Wheatus - 'Teenage Dritbag' music video analysis.

How does this music video follow an archetypal Todorovian narrative?

Tzetvan Todorov is a French-Bulgarian philosopher and scholar who notably constructed his theory of narrative. Todorov argued that every narrative follows a 3 act structure that features a problem (disequilibrium),  a struggle to resolve this problem, and a solution (equilibrium). It can be argued that if a media text has a conventional narrative, it will follow Todorov's narrative structure. The music video for Wheatus' Teenage Dirtbag also follows this structure.

We begin with act one that lasts from around 0:06 - 1:12 and helps establish the characters and the general plot of the music video. We quickly learn that he is in love with a girl called Noelle and that he often gets teased and bullied by fellow students. The "inciting incident" that disturbs the balance occurs quite quickly following the brief introductory and establishing shots seen at the start of the music video. As he is locking up his bike, it gets ran over by a car (A). This disturbs the equilibrium (even if it was brief) and begins the montage of the boy getting badly treated at school. During act 2, from 1:12 - 2:26, the narrative continues the disequilibrium as the main character continues to get bullied by students,  he gets knocked over (B) and things thrown at him (C) etc. Just towards the end of Act 2, the struggle to 'get the girl' begins to get resolved as Noelle appears disgusted and her boyfriend throwing rubbish at the male character. This scene, in conjunction with the entirety of act 3 (2:26 - 3:59), resolves the problem and restores equilibrium as he eventually wins over Noelle. She presents "two tickets to iron Maiden" and he then dances with her at the prom night (D). This music video very closely follows a Todorovian narrative as it features a clear 3 act structure featuring the typical aspects of disturbance, struggle and resolution.

How does this music video us Barthes' Proairetic Code

Roland Barthes proairetic code refers to an action/ event that causes the audience to seek closure. The audience also anticipate the resolution/ closure to the issue this action caused. The music video for Teenage Dirtbag very interestingly uses clips from Loser (2000) (E).  This film is a very typical american teen comedy film set in a high school. It features a male character, labelled as a 'loser', who is love with a girl but because of his reputation around school and the treatment he receives from students and teachers, the feeling isn't mutual. However, in the end she falls in love with him. We've seen it all before and it is a plot we are all very familiar with. With this in mind, the use of this plot line and footage from 'Loser' creates a very strong proairetic code. Following Act 1, the audience confidently anticipate what will happen later on and accurately predict he will get the girl and no longer be a 'loser.' This is definitely the case in the video for Teenage Dirtbag as the typical clichéd american high school narrative is closely followed, like the audience would expect.

(E)

How does this music video use narrative devices?

• Conflict/ Binary Opposition

The narrative of this music video very heavily features binary opposition between the male character and almost every other student. There are several shots that the directors have used in order to construct conflict between the male character and other students, including Noelle and her boyfriend. For example, at 0:51, he's walking down the stairs whist everyone around him, on his side, is walking up (F). This creates a sense that he doesn't fit in with the crowd and is segregated from everyone else. In this instance, this film making technique is used to create a sense of difference, opposition and that the male character doesn't fit in with the mainstream. This technique was iconically used in the opening to Tarantino's 1997 Thriller 'Jackie Brown'. In the opening  of this film, the character of Jackie Brown is walking through an airport corridor. During this entire sequence, she is walking in one direction whilst every other person walks the other way (G). Tarantino used this technique differently to the director of Teenage Dirtbag to create a sense of independence and introduce Brown's character as proud and one that goes against the grain confidently. In Teenage Dirtbag, when the male character physically goes against the crowd, we get a sense of conflict and that he isn't part of the general mainstream group.

Binary opposition is also used in this music video through the frequent use of shot-reverse-shot. This technique is used throughout the corridor scene from 1:12 - 1:36 (H). The director cuts from the male character to POV shots of other students walking past pulling a 'loser' sign at him. It is also used towards the end of the scene between Noelle and the male character. The use of shot reverse shot creates a sense of binary opposition between the male character and fellow students, noelle and her boyfriend. There are literal divisions between the male character and everyone else, as the director keeps cutting between them, creating separation and a sense of conflict.

• Ellipsis

In literary terms, an ellipsis refers to a '...' in a text that is often used to create a cliff hanger or portray a pause in dialogue. In film making, including music videos, an ellipsis refers to a transition where its clear time has passed and the audience 'fill in the gaps' and figure out what's happened. The music video for Teenage Dirtbag uses an ellipsis at 2:25 to transition to the 'prom night' (I). The directors used a dip to black to construct an ellipsis here. This gap in time, through the ellipsis, provides a quick way to move the narrative on to the prom night in order for the video to fit the lyrics.  In addition, this gives the audience the impression that nothing has changed and the male character still gets teased and labelled as a 'loser'. Furthermore, the cliched nature of prom nights in films provide the audience with a development of the proairetic code of the video. We expect that prom night is the night where he can finally 'get the girl' and resolve the disequilibrium. The use of ellipsis in this video provides a useful method of progressing the narrative on and linking the visuals on the screen to the lyrics in the track (one of Goodwin's conventions of music videos).

• Dream Sequence/ Hypodiegesis.

This music video interestingly experiments with narrative structure as it features a conventional liner pattern embedded in a more cyclical overall plot. The first and last shots of the music video are the boy asleep on the stairs, revealing that the whole video was a dream and in fact he didn't 'get the girl' and resolve the disequilibrium (J).  The linear narrative featured in this video, like previously mentioned, very closely follows Todorov's theory of narrative. However, the fact it is a dream sequence undermines the entire story of the video and we learn in the end that he is still a "Teenage Dirtbag". Hypodiegesis refers to the concept of a 'story within a story'. This is similar to a 'Dream Sequence' in the sense that it is a story within an overall, general narrative. Björk's music video for 'Bachelorette' (K) for example, heavily involves Hypodiegesis as the story appears to repeat itself and there is a clear concept of a 'story within a story.'

           

How does this music video feature resolution?

Like previously mentioned, this music video utilises the proairetic code to construct an archetypal american high school narrative. Almost from the outset we can accurately predict what's going to happen in the end. The disequilibrium initiated at 0:18 is resolved at the prom night when Noelle offers "two tickets to Iron Maiden" and then they go off to dance. He 'gets the girl' and as we've been positioned with him throughout, are pleased to see that. However, the first and last shots, that establish it as a dream sequence, spoils this entire resolution and reveals that it was all in his imagination and the disequilibrium still exists. If you looked at this music video and ignored the first and last shots, it would be an archetypal, resolving music video as it follows the conventions of the typical american high school narrative closely. However, the entire music video can be argued to not feature resolution/ closure as he remains a "teenage dirtbag".