Example of narrative theory.

Lewis Stewart.

Verisimilitude.

• This is how real the video seems to be to the audience, which allows them to understand the video as they can relate to aspects of what they see/hear.

• This may be in the props used, the costumes in that appear in the video (which could present a person in a specifc way –stereotypes) or what is sung.

• These images all create verisimilitude to the audience because they are things that they see a lot and may have. The price tag is relevant to the song due to the lyrics of it, the money on trees symbolises how people just spend whatever money they have on anything, and the car represents what people could save for.

Tim O’Sullivan.

• “all media texts tell the audience a story in some way”. This is the way that the music video tells the audience something about the society we live in.

• This theory happens in music videos with narratives because the story told is easily read by the audience, and is therefore understood by the audience in the way the artist and institution has intended.

• This video is about people spending money on things that they don’t need, and how she believes that people should only spend money necessarily. I think this would make people believe that Jessie J doesn’t want everyones money and thereforemakes the artist more desirable as it seems she isin the industry more for the music rather thanother things.

• This is because she says in the song ‘it’s not about the money’, suggesting that this isn’t her main focus.

• In the video, I think that Jessie J is trying to tell the audience something about the society we live in today.

• I think that the reference to the ‘price tag’ is her way of telling the people that the world’s focus is money, which she is saying she doesn’t agree with due to her referring money.

• I think that the video could also be a way of referring to how people are labeled by their popularity, but how she disagrees with this and that people are worth the same, and to ditch the labels.

Pam Cook.

• “The standard Hollywood narrative should have;

Linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution.

A high degree of narrative structure.

A fictional world that contains verisimilitude especially governed by spatial and temporal coherence”.

• The beginning part of the video has an actress which is supposed to be Jessie J as a child, and then this girl moves around from the left of the bear to the right which then the little girl changes to become a woman; the today’s Jessie J.

• Verisimilitude is shown through the use of the bear, as I think it symbolises how people hang on to specific things, from when they were little up to when they have grown up.

• I think for this song this is also used to symbolise how children buy things that aren’t needed (for example lots of sweets), but then this follows them up to their adulthood, as they still buy unnecessary things.

• The video is very structured in the way the message is portrayed by the artist in the video. The props used illustrate how things are represented to people in society to make them appealing and desirable.

• The bear is used in the video rather than a simple prop like a wall, as this illustrates the artist’s feelings on the subject, due to the size and desirability of the object.

Kate Domaille.

• “Every story ever told can be categorised into one of eight narrative types. Each type has a source; an original story upon which the others are based”.

• I think the type that this video fits into is the ‘Cinderella’ one, as this is when the dream comes true.

• This image shows the artist ripping up a large label with a dollar sign on it. This is used in the video to illustrate her anger towards labeling and people judging others, and also purchasing things that aren’t needed.

• I think the Cinderella type is the one that the video fits into because of how she is singing about people buying things and the expense, and also how this relates to popularity. But then she finishes the video by showing her anger towards the subject, which makes this the more memorable idea.

Claude Lèvi-Strauss

• “All stories operate to certain clear Binary Opposites”

• For example: good vs evil, black vs white, rich vs poor.

• These ideas then mean that the world that is complicated is then a simplified structure. They either resolve to be good or bad, right or wrong; there is no in between.

• In this video, it is clear that the artist has included the binary opposites ‘rich vs poor’.

• This is evident through the lyrics of the song as the artist says ‘we don’t need your money’, and is also shown through the use of the price tag prop.

Performance or conceptual?

• This video is clearly a performance, as the artist is seen to be dancing and lip-sycning.

• This will promote the artist as she isn’t only doing the singing, she is trying to entertain her audience by showing her many talents.

• Because she is signed to a major record label, she had the ability to record her video in various settings, although she only used a studio setting.

• I think this was a conscious decision by the artist and/or the institution because it relates to the lyrics.