancer leaves, this sets off a chain reaction as after this the people in the video leave one by one until there are just two. There seems to be no equilibrium as nothing is solved, instead things just get worse and worse.The XX are observers and narrators opposed to being participants as they tell the story through the lyrics and observe the participants who are the dancers. Furthermore it is evident that the dancers are also narrators as they help the audience understand the meaning of the lyrics.

Representation:

In this video there seems to be no direct representation, as the video consists of dancers repeating themselves again and again. However age is used to represent that young love doesn't last as everybody in the video is young and the lyrics "I've been found so i'll never explore" contrasts completely with the video as the dancers one by one leave their partners. This may be used to represent young people as niave and gullible about love. Furthermore the fact that everyone is white means that ethnicity is not shown to be diverse this may have something to do with the genre as most people who listen to indie music are of this ethnic origin.