Goodwin’s theory‘Basket Case’ – Green Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUTGr5t3MoY

Which of the 3 types?

The music video for Basket Case by Green Day is both Performance and Narrative.

The music video shows the band playing instruments and singing.

The location and performance of the band links to the lyrics of the song.

The location looks to be a hospital for the mentally ill with the band acting as patients. This theme is enhanced by the bright colours and crazy contact lenses worn by the actors and band members in the video.

3 key features used

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The band are in the location of a mental institution as the title of the song suggests they are ‘basket cases’. Other lyrics reinforcing this nature include ‘sometimes my mind plays tricks on me’ and ‘am I just paranoid?’.

There is a relationship between music and visuals. The sound of the electric guitar resonates across the whole record, particularly at the start where it is present only alongside Billy Joe’s lead vocals.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. During numerous close-ups, Billy Joe’s expression will reflect the mood of being in a mental institution, helping the audience to gain an understanding of the situation and tone. 

5 ways to analyse music videos• Thought Beats – The structure of the song is traditional -

verse-chorus-verse. The artist’s voice can be easily recognized. The artist is communicating the story through both the lyrics of the song and the visuals onscreen.

• Narrative and Performance – the video has no narrative but the stars perform in it.

• The Star Image – the artists are depicted as insane, which is a common punk image.

• Relation to Visuals – the song is about having a panic attack and the video amplifies this theme by taking place in a mental hospital.

• Technical Elements –The video has no dialogue or SFX after the song begins, contrasting the visuals with sound. The editing is fast-paced, reflecting the pace of the song and the chaos of the setting.

Representation of gender

In this music video the balance of genders is heavily towards the males as all of the band members are males as well as most of the main characters in the video.

The two female characters fall within female stereotypes as they are both nurses which is a stereotypical female job in a hospital.

Where as the males are either playing doctors or people moving things around which is also stereotypical of men as they are seen as stronger than women.

This video only features two women where as it features about ten plus men so there is a large gender imbalance.