Music video analysis #9- The Cure- Just Like Heaven

Music video analysis #9

Act: The Cure

Track: ‘Just like heaven’

Year: 1987

Director: Tim Pope

Genre: New wave/ Gothic rock
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3nPiBai66M

Main audience: M 30+ Audience from the 80’s + Goth youths.

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Relationship between the lyrics+ visuals: The song’s lyrical matter is dark as it deals with a lover who has gone away or died to the vocalist. This is reflected throughout the video as Robert Smith acts out actions from what he is singing. A prime example of this would be when he hugs himself in sadness replicating what he and his lover used to do with the line “she threw her arms around my neck”. Another example of lyrical synergy with the video would be when Smith wakes up in the morning on the cliff side after his fantasy and sings the line “Daylight whips me into shape, I must have been asleep for days”, and later “I found myself alone, alone, alone above a raging sea.”. Towards the later part of the video the performance becomes more of a narrative driven production due to the fewer frequency of performance shots.

Genre characteristics: The genre characteristics are upheld in this video to an extent. A prime example of this would be as the band members are dressed in a gothic manner of black clothing and make-up. The video is also a performance based production (conventional of rock genres) however it does have some moments of narrative including the sections where the lead vocalist (Robert Smith) dances with his deceased lover and the looks over the cliff to the sea bellow in a melon-collie fashion (Conventional of gothic music).

Performance/Narrative/ Concept: The video is almost entirely a performance act with some moments of narrative during instrumental sections of the song/video. This performance shows the respective band members playing their instruments on a hilltop with a grief stricken Robert Smith (Vocalist). The concept of the video is Robert reminiscing on his lover and how she felt “just like heaven” to him. This performance with a small amount of narrative effectively reinforces the lyrical content. This video is predominantly a performance video, however towards the end of the song the video becomes more of a narrative performance with Smith’s vocals synergising with the visual content more accurately.

Linear/closed narrative: The video has a closed narrative has it is a recollection of a past event as evidenced in the lyricisms. This reflects into the video as Smith seems to have the unique experience of hallucinations of his past lover and waking up alone on a Cliffside in the morning.

Looking/ mode of address: The band members do not ever look at the audience for the reason that the message/ story being told is more of a recollection of a personal experience and there is no real message for the audience to witness other than the tragic circumstances of Robert Smith’s story.

Star treatment: At the start of the video the respective band members are all given equal time on the camera, however as the video progresses it becomes clearer to the audience that the story belongs to the vocalist as he acts out more and more of what he sings. The production ends with the sole protagonist being Robert Smith.

Representations: There are representations of youth in this video due to the young band members. They are filled with angst and are emotionless throughout the video. Another example of youth would be Smith’s dancing with his lover at night.

Pace/ Any variation of pace: The video maintains a steady pace along with the music itself all the way through and there are few disruptions other than the middle eighth synthesiser solo which is purely instrumental.

Shot variety: Throughout the video there are numerous different shots including that of long shots, close ups, medium-long shots, low angle shots and birds eye shots.

Long shot

Close up

Medium-long shot

Low angle shot

Birds eye shot

 FX: There are next to little CGI effects in the video due to the fact CGI was a commodity at this time for music videos, however there are some used to show Smith’s ghostly lover and a green screen looks to have been used for the backgrounds of the performance area in both day and night time settings.

Location/ Mise-En-Scene: There is only one location used in this video, but in two different variations. The location of a hilltop Cliff-side is the main location and the entire video is based around this location. In terms of lighting, the video uses mostly low-key lighting until the end where more high-key lighting is used in the outdoor space. The costumes used are the groups gothic black clothing and makeup. (Robert Smith has white make-up and red lipstick on).

Sub-culture: The sub-culture of goths is represented in this video due to the groups gothic clothing and make-up in addition to the Mellon-collie lyrical content of the music.

Elements linked to your idea: I could employ the gothic influences from this production.