The video begins with dramatically short clips of the plot. Drag races, checkered flags, and gun shots signaling "go" flash across the screen, along with close ups of the male lead. These are not normal video clips, however, they are pencil sketched drawings, resembling a comic book. Other than to solely entertain, it serves no purpose. In hopes of sparking interest, the first seconds of the video are flashy and action packed.
As the plot progresses, we meet the female lead in a diner. She is reading the comic book that the male seems to be locked inside. While flipping through, a close up of Harket catches her eye. The comics eyebrows raise, and wink at her. Suddenly the boring teenage girl comes alive with personality and spunk. She grabs the cartoon characters hand and is launched into the comic along side him. A pair of criminals appear in the comic, and threaten the newfound relationship. Chivalrously, Harket leads the girl to safety, without saving himself. She is propelled back to the real would, but without her new lover. Like so many other songs about love, they appeal to any person who can relate. But, this particular story can be most broadly enjoyed by the stereotypical teenage girl, who dreams of a love story, or wishes to find their "knight in shining armor".
In a panic, the girl grabs the comic and runs back to her house. She lays it out on her desk and desperately flips though looking to see what has become of the boy. In the story, he has been badly hurt by the criminals, but is trying to escape the comic. He appears in her house, but not so smoothly. He flashes between comic and real human, clearly in pain. In the end however, he has escapes the comic world, and the two characters gaze into each other's eyes.
This love story with a happy ending is action packed. As heartwarming as it is, it serves no larger purpose than to entertain. Basically what you see, is what you get.
Kendall, you have found a really cool video. I wonder how difficult to it was to synchronize the sketches with the real life video? The transition, particularly during the window scene, when the girl and boy look at each other through the glass, appears seamless.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part, your response is very well written. I will draw your attention to this sentence: "While flipping through, a close up of Harket catches her eye." This is called a "dangling participle." The participial phrase, "While flipping through" is "dangling" in this sentence because it is not modifying the correct noun. What is doing the "flipping" in this sentence? Not the "close up," which is what this sentence technically suggests. The proper way to begin this sentence would be, "While flipping through, the girl..." because the girl is doing the flipping.
This is a relatively minor issue. A bigger issue is the lack of analysis. You provide a nice summary of the post, but you don't really conduct any real analysis of the video. You suggest that the sole purpose is to entertain. You are probably right. This is probably the primary purpose. I think the video requires you to at least propose some conjecture about why A-ha chose to use the comic strip motif? The same story could be told and enjoyed without the comic strip. Why, then, do you think A-ha did it this way - perhaps to demonstrate that the teenage girl gets to live the fantasy that each teenage girl desires. Why juxtapose the comic strip with the diner? Maybe because a diner conjures feelings of routine and complacency? Not sure.