Paramore: Now [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Narrative behind the video:

This video is set in a war zone. The main character is the lead singer in the band, and is made to stand out against all the other soldiers because she is wearing white, which could symbolise her being pure and non violent, compared to the others around her wearing black. She manages some how to escape through the war without getting killed, and reaches the leader. She hugs the leader in the end and that ends the war. In my opinion, the message behind this video is that being nice towards other people could change certain events.  That love conquers all evils, and that no-one is evil by choice.

What is it's purpose?

This video is purely narrative, without any performance in it. It is clear to see who the lead singer is because they are the main character within the video. The other band members are in it, but are seen not as often and when they are, they are trying to save the protagonist. This could be reinforcing the classic band stereotype, that the lead singer is the most important. This video is the advertise the band more than anything. They aren't shown playing any instruments, so their skill is not seen.

How do they objectify women/men?

There are both men and women in this video, however I don't feel either genre is necessarily objectified. The woman is seen as being saved once in this video by a male, however she escapes from the clutches of other people later on in the video, which shows that she isn't week. The other soldiers in this video are all masked, so it's not clear what gender they are. However, I think this is done on purpose, so not to show a gender as more dominant than another. The leader in this video is man, but is then 'defeated' by a woman.

How are the stars objectified?

The star in this music video is the woman, Haley Williams. She is made out to be a fighter and to be winning a war against evil.

How do they reflect their genre?

With Haley's red hair, she is very recognisable when it comes to the music business. Paramore's overall music genre would be Indie rock. In my own opinion, I think they present their music as Indie, by the clothing being flowy and loose fitting, also with the whole idea of winning war with a hug, this reminds me of a hippy 'flower power' time.


Does this video fit the criteria of a successful music video?

I like this video a lot. I love the narrative behind it, because its such a different idea. Most of the music videos I was originally thinking of analysing where about love or something similar whereas this one is has a slight twist to it. From a technical point of view, I think it is a successful music video as well because as the music in the video gets to the ending and gets softer so the action in the video.