Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Music: Fairy Tale Inspired Music Videos


(From Thundrah)

Heidi over at SurLaLune Fairy Tales Blog has been doing a month of fairy tale-themed music. While most of the posts are songs about fairy tales, the two guest posts [EDIT: one by our friend Gypsy over at Once Upon a Blog!]that caught my attention were the ones whose music videos used fairy tale imagery to express the emotional journey outlined in the songs.

The first is "Black Sheep" by Valentine (see full post with more songs). The lyrics tell the story of a girl who is living life in the fast lane, but seems to have made all the wrong choices. You picture limos, clubs, back alleys, shady deals, mascara tears, people basking in her glow, and then shunning her. Valentine takes that song in the music video and transplants it to the fairy tale world. Juxtaposed with images from Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Beauty and the Beast (and probably others I didn't catch), the story becomes about a girl who is trying to change her life. She has a rich lifestyle, but it seems to give her no pleasure. She chooses to go off into the woods. She goes through the mirror at the invitation of her younger self, trying both to get back to who she used to be and find a new life, a new way of looking at the world (loving the Beast, living in the woods):





The other is "Call Me When You're Sober" by Evanesence, a song rumored to mark the break up of Amy Lee and her boyfriend, and the resolution for the band to clean up their act (Full Post). The lyrics tell the story of a girl who is conflicted by the break up of a mutually destructive relationship. She knows its the best thing, and that they are not good for each other, but her heart whispers "How could I have burned paradise?" The video has Amy as a powerful and captivating Red Riding Hood sitting at a booze-littered table with her lover. Judging by the fur and predatory stare, he is the Wolf. She pets real wolves while in a large chair, exerting her control, and then divests herself of her Red Riding Hood cloak, rejecting the advances of her lover. She goes from a place of subjugation, to a place of power, blowing the bottles off the table as she advances on him. It is an interesting exploration of the Red Riding Hood/ Wolf dynamic as a mutually destructive relationship that she needs to get out of before they destroy each other (presumably by being eaten, or killed by having rocks sewn into the stomach.):




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