Katy perry analysis

1. Katy Perry- Thinking of You Music Video Analysis
This Katy Perry song is in the pop/ballad genre. The video is narrative based but even though she is the character in the video, clips of her are interspersed into the video of
her singing the song. The colour scheme in the video is mainly neutral, it is set in the 1940’s which was a decade of
pastels and neutrals in terms of textiles and fashion. The mise -en scene is very natural which sets a simplistic basis
upon which we can build our interpretations. In the funeral shots the colours are very dark and dull which connotes the
grief and sadness of the characters, but this is brightened by the flashbacks in the video by the use of bright happy
colours which Katy Perry uses as part of her image, her promotional material and concert sets connote happiness, fun
and innocence. The black and white shots of the men in combat add to the sad mood in that shot. The lyrics in the song
describe a couple torn apart by war and it has been demonstrated in the narrative, because the main role in this video is
of Katy Perry herself it makes the video appear much more personal to her. There are a range of close ups of the artist
singing the song, showing the relationship between the music and the visuals. This establishes Katy Perry as the artist
but also establishes both her roles as the female lead separated by her lover due to war, and the singer of the track.
Throughout the music video there are extreme close ups of the Christian cross, which I think gives the story behind the
song a more powerful and deep meaning, perhaps this is seen as a portrayal of purity. By the music telling a story it
helps reinforces the lyrics and also makes the song more powerful. Voyeurism, which is displayed through Laura
Mulvey’s gaze theory, is used in this music video as we have a look into what could have been Katy Perry’s life. At one
scene she is looking out the window at herself in the past when she was very happy which contrasts with how she is
now as she looks out of the window sadly with another man with her. In this video we are shown the objectification of
Katy Perry, her clothing in some of the shots are quite revealing which uses Mulvey’s gaze. Attracting the attention of
the audience and keeping them in, people will look at Katy Perry and want to have her as in an object. Tension is built
up throughout the music video because the audience to start off with is not very aware of her problem, but as the
video progresses we get a clearer view of the difficulty she is experiencing. The reason to why she is with another man
and not the one she loves is hidden from us, but as the music progresses this becomes clear. By having a story line to it
I think it encourages people to watch the whole video so they can see what happens. The main event in the video is
that her lover dies and this is re-enforced by the lyrics and the close up shots of Katy Perry crying, which could also
mean that this is a very personal event to the singer. This video could not only be about the struggles of love, but the
singer could also be trying to get across the added affects from war, showing the affect it has on people. The recording
company of Katy Perry could only want her music aimed at a wide range of people, by basing the subject on love it
appeals to a wider range of people as this is one of today’s main topics in songs. Due to being part of the pop genre,
this song would be targeted at the mass audience who will receive it through music channels and repeatedly on the radio. This audience will contain a large amount of
demographics and it would appeal to all kinds of people from different class and age groups. Stuart Hall’s contribution to the reception theory can be seen in this video as
he stated that texts are determined by a producer and interpreted by the audience. This is true for this video as it could be interpreted in different ways, therefore the
audience can impose their prior impressions on to it whilst they interpret it. The two step flow of communication can be seen in this video also as the big production

2. company or record label to which Katy Perry is signed would pay a huge sum of money to have her music impressed onto the public is as many ways possible, so it will be
on the radio all the time, it will be on YouTube under the popular section and in recommendations therefore the mass audience will not be able to get away from it. Dyers
star theory can be seen her as it could be argued that Kay Perry is just a representation and is ‘fake’ kind of like a fake idol which is constructed to make money for the
companies, this is very common in the pop genre. The areas of the uses and gratifications theory was outlined by Blumer and Klatz, one of which being the idea of escapism,
it could be said that the video could act as a means for the audience to escape from their everyday lives which could be boring and mediocre therefore they enjoy escaping
to the constructed digesis’ which the producer has created. A second part of this is the idea of social interaction, which means the audience can create personal
relationships with the characters in the movie, it could be said that the audience can create a relationship with Katy Perry and find common ground with her, This will boost
the popularity of the video as people will want to watch it more than once. I would say the other part of this theory that applies to the video would be using it as a pure
form of entertainment, people will watch it just because it is there and they will be entertained by it. I think that the preferred audience will enjoy this video as it shows
Katy Perry, who is like their ‘pop idol’ in different lights and circumstances therefore they will like to see her and they will receive it well. The negotiated audience will
perhaps be persuaded to like the video through seeing Katy perry and the different themes that she shows. The oppositional audience may dislike the video as they may see
it as just a means of promoting Katy Perry as an object.