Narrative Analysis of An Existing Music Video (Mariah Carey - We Belong Together)

This music video proves Kate Domaille's theory (2001) to be correct as it fits in with one of the 8 narrative types that she states, which is Tristan and Iseult. This narrative type is about a love triangle where the man loves the woman, but unfortunately one or both of them are already spoken for, or a third party intervenes. This links well with this music video because the narrative of this music video is of a woman who has recently broken up with a man, and she is stood on her wedding day ready to marry another man but she is still in love with her ex-boyfriend but in the end she leaves her fiancé at the alter and runs back into the arms of her true love. This links with the Tristan and Iseult narrative type because there is two men who love the woman and it is her job to decide who she wants to end up with.

According to Sven Carlsson's theory (1999) this music video is a conceptual clip as the clip shows something else during the video, besides lip-syncing or dancing, because there is a narrative involved. This clip is a narrative/performance clip because there is a narrative to this video, which is the wedding part, and then this cuts to shots of Mariah Carey lip-syncing to the lyrics very emotionally, as if she is saying them to someone.

Tzvetan Todorov theory (1977) can be applied to this music video because this theory stated that each music video follows a specific structure which is Equilibrium -> Disruption -> Quest -> Resolution -> Re-Equilibrium. The equilibrium in this music video is of Mariah Carey and her boyfriend breaking up and then the disruption is when Mariah Carey ends up marrying someone else. The quest is then when her ex-boyfriend turns up and wants to get her back, with the resolution being Mariah Carey going back to her ex-boyfriend and the re-equilibrium is when her and her ex-boyfriend drive off in the car ready to start a new adventure/relationship. This proves Todorov's theory to be right as I am able to apply it to this music video.

Pam Cook's theory can also be applied to this music video because she states that the standard Hollywood narrative should have: linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution; a high degree of narrative closure and a fictional world that contains verisimilitude especially governed by spatial and temporal coherence. So for this music video the cause is Mariah Carey marrying another man but the enigma resolution is when she decides not to marry the other man and return to her true love. There is a high degree of narrative closure as it is solved at the end of the video. There is a lot of verisimilitude in this music video as it is based on everyday events such as wedding days which makes this narrative a lot more believable towards the audience.