Narrative Analysis of Rihanna

Narrative Analysis of Rihanna-We found love

Within this music video I’m going to explore how Tom O’Sullivans media theory alongside Kate Domailles theory applies to my specific chosen music video. Or if my music video doesn’t follow either of these theory’s.

I’ve chosen to analyse We found love-Rihanna. I chose this music video specifically because I felt as popular artist her music video will be consumed by a mass audeince.Because of this I wanted to find out whether her music videos are simply spontaneous ideas or if there’s a narrative theory that can be applied to it.When watching the video through various times it became clear that it was based around a volatile relationship that starts off really well, but as things got in the way it deteriates.I feel as if it emulates that of a rebellious teenage relationship very similar to the younger generation nowadays. We see both Rihanna and her man, take drugs and other substances in order to rebel against soceity.Throughtout there relationship remains strong, but as the self-abuse starts to take its toll, their relationship becomes a fatal mess which ends in Rihanna walking away from him.

When looking at Tom O’Sullivans theory alongside this music video I felt it fit quite well. He argues that every media text tells a story of its own. I feel this does, it tells a story of a young rebellious relationship that’s goes completely wrong due to getting involved with the wrong stuff. This story is quite popular within music videos, it’s quite a general conventional story that is accepted and understood by a mass audience. I feel this is because it works well and not only that it’s very relatable to a mass audience. As most people have experienced what’s been shown. He also states that he believes media texts also offer a way of telling stories about ourselves. I feel this to be true also, in this case because Rihanna is such a dominant character, it’s as if we could picture ourselves almost like her. We can relate to the way she’s acting, and some even relate to the actions she’s making. Showing real life experiences, ourselves may have gone through to. Within this video, I feel as if it’s been made to emulate a real life deteriorating relationship. Because of this is creates verysimiluitude, meaning what’s been shown in the music video to be real or true. In the music video there’s a few glimpses of domestic violence shown, not many but the little glimpses are enough to understand what’s going on. As this subject in the real world is quite touchy, and it’s not spoke about a lot. I feel it re enforces the fact that this music video is showing real life experiences as brutal as they may be, and showing there is a way out if you want to. Concluding that Tom O’Sullivans theory is present within this video.

I decided to look further into narrative theory and decided to explore Kate Domailles narrative theory of that every story ever told can fit into one of 8 catogeries.When looking at the 8 Categories I felt this music video by Rihanna fell into 2 of the catogeries.Them being: Achillies-the fatal flaw that leads to the destruction of the previously flawless; Romeo and Juliet-the love story. I felt this because from the outset it appears to show a love story, which continues up until the near end. But as the music video nears the climax more we see glimpses of drugs and alcohol being apparent. Because of this self-abuse I feel this could be seen as the fatal flaw within the video that leads to the destruction of their relationship. Their actions of taking illegal substances I feel was the fatal flaw, that only got worse impacting on their relationship with eachother.Kate Domailles narrative theory works really well, the 8 categories are apparent in most music videos I’ve seen especially this one. I feel her theory illuminates the theme of the music video in a really concise way. And allows each story bene portrayed to fit into a specific sector.