Music video analysis exploring Political, Social and Cultural aspects

Music video analysis exploring Political, Social and Cultural aspects

I have studied Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' music video 'Same love'. I felt it effectively represented the political, social and cultural aspects considered in the production of this video. I will now discuss these elements using the general conventions of a music video.

Political, Social and Cultural

In the video 'Same Love' political issues such as equal and gay rights, as well as social aspects including equality, acceptance and discrimination and Cultural aspects such as religion and societal relations are all shown.

The narrative and theme of the video is about self discovery and love between two men and this is portrayed through the general conventions of a video. 

The MES uses lighting as an element of the representation of age to portray the difficulties as the boy becomes a young man and begins to identify his sexuality. 

At the beginning of the video high key lighting and a track of the little boy running in the woods, reflects the innocence and adventure as a child whilst being unaware of love and sexuality. The set of the shots of the young boy and his friends are in the woods which represents the theme of adventure commonly associated with childhood fun, however the lighting drastically changes to a very low key dark set in empty room in which portrays  the boys emotion of feeling trapped, isolated and unable to reveal his sexuality as he matures into a teenager. The contrast in lighting helps to project the narrative of the video to the audience. 
An extreme close up of the young man crying furthermore portrays his fear and confusion. 

Acceptance of new gay marriage laws - in which is the political issue being discussed - is shown through the use of high key lighting and props such as the gay pride flag, as it is waved in front of an iconic and famous american building. The iconic landmark shows the importance of the new law and the support of it and the high key lighting, beautiful setting with bright skies and bright colours implies a positive attitude towards it. This prop furthermore helps suggest to the audience the narrative and the social acceptance of new marriage laws. 



This links into the social elements such as discrimination and equality that are portrayed through a variety of ways. At 3 mins 26 seconds a tracking shot following a gay couple walking through town along a low key dark street is shown to be discriminated against by a passing couple who barge into the key character who is the focus of the video, the . This represents that discrimination of gay marriage is present and that cultural factors such as religion affect these. At 2 mins 58 secs the gay couple are shown to 'come out to their parents' after a pray before their meal. A close up of the father shows him to be in shock as his face tells the audience he is shocked representing the difficulty in acceptance of his sexuality.As the lyrics suggest "you can be cured with some treatment in religion" As well as this a mid, over the shoulder shot of the mother walking out after the father contrasts to the unity of the family beforehand as they hold hands to say grace before their meal showing how religion is able to bring them together. 

Although discrimination between sexuality is present discrimination between race is not as a back girl is shown to be playing with a white baby doll, and two girls one black one white are playing and selling lemonade together. Furthermore a shot of a white boy giving a young black girl a flower is also presented to us as an audience. Therefore gay marriage could be seen as a more controversial issue than racism as mixed racial relationships are not shown to be any kind of issue. 

As the couple age in the video the lighting remains high key showing the gradual acceptance of the laws. The creation of the law shows the happiness of the male couple as a close up silhouette shows the white male to kneel and propose to his partner. The silhouette lighting creates a meaningful romantic atmosphere projecting the love between the men. The setting of this shot is in a beautiful location by the seaside which is associated with happiness and freedom to convey a positive narrative and theme that contrasts to the negativity at the beginning of the video. 

The video has been distributed through institutions such as YouTube which has over 2 billion subscribers and users therefore increasing and maximizing the consumption of the message and success of the song. As well as this, exploring the political issues in which are relatable to younger audiences as over 8 million is the US alone are gay meaning that the video will appeal and apply to its targeted audience. 

Another cultural element is the social relations within the community. Low key lighting is used when the young man walks into the streets as an escapism from his home life in which shows the divide and contrast in the area. The family is a wealthy and this is reflected through high key lighting, modern expensive clothing, the mother is shown to be wearing expensive jewelry and the home is stylized with silver and gold plated decoration. This jux da poses to the streets in which the main character is shown to walk out on comparing the two polar opposites social organisations - the streets that go onto be a party atmosphere, and a wealthy home life.