Textual analysis and Goodwin's theory

This music video analysis is from the perspective of Andrew Goodwin's media theory, to show that his theory works with real world texts, as well as aid my understanding of how music videos are constructed and perceived by audiences.

Lyrics and visuals

Lana Del Rey's song 'Young and Beautiful' contains lyrics regarding love and whether or not relationships can last. This is visually represented in the sincerity of the artist's performance shots, smiling at the camera when it's asking rhetorical questions aimed at her lover, such as 'will you still love me when I'm no longer beautiful?'

















Music and visuals

The tempo of the music is quite slow and resembles that of a ballad. This is related to in the visuals with the setting being a black background, so that the focus is on the artist and her performance. The song does, however, progress to become louder and more up-beat, which is reflected with a change in lighting, from white to red, is timed with the drop of a beat.

Genre conventions

Considering Lana Del Rey is part of the pop genre, it's typical that this video should and does contain multiple shots of the artist, to help put a face to the music as well as often conveying them as sexually desirable, with her smiles to the camera having flirtatious connotations. The artist is also sporting quite fashionable clothing, making her a good role model for younger audiences by them idolising her aesthetics.

















Intertextuality

There are no specific references to other media texts however the artistic visual style of the video does resemble that of the 1920s era, with the shots of the artist having a very soft camera focus, drained colour and a significantly smaller aspect ratio compared to the widescreen appearance we're used to seeing in contemporary videos. This sets it apart and helps to make the music video more memorable. By making the video distinctive, the artist is also promoting her new album, which can be seen in the description of the video on YouTube.

Presenting both/either genders in a sexual manner ('looking.')

Unlike most pop music videos, 'Young and Beautiful' does not contain any obvious sexual motivations, other than the previously mentioned smiling to the camera which is mild at most. This is an example of the artist defying the typical conventions of the pop genre, and by doing so she separates herself from other artists, thus making her more memorable in comparison.

Performance, narrative or concept based structure to the video

This music video contains a performance-based structure, with the previous screenshots showing both the artist as well as back up performers with their designated instruments. On top of this, there is no story element to this video, with the artist being the only person that's ever fully shown in the video and therefore no narrative structure has resulted. 'Young and Beautiful' could be viewed from a concept perspective, with the setting changing colour also reflecting the change in the tempo of the song. However, the constant sightings of instruments mean that audiences would view this music video as having a more performance based structure.