'Everytime' portrays Britney Spears as a celebrity, constantly hounded by paparazzi, she then goes on to drown in her bath tub when she starts bleeding from a wound in her head. The oroginial concept of the music video was that Britney had killed herself by taking an over dose on prescription drugs, then drowned in her bath tub. however this concept was criticised by many organisations in the U.K. and the uNited states as the ending ws perceived as a glamorisation of suicide. This is one of the main reasons why the music video caused alot of controversy. The lyrics of the song are a plea for forgiveness for inadvertently hurting a former lover and the video was said to be a response to Justin Timberlake's 'Cry me a river'. This video also caused controversy when it was released for a number of different reasons:
In the shot below Britney is being harassed by paparazzi and fans where a fight then breaks out. This scene in the music video has been compared to the fight scene with the Jews in 'The Passion of Christ'. There are various religious references which have been interpreted in the video, this being one of them.
Below is a shot of Britney in her bath tub, just before she relies she is bleeding from her head. We can see she is wearing a bracelet associated with Kabbalah but it can also be interpreted as 'self harm' because the bracelet is red and looks as though she has slit her wrist. Something like this would have been viewed as controversial because these type of images are not usually shown in a music video due to the sensitivity of the subject. Also, this may reflect Britney's own personal life, suggesting she has considered harming herself.
In the shot below is an example of a common motif within music videos. This is called intertextuality where the artist relies themselves as Art and knows they are in a music video. It appears she does not like what she sees because of the way she looks at herself.
The shot shows Britney with blood on her hand from her head. According to Jennifer Vineyard of MTV, the blood in her hand is stigmata: bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, such as the hands and feet. This image would have caused controversy due to the religious link used, especially as its use could be interpreted in different ways. For e.g. to some members of the audience it may look like she is mocking religion.
This shot here was very controversial because Britney is drowning in her bath tub after losing consciousness from the wound in her head. Which could be a sign that fame is killing her seeing as her injury was the result of a paparazzi hitting her in the head with a camera.
The scene below is shown after Britney drowning in her bathtub which suggests she is dead because it is as if she running towards 'the light'. It also shows another common motif: slow motion. Britney is running in slow motion through a hospital hallway and this effect is used to break up concepts of reality and emphasise the shot.
By Samantha Eneli
No comments:
Post a Comment