Sub Culture video - Paramore - Now

Band: Paramore
 
Genre: Alternative/Pop punk
Track: 'Now'
Directed by: Daniel "Cloud" Campos
 
Paramore's music video for their single 'Now' is a highly relevant video to the Alternative youth sub-culture. The video is about a war against oppressive behaviour, the suppression of individuality and the inevitable triumph of those who show love and compassion. Universal platonic love is an Alternative ideology that I have explored in my 'Youth  Sub-culture' study.

The side that the band are fighting is the side of love. This is made clear in the establishing shot of the video showing the two 'sides' of the conflict the production portrays. On the right side of the shot the pink hue of the fog and the bright hair of the singer, the pink hue and bright hair connoting happiness and love contrasts against dark form of the opponent and greyness of the fog, connoting lack of identity as well as oppression and lack of expression. The idea of the enemy being seen as oppressive is supported by the use of a grenade prop and his dark and heavy costume. The grenade shows how his power is something physically obtained through force and the costume, the trench coat especially, carries connotations of Nazism from the trench coat's popularity with the Third Reich's SS. From this the video alludes conflict (Strauss'  theory of media) to the audience in the form of this initial stand off.

The band takes on the role of anti-totalitarian rebels. Their costume is simple and ragged, this connotes many things: the simplicity of the clothing shows how love is a stripped down emotion, that love is something everyone has no matter who they are class or wealth wise and finally, that even the lowest regarded people by society can rise up and become powerful, not through material advantage but through the shear power of love. The band's concentration of love stems from their religious beliefs, yet they are liberal with their ideologies making the band more of a humanitarian band than a religious one, even though their religion of Christianity is a dominant feature in their music.

During the first chorus at 1:25 the lead singer, Hayley Williams, is walking through the battlefield untouched by the conflict around her. She is a symbol for love and positive ideas, this is shown by the colour of her hair being bright and her make-up having a white hue connoting purity and simplicity, linking to her costume. The symbol of the lead singer being untouched by the conflict portrays the idea of love's indestructible nature, no matter what happens around it, love will always stride forwards. Furthermore, the shot composition of Hayley  in the middle of the shot shows how she is the subject and she is almost detached from the conflict because she is the symbol for love itself, this idea can be re-enforced by the close-up of her at 1:38, it shows her facial expression that she is unfazed and defiant in the face of negativity. This part of the video shows how true love is not tainted by conflict.

At 1:52 the coloured smoke furthers the prevalence of bright colours in the music video. The colours stand out making the band's presence more dominant in the shots, enforcing Andrew Goodwin's music video theory of artist presence.  The natural lighting frames the subject against the sky creating a silhouette, this is almost a form of religious imagery, showing power and divinity. This idea is further supported by the low camera angle making the subject look tall and powerful e.i. a symbol for the power of love. However, at 2:18 the enemy forces apply gasmasks, this portrays the message that the things that supress the spread of love are adapt and are hard to beat, highlighting that the fight for unity and love is not an easy one. At 2:46 the band members seem defeated and are beaten by their enemies, their blood appears brightly coloured powder furthering the use of colour contrast techniques into the video. Furthermore, the sudden domination of the mise-en-scene by the brightly coloured powder is a visual manifestation of the audio's crescendo prior to the chorus, this links the to the association of on-screen visuals and the audio in music videos, part of Goodwin's narrative theory.

Even though the cause of the band seems hopeless, the low angle shots of the soldiers makes them look dominating and powerful yet, the band keeps fighting on. It can be suggested that this represents how seeing the victims of violence increases human sympathy and love for those people, that seeing them suffer unjustly drives people to fight against oppressive forces. This gives the lead singer the strength to keep fighting and break through the enemy ranks.
 
The climax of the video involves the lead singer finally breaking through to the leader of the oppressive forces and hugging him, making him see the light. This is literally manifested by the sun's brightness intensifying when this happens, the use of lighting connotes happiness and victory, the darkness ending. These emotions are verified by the close-up shots of the band member's faces, allowing the audience to see their relief and happiness at finally winning the war.

This music video is almost the perfect video that would appeal to my chosen sub-culture. The video's content correlates in a plethora of ways with the Alternative lifestyle and ideologies. Whether it's the theme of the spread of love and positivity, the use of bright colours and simple clothing or the anti-right wing political messages. There is no reason why any Alternative rocker should not love this music video.