"There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics
key lines may play a part in the visuals associated with the song but very rarely will a music video simply illustrate the lyrics"
-Andrew Goodwin
The song is about the effects of sex and its consequences. I am using this music video as I believe its conventions are portrayed effectively, and reflects Andrew Goodwins theory perfectly- as it "illustrates, amplifies" and "contradicts" the lyrics effectively. There are two main characters to this video The woman who we are introduced to first, and her husband, who appears further into the music video.
The first thing you see at the beginning of the video is a woman's feet on frame which then moves to her torso showing off a fancy coat- and finally you see her head. However, it is not as you would expect to see a humans head.
It is inside a fish tank filled with water and fishes. At first this seems a bit odd, however, as the video goes on you then find out that the fish inside the tank are metaphors. The fish in the individuals tanks represent how many people that person has slept with. It is not just this woman who wear the tank, everyone in the video has their own tank with their own amount of fishes inside, (representing how many people they have also slept with).
The woman continues to walk as the lines of the first verse are recited, they frames are of a mixed length some being longer than other and some that are short and sweet to the point for example, the portrait frames of other individuals showing their tanks with fishes inside.
The woman passes these two people and carries on further down the street. She then stops as she notices water on the ground. flowing towards her feet. The lyrics at this point suggest some nervousness as it sings "and your heart is racing as your fingers touch his skin". Although with a sexual meaning behind it there is an element of double entendre as it hints that something has happened to someone she knows. This is highlighted by the high angle of the camera as she begins to follow the trail of water.
As she follows the trail of flowing water, the audience soon realises that the water must have come from one of the fish tanks, as the woman who follows the trail sees a small fish in the middle of the trail, picks it up, and adds it to her collection fishes. This is another metaphor which indicates that who ever was the owner of the tank, she had slept with. This could also represent that she has cheated on a potential partner that at this moment in time we assume she has.
After adding the fish into the tank, she begins to walk on and follow the trail once again. The video displays the street she is walking down until the chorus ends and the bridge starts. This is where she discovers that it is her husband/partner who has died in the act of suicide, by breaking/smashing his tank so all of the water pours out. We assume yet again that this is because of her "cheating" as he only has one fish in his tank (owned by the woman) yet she has many, which is proved by the act of her taking the fish from the ground before discovering her dead spouse.
The bridge highlights this event as it goes "So I guess we're back to us, oh cameraman swing the focus, in case I lost my train of thought, where was it that we last left off?". This is sung as she looks down at the body of her partner, and begins to kneel to where he is laying, and the lyrics highlight her feeling with the "focus" and "trail of thought" as the shock of his death would spark many new emotions for her including coming to terms with his death- "where was it that we last left off?"
After this the final verse begin which while sung, shows the flash backs of them both getting married, having a laugh and a good time together and all of their memories. "oh now I do recall, we were just getting to the part where the shock sets in, and the stomach act finds a new way to make you sick"- can be interpreted as the shock of the finding of her dead husband and how this is a unique and completely new feeling of being "sick"
After the flashbacks and the chorus reciting "lets get these teen hearts beating faster faster" it shows two emergency vehicles pulling up to the scene to investigate what's happened.
However, as they pull up the woman kills herself by emptying her own tank. This shows that although she may have slept around and not been entirely faithful she still loved him none the less, and in so cannot live without him.
And as she is tipping the water out of her tank, the frames of flashbacks increase in speed and show the "life flashes before her eyes" as she dies.
The emergency team see the dead lovers and begin to prep them for the after life by placing them in bath tubs and transporting them to the ocean, the chorus of "lets get these teen hearts beating faster and faster" is ironic as they are both dead and they're heart rates have actually ceased at this point.
As the lovers are put into the ocean by the medics they become alive again, similar to that of a fish, and your final frame of the video is them in each other's arms in the sea submerged in the water.
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