Symbolic Expression of Feelings in Videos - Essay Example

Destruction by Fire Destruction by fire could be the end of everything. All life, dreams, and wealth can be destroyed by fire. Fire can also destroy connections both material and immaterial things. For literary scholars such as Fowlie (152), fire could mean love of a woman. In such, love is too strong thus it could be destructive. Destruction by fire is often used in music videos nowadays. Specifically, the music video of Eminem’s I Love the Way You Lie and Adele’s Rolling in the Deep use this scene to symbolize the height of anger of women. In the videos, the fire that symbolizes women’s rage can cause people’s death and even a destruction of a city. Although the fire is used symbolically, the music videos still leave a message of violence and too much anger or rage. The video of I Love the Way You Lie shows a situation of a young couple that physically hurt each other because of the woman’s jealousy. The video puts the blame to the woman and makes her look negative even though the man is the one that should be blamed. In the beginning of the video, the woman is seen sitting on the floor, playing with some fire in her hand (0:12). The next scenes show them beating each other because the woman saw the man’s hand with another girl’s phone number. As the two fight, Rhianna sings the song while a house is burning in the background. The image of the fire is greatly associated with the woman in the video of I Love the Way You Lie. These are obvious in the first scene where Rhianna appears and in the second with the protagonist holding the fire. Studying the scenes especially the elements or props that are shown could lead the audience to a better analysis of the video. First, there is no point for the singer Rhianna to stand near a burning house unless she wants to get burned. Second, the scene where the protagonist is holding the fire is very unrealistic. Unless the woman is clairvoyant, which is not seen in the video, she will definitely get herself burned. Given this, the two scenes impart symbolism. The director of the video presents a connection between the fire and the woman. Thus, the fire symbolizes the rage of the woman. The woman is very angry with the man when she sees the phone number on the man’s hand. From the way they fight, it looks like the same scene of the man having another woman happens habitually. Also, the man is very jealous, so it is possible that the two are always mad at each other. Seeing the woman holding some fire, the anger of the woman may have reached its peak that is why it is compared to a fire. The fire that starts in the woman’s hand envelopes her so in the later scene, viewers can see her burning (4:15). However, she does not get hurt by the fire. Instead, she seems to enjoy it. This shows that the woman possesses the fire; it is like she can order it to do things for her. In fact, the video shows the man or the boyfriend burning but unlike the woman who is not hurt, the man feels the pain caused by the fire fast burning his body (3:56). The fire also burns the whole house while the couple is fighting (3:36). Fire is also associated with a woman’s anger in the video Rolling in the Deep. This video shows Adele seated on a couch, singing her blues away when she parts with her boyfriend. Her gesture is very simple. With that gesture, it will be impossible for the audience to interpret the song. Therefore, the director provides different scenes to aid in the interpretation. For example, there is the man playing drums, then a room filled with glasses with water, also a man doing some martial arts and breaking cups or saucers in another room. These scenes serve to interpret the whole message of the song. The drum, the martial artist, and the glasses bouncing at the beat of the drum all express the anger or rage of the woman. As Adele sings, she reaches the climax of the song and her anger. To illustrate her heavy anger, a miniature of a city burns in fire (3:32). The fire in the scene shows the highest or peak of the anger of the woman. Just like in the Eminem video, the fire causes destruction but not just of a house or a couple but a whole city. Even though this is just a miniature of a city, it similarly suggests death of multitudes like a community living in that city. Therefore, in comparison with the fire in the Eminem video, the fire in Adele is more destructive and outrageous. The destruction caused by women suggests historical and literary scenes of destruction. The destruction caused by the woman in Eminem’s video reminds viewers of the Inquisition, a historical even that took place in the 12th century. During those times, Catholic people who were thought to be heretics were made to suffer and burned (Lea 52). Thus, the thought of the man who serves in the video as the antagonist reflects the idea of burning one’s enemy as done during the Inquisition years. The destruction in Adele brings to mind a scene from Greek mythology, the Trojan War. It is common knowledge that Helen of Troy causes the great war which leads to the death of many warriors, especially Trojans. Although the scene in Adele’s video is more modern, it still relates to the scene in Greek mythology because the destruction of the city is caused by a woman. The scenes in history and literature further suggest that the two videos instil the themes of violence, revenge, and destruction. In Eminem’s video, violence is depicted throughout the video as the couple keeps on fighting each other. In Adele’s video, violence is seen as the Martial artist uses his talent to break cups and saucers. Although they both suggest violence, the Eminem video is more violent because there is physical fighting, quarrelling, and so on. In contrast, in Adele’s video, the violence is directed towards a projector board and not anyone in the video. The martial artist just keeps on breaking cups but not hurting anyone. In addition, only a miniature of a city is put on fire, unlike in Eminem’s where a whole house is seen burning. Revenge is also reflected in the videos. In the Eminem video, the woman takes revenge on the guy for hurting her physically and emotionally. The guy burns and their whole house turns into nothing. Revenge is also reflected in Adele’s video because the woman’s anger is reflected in the burning of a whole city. Again, although there is just a miniature burning, the scene still suggests a thought in the woman’s head to burn a certain city. The revenge is also expressed in a line of the song, “I’m gonna make your head burn” (Adele 18). This wish to do something reflects an evil thought to kill another person such as an enemy. Therefore, the song, with its lyrics and video really suggests revenge. Both videos also impart human destruction or death. With violence around them and the feeling of taking revenge, the people in the two videos are aiming for human destruction or death. However, they are different in their presentation of the theme. In Eminem’s video, destruction is seen as the people and the house burn. In Adele’s, there is the destruction of material things also as symbolized by the broken cups and saucers. However, there is no destruction of human body as seen in the earlier video. Thus, Adele’s music video is a little lighter than the Eminem video. Nevertheless, both of them are violent and destructive. The themes of violence, revenge, and destruction at the end serve as reasons why children should not see the music video. As the main characters project the violence, revenge and destruction using fire as the main element in the video, they also teach about violence. What is more, to a child’s eyes, holding of the fire or the burning of house and miniature of a city could appear literal, although they should be taken symbolically. If children misinterpret the message of the song or the actions of the characters, there are chances that they will imitate the artists and cause the same scenes when they are in rage. Given the discussion above, the two videos contain many negative elements. First, the fire that causes death; second, the revenge, and third, the thought of destruction even of people who did not do any harm to the protagonist. These themes are not only reminiscent of the historical past and the literary classic. They also influence viewers to feel rage and cause destruction at the same time. Nevertheless, there is still what Aristotle (Janko 185) calls catharsis. Catharsis basically means purgation or cleaning. It is a way to sift out the negative elements in a piece of art. Catharsis is used in the Eminem video to stop the fire and cease the violence. At the last part of the video, the woman still holds the fire but when she closes her hand, the fire suddenly stops. This confirms her control of the situation. When the girl does this, the end of the video shows the couple in bed, deeply sleeping, with clothes the same as the beginning of the video. As such, the last scene suggests that everything that happens is just in the dream of the protagonist. Not one of them is true. The catharsis is present in the thought that nothing about the fight, burning, and dying is true. The element of catharsis is also in the video of Adele. The scenes where the singer just sits down, singing without interacting with those who are likewise in the video suggests that the other scenes containing violent acts are just in the mind of the protagonist or the singer, Adele. There is catharsis because after all, the scenes did not happen in real life. The miniature of the city, which is made of white paper or carton strongly shows the catharsis because of its make (paper). The scenes in the videos, despite their symbolic characteristics teach violence and destruction, revenge, and death. Therefore, they should not be shown to the general public, hence they should be deleted from the Internet. In addition, they provide a strongly negative image of women. They show that women are jealous, destructive, and desperate for the men they love. Moreover, they present women as evil wishers that think about the death and destruction of men. Although catharsis may be found towards the end, it still does not erase the negative images and elements suggested by the fire. Instead of erasing those, they even remind people of the Inquisition where fire was extremely used and the Trojan War where communities were destroyed because of a woman. Works Cited Fowlie, Wallace. Love in Literature: Studies in Symbolic Expression. Ayer Publishing, Manchester. 1948. I Love the Way You Lie. Dir. Robert Kahn. Perf. Eminem, Rhianna. Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment, and Interscope Records, 2010. Music Video. Janko, Richard. Poetics I. Hackett Publishing, NY. 1987. Lea, Henry Charles. A History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages. Harper and Brothers, NY. 1887. Rolling in the Deep. Dir. Sam Brown. Perf. Adele. 2010. Music Video. Read More