Narrative Analysis

Frank Ocean - Pyramids

We track Frank Ocean's hazy journey through a strip club called "Pyramids". The club becomes surreal as we move through the club in Frank's perspective, through P.O.V shot. Frank is delirious from the alcohol and is search of a stripper named Cleopatra. The video is plays in a non-linear sequence as we see cut-away shots from riding his motorbike in the vast open desert, where he stumbles across a musician (John Mayer) playing a guitar solo.

Michael Jackson - Bad

Michael Jackson plays an ex-gang member who goes off to boarding school. On his return to inner city New York on the winter break, he runs into his old gang. The narrative is an example of Todorov's equilibrium theory. The leader of the gang (Wesley Snipes) accuses Michael Jackson of losing his roots and becoming a priggish, snotty 'prep' student. The arising results in a duel between the two of who's 'bad' and who isn't. The music video also employs Levi-Strauss' binary oppositions: Michael wins the duel as the 'good', smart, law-abiding character whilst Wesley Snipes the immoral thug loses. However, the video breaks social stereotypes that nerds are usually meek and weak and at the mercy of the thugs and bullies, challenging Levi-Strauss' theory of media texts conforming to societal values. On the other hand, one could argue it does conform to Levi-Strauss' theory as the good and moral character prevails and being a law-abiding, intellectual person is considered to be virtuous, whilst those who live outside of the law are deemed vicious.