Analysing Music Videos 2

Arctic Monkeys - Arabella - Goodwins' Theory

Andrew Goodwin's 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' theory is apparent in the Arctic Monkeys - Arabella music video. The Key concepts of the theory is emphasised in the video despite the song being very popular on its own.

The Arctic Monkeys are known for their popular rock genre which is very much exaggerated in this music video for their song 'Arabella'. With the rock genre, music videos usually contain women who are often sexualised, a band who are dressed casual, but look rugged, a good-looking front man, shots and close ups of a guitar and usually contain alcohol or cigarettes and have an effect on the video image such as a tint, chroma key or a black and white effect . A music video that can be easily compared to 'Arabella' by the Arctic Monkeys is the Queens Of the Stone Age's video for 'Go with the Flow'. Both these music videos use the typical rock genre characteristics. In the Queens Of the Stone Age's music video, close ups of the guitar, the sexualised woman and the front man are all clearly shown.

The song lyrics to Arabella has also got a few links to the music video. From the music video, we cannot really assume who 'Arabella' is, as there are a constant variation of shots of different actresses. This could signify how some women can fall under the 'Arabella' stereotype. The song also describes 'Arabella' as being promiscuous, this correlates in the music video, as the shots are of the girl being sexualised, half naked and glamorous women who are surrounded or with men who seem to be intoxicated. This is an illustrative method of the lyrics being sung by the front man Alex Turner.

Moreover, the music video meet the Arctic Monkeys record labels, Domino Recording Company's, needs. The face of The Arctic Monkeys and leading man Alex Turner is the main focus of the music video with all the close ups and tracking of him singing. This in turn helps keep and maintain Turners high status and rock, bad-boy, suave look. On the other hand, his other band mates, such as the drummer Matt Helder, is very rarely seen in the music video, and if so, he is usually out of focus and in the background; therefore making him seem unimportant in comparison to Alex Turner.

Andrew Goodwins' theory also mentions the 'notion of looking', and in this case for the Arabella music video, the 'notion of looking' is made very clear as it is the story line and foundation for the music video. From the very first shot of the music video till the very last shot, the women have only been seen in a very sexualised manner, smothering men with affection, and wearing very revealing outfits whilst being very flirtatious. This enforces the male gaze on the video and making the Arctic Monkeys voyeuristic to the treatment of the females. This suggests that the bands music is sensual.

The music video does not contain inter-textual references to films. However it does stick to an old-fashioned cowboy-like theme with provocative women in a 'bar' and men drinking whilst with prostitutes. The black and white effect on the video and the manner in which the actors are dressed also helps contribute towards this theme. Such as an actress who looks similar to Marliyn Monroe, who is a big 50's icon, in an old film effect. We often see this theme in both TV programmes and movies such as 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly', which is very popular.