Textual Analysis (Katy Perry)

Roar

The video I will be analysing is Katy Perry's 'Roar', directed by Grady Hall and Mark Kudski. This video fits into many conventions of the pop genre such as the bright colours, as it includes many bright colours such as green and blue as she is in the jungle. The video also starts as cartoon but goes into real life to then finish as a cartoon, almost like a story. Katy Perry is known to be an iconic gig figure and known to be sexy as 'males want to be with her, females want to be her'. Following the pop convention, her clothes are rather seductive and very minimal to show off her figure and many of the shots are close up to show particular parts of her body and female assets. She is also very happy in the video, even though she's alone, she is having fun with all the jungle animals and the lyrics show it is a love/relationship song and is very upbeat, like most pop songs. The song follows a verse-chorus-verse structure, like most pop songs so it has a rhythm and is easy to sing along with, and the video tracks this as when it reaches the chorus, she becomes superior in the video. In this video, there is an intertextual reference to 'Tarzan' as she is lost in the jungle and being scared to becoming friends with the animals and being 'queen of the jungle' like she is 'queen of pop'.

The song ‘Roar’ is based on love and relationships and how she felt held back in her relationship but once they broke up she got back on her feet and felt stronger than ever. In the video they portray this like she is being held back in the jungle after the crash as she is scared and forced to carry all the bags for her and the man, we assume is her boyfriend, but when he gets eaten by a lion she becomes stronger and is friends with the animals and becomes queen of the jungle and no longer sacred of being alone.  For example, her main line of the chorus is “You’re gunna hear me roar” and when this is first sung, a Lion is created out of fireflies and roars. This shows how something so small can be created into something powerful, it also shows a lion, the animal who roars. “I went from zero, to my own hero” in this part of the song she looks lost and scared but then builds herself up to be  superior in the jungle, going from nothing to something. In the line “Already brushing off the dust” she has just got confident again, and is cleaning herself with an elephant and a crocodile, showing she is cleaning and literally brushing off all the dirt she got from being down.  “Scared to rock the boat and make a mess, so I sat quietly, agreed politely” these lines are in the opening verse to the song, and in the video they just come from a plane crash, she looks scared and is forced to hold the bags whilst the man is having a fun time, she is scared to stand up to him.

At the beginning of the song, the video is setting the story so the scenes don’t flow with the beat. However, when we hear the chorus for the first time, it starts to change with the beat, to show the contrast between how she is feeling. As the song starts quite slowly and low tempo, the video is slow for example she is walking slowly, very cautious of wear she walks, but as the chorus kicks in, the video becomes livelier as you can see her doing things such as swinging from trees. The song doesn’t really include any solo instruments, only parts where is continuously holding a note and whilst she is she is doing something confident such as standing on the tallest rock as the note is from the word ‘roar’ and it portrays she is ‘roaring’.

This video does include many close ups of Katy Perry. Throughout the video, she seems to lose more and more clothes due to being outside and clothes ripping, and many close ups include her face whilst singing, her female assets when she is wearing only a short skirt and crop to. There is also close ups of important features for example at the beginning when she is scared there is a close up of her putting her hand in the water and almost touching a crocodile. The record company make this video appealing to both men and women as young girls will like the pop song, and are fans of Katy Perry so will be interested in her new videos, and boys find Katy Perry and Iconic female figure and very attractive, so by showing off her best assets will attract the men to watch the video, they do this in a way that is classy but also provocative. This video is very similar to Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday night’ (T.G.I.F) as in the video she starts off as a loser and not many friends but once she has a party and changes her appearance, everyone notices her and is finally liked.  It also similar to her famous song ‘Hot N Cold’ in the way that she managers to be wearing a wedding dress at the beginning of the song looking glamorous, but by the end is in shorts and a crop top as she is recognised for having a nice figure and showing it off.  The similarity is all of her songs have a tendency to be about love and relationships. There are a couple of references to the notion of looking throughout the video. First we see a phone in which the boyfriend is taking photos and we are made to look at the phone to see the picture. The phone is then used again about half way through the video and we see the photo yet again, in which she is posing. Lastly, throughout the video in a scene before the first chorus, we see eyes in a bush which are made to look as if they are looking at Katy Perry even though they are insects. These two visuals show how she is empowered as female. The beginning and ending to the video also act as a slight notion of looking as it opens as a cartoon and turns to real then at the end goes back into a film, which encourages us to look at the video as a film, so she knows she is being watched.

The video is mainly narrative based as it is telling a story of her feeling low and lost in a forest, but then picks herself up to be strong and make the best out of a bad situation. It is also considered a performance as she does lip sync along with the song and represents that she is the singer, and she is also singing to the animals, how strong she now is.

Overall, this pop song does follow many conventions of an ordinary pop song however there isn’t a dance routine and has a bit more story to the song. Although there is bits, where she is showing off her womanly assets, the main point is not about that but too show how she is empowered as a female and trying to give off that response and also follows her own conventions of being about love and being strong in herself where other girl pop videos might show how they need a boyfriend, Katy Perry in her videos shows how after a break up she comes back bigger and stronger rather than is weak and upset about it.

"Roar"

I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath
Scared to rock the boat and make a mess
So I sat quietly, agreed politely
I guess that I forgot I had a choice
I let you push me past the breaking point
I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything

You held me down, but I got up (HEY!)
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, you hear that sound
Like thunder gonna shake the ground
You held me down, but I got up (HEY!)
Get ready 'cause I’ve had enough
I see it all, I see it now

[Chorus]
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
'Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
'Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
You’re gonna hear me roar

Now I’m floating like a butterfly
Stinging like a bee I earned my stripes
I went from zero, to my own hero

You held me down, but I got up (HEY!)
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, you hear that sound
Like thunder gonna shake the ground
You held me down, but I got up (HEY!)
Get ready ’cause I’ve had enough
I see it all, I see it now

[Chorus]
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
‘Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
‘Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
You’re gonna hear me roar
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
You'll hear me roar
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
You're gonna hear me roar...

Ro-oar, ro-oar, ro-oar, ro-oar, ro-oar

I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
‘Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
‘Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
You’re gonna hear me roar
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
You'll hear me roar
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
You're gonna hear me roar...