Massive Attack - Unifinished Sympathy
Explain how representations in music videos are chosen to promote the artist(s).
Massive Attack are an English musical group formed in 1988 in Bristol, consisting of Robert "3D" Del multiculturalism, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, and formerly Andy "Mushroom" Vowles ("Mush").
In the first few seconds of the video, race and ethnicity are represented through a mixed collection of social types:
-A Latino Gang
-Mixed race boy with a toy
-The black British singer
-A white couple
-And an African American man with his son
-Later we see a man dressed as a Native American
This is one way the band represents their multiculturalism as they show so many cultures living in place and getting along as equal people.
Another way he band represents themselves is by choosing to film in a law-income area in Los Angeles with littered streets, graffiti and cheap shops implying that the band was also brought up in the same circumstances and belong to the working class. This is also portrayed by the choice of filming and editing, the music video was filmed using a single gentle steadicam shot for the whole video with some clever use of a crane at the beginning of the video. There was no editing made to this video which represents a lot of talent as this kind of shot is very underrated and requires a lot of skill.
Another thing we learn about the band is that they are most likely socialists as their video shows all people as equal whether defined by class, gender, race, disability or age. For example how the man with amputated legs is shown to engage rather than be passive towards the things around him, as he takes a leaflet and reads it while he continues his journey. The band has a huge sense of equality, even the lead singer, Shara Nelson is clothed modestly and isn't shown under the male-gaze pronouncing her as equal to everyone she walks past. There are also stereotypes broken in his video where a boy is window-shopping with his father rather than his mother.
This is the bands deliberate attempt to represent under-appreciated groups of people, it is clearly not a self-representation, the group and director are British, though the racial mix reflects in part that of the group members.
The song's message is about loss, hurt and incompleteness, this implies that the bands intention for the song was not to be one to dance to but one to think about and understand, they weren't looking for fame when releasing this song but rather for people to see and contemplate their ideology. They are fine and subtle with their work and still manage to give it a huge message behind it.
Even thought the song's lyrics are about love, the music video illuminates the meaning through the representations of social issues and street life.
In the first few seconds of the video, race and ethnicity are represented through a mixed collection of social types:
-A Latino Gang
-Mixed race boy with a toy
-The black British singer
-A white couple
-And an African American man with his son
-Later we see a man dressed as a Native American
This is one way the band represents their multiculturalism as they show so many cultures living in place and getting along as equal people.
Another way he band represents themselves is by choosing to film in a law-income area in Los Angeles with littered streets, graffiti and cheap shops implying that the band was also brought up in the same circumstances and belong to the working class. This is also portrayed by the choice of filming and editing, the music video was filmed using a single gentle steadicam shot for the whole video with some clever use of a crane at the beginning of the video. There was no editing made to this video which represents a lot of talent as this kind of shot is very underrated and requires a lot of skill.
Another thing we learn about the band is that they are most likely socialists as their video shows all people as equal whether defined by class, gender, race, disability or age. For example how the man with amputated legs is shown to engage rather than be passive towards the things around him, as he takes a leaflet and reads it while he continues his journey. The band has a huge sense of equality, even the lead singer, Shara Nelson is clothed modestly and isn't shown under the male-gaze pronouncing her as equal to everyone she walks past. There are also stereotypes broken in his video where a boy is window-shopping with his father rather than his mother.
This is the bands deliberate attempt to represent under-appreciated groups of people, it is clearly not a self-representation, the group and director are British, though the racial mix reflects in part that of the group members.
The song's message is about loss, hurt and incompleteness, this implies that the bands intention for the song was not to be one to dance to but one to think about and understand, they weren't looking for fame when releasing this song but rather for people to see and contemplate their ideology. They are fine and subtle with their work and still manage to give it a huge message behind it.
Even thought the song's lyrics are about love, the music video illuminates the meaning through the representations of social issues and street life.
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