Paramore - Misery Buisness Analysis

The video for Paramore’s ‘Misery Business’ uses many generic signifiers of the indie/rock genre, thus conforms to the first part Goodwin’s theory, that videos will show genre characteristics. The lead singer Haley has brightly coloured, messy hair, this combined with her dark eye makeup makes her appear edgy and rebellious, they are also very much symbolic of the rock genre. The video also uses a somewhat linear narrative structure, beginning with cuts between the band performing and the familiar scene of an American high school, complete with recognisable stereotypes of ‘clique, with the antagonist being the popular, powerful ‘bitch’ who will eventually be overcome by the band. This change in power is seen in many other rock videos, such as Marilyn Manson’s ‘Tainted Love’. Therefore, by overcoming the antagonist the band is reinforcing the rock genre values to the audience, implying it is the dominant genre. There are many other typical aspects of rock music videos, such the initial stage performance that the video cuts to throughout the video. Rock music as a genre typically values live performances highly, thus this will help it appeal to its target audience. In addition there are many fast cuts within the video which is often seen in the rock genre as the music is usually fast paced and energetic. There is much use of the colours red and black, for example in the band clothes, which are colours typically associated with rock music. Red can be symbolic of rebelliousness and passion, typical values of the rock genre. Black connotates being sophisticated and original, again traits that are often valued highly by people who listen to said genre of music, as they are typically individualists or mainstreamers believing themselves to be individualists. There is also much key iconography of the rock genre, such as the guitars and drums, close ups of these are used to reinforce the genre to the audience, as they will immediately identify with this familiar image and recognise it to be a rock video.There are also many close ups of the band, particularly the singer Haley, especially her eyes and mouth, relating to the act of ‘looking’ in society and how he artist should be the main focus of the audience despite the other narrative structure The room in which the band is performing has the album name and logo in graffiti over the walls, this is used as a motif throughout the album and videos and enforces the values found in rock music, such as rebelliousness and a ‘not bothered about anything’ attitude. It also refers to the purpose of music videos being an advertisement, all the these are demands of the record label. There is very little voyeuristic treatment of the main singer, which is typical of the rock genre as they tend to present female artists more equally to men and not as objects but independent people in themselves. However, the antagonist is dressed in a somewhat provocative way, though this can be argued to be being critical of such women as she is eventually overcome by Haley who is not dressed or portrayed in such a way.