My Chemical Romance's Na Na Na music video released in 2010 is jam-packed full of excitement, action and comedy. The video is a parody with a combination of western/badlands and comic-book style which is made apparent through the extravagant mise-en-scene. The video is very high-concept and narrative based as the video tells part of a story that merges with all the other music videos from their Danger Days album to tell the whole story of the album. The premsis is that the band member are a gang named the Killjoys and they are being hunted by a sinister character and his vampire-masked henchmen. It is unclear as to why they are enemies but it is made very explicit that they are rivals. The Killjoys have a young girl in their gang who the sinister characters are out to get. Again, we are unsure why he is after her. The video uses many referenced to pulp fiction as there are car chases, shoot-outs and a Mexican standoff at the end which results in the sinister character capturing the young girl and telling the Killjoys to "keep running". The video is very dramatic and action filled with elements of mystery as there are some parts to the narrative that are confusing and unclear, however this is what adds to the excitement and intrigue of the music video, as though it was a real action film.
There are also references to other media texts that inspired the idea of the music video, such as the films Easy Rider, Blade Runner, Terminator 2 and the Mad Max franchise.
The video has a very sinister and violent theme and perhaps is making an inexplicit statement about reality as the lyrics say "Drugs gimme drugs" which could be talking about peoples dependence on drugs or other substances. Overall I think the song/video has a political message as it talks about people ruling the world and everyone just follows - "You run the company, na na na na na na na, fuck like a Kennedy" - this could be a reference to the way the country is run or how it was run by president JF Kennedy. Also, the song is about revolution and peoples desire to take over - "Everybody wants to change the world, but no one, no one wants to die". The visuals that we see on screen certainly amplify the lyrics as everything about the video is open to interpretation.
Every album that My Chemical Romance have released, they have had a slightly different look accordingly. Danger Days is the bands 4th album and they transported their image from emo to more pop-arty, comic style for the album. I think a reason that many artists constantly change their image is so that they don't become boring and predictable and to keep fans interested and guessing about what they will do next.
Throughout the video many mid-close up shots are used to clearly show who the characters and more importantly, who the band are. The video also follows the conventions of a normal music video as it shows the lead singer, Gerard Way, the most in order to inform the audience that he basically is the main figure in the band (and music video).
No comments:
Post a Comment