Panic at the Disco - The Ballad of Mona Lisa Analysis

This comeback video’s introduction almost mirrors the bands first music video ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’, lead singer Brendon Urie is even wearing the same top hat that he wore in their debut video. This can be considered an iconic image that is associated with the band, it allows fans to recognise this object and thus re indentify with the band members despite some members leaving and them going on a break. This therefore will aid their comeback and reconnect with old fans, as ‘I Write Sins...’ was very popular and had a similar atmosphere and feel to their new video, for example it is again in the setting of a church, though this time is for a funeral as opposed to a wedding. The church with it strange ornate decoration is an unusual setting for a music video, directly contrasting with the typical settings of other genres. This makes them appear unique and daring, which are attributes valued by the indie/rock genre as they are typically individualists or mainstreamers believing themselves to be individualists. The video follows a somewhat linear narrative structure, with the audience having a restricted narrative viewpoint, as they do not know whose body is under the white sheet and thus who the funeral is for, the video essentially revolves around someone named Mary at a person’s funeral. Furthermore they are unknowing as to who the killer was, this creates tension and curiosity in the audience, making them more involved in the narrative for the video as they try to work out these mysteries. There are also 6 rules that it appears one must abide when someone dies, that come up as old fashioned yellow text onscreen, this adds a more unique interesting element to the video. It also implies to the audience that someone actually murdered the individual that is dead; this is implied subtly throughout to be Mary, as she is featured in the screen in many of these shots. This is also suggested by the fact the Brendon keeps switching between his performance self, and a weaker, pale version of himself, we eventually come to realise that he is dead and trying to figure out his own murder, adding to the concept of a ‘murder mystery’ in the video. The video however keeps emphasis on the importance of performance, as throughout it appears fairly over the top and Brendon sings throughout. The camera also uses various shots of musician Spencer playing drums and Brendon sings throughout, this enforces the atmosphere and feeling of performance to the audience rather than it simply being a narrative video. When the white sheet is dragged back to reveal his body and the young girl discovers and old tattered note saying ‘Mary did it’ the music enforces this to be the climax of the video and creates shock and emotion in the audience as they video finally fits together.