Narrative Theory - Sven Carlsson / Bordwell and Thompson

Sven Carlsson (1999) suggests that music videos in general fall into two rough groups - performance clips and conceptual clips.

• Performance Clip - when a music video mostly shows an artist (or artists) singing or dancing.
• Conceptual clip - When the clip shows something else during its duration, often with artistic ambitions.

Bordwell and Thompson (1997) offer two distinctions between story and plot which relate to the diegetic world of the narrative that the audience are positioned to accept and that which the audience actually see.

They based this on Russian film theory:

• Fabula (story) is all the events in the narrative that we see and infer. The fabula is defined as the chronological series of events that are represented or implied.
• Syuzhet (plot) everything visible and audibly present before us. Syuzhet is considered to be the order, manner and techniques of their presentation in the narrative. 

Image Essay: Beyonce - Pretty Hurts

Sven Carlsson (1999) suggests that music videos in general fall into two rough groups: performance clips and conceptual clips. Beyoncé’s music video ‘Pretty Hurts’ falls into the performance clip as it contains mostly filmed performance – showing her, as the vocalist, in one or more settings; a beauty pageant (on stage), backstage, her audition, at home, toilets, gym and the doctors. The video contains a combined performance of song and instrumental elements with a visual story that is easy to follow. The nonlinear narrative contains flashbacks and flash-forwards – taking the audience on a journey to show the negative effects that beauty pageants have on women. Furthermore, the narrative portrays a powerful message to both women and men in society that it is inner beauty that is important.

Bordwell and Thompson (1997) offer two distinctions between the story and plot which relate to the diegetic world of the narrative that the audience actually see. They based this on Russian film theory. The fabula (story) is all the events in the narrative that we, as an audience, see and infer. The fabula is defined as the chronological series of events that are represented or implied. The syuzhet (plot) is everything visible and audibly present before us. Syuzhet is considered to be the order, manner and techniques of the video in the narrative. Within the video ‘Pretty Hurts’ Beyoncé takes part in a beauty pageant to take the audience behind the scenes into society’s take on beauty and how it doesn’t bring you happiness and doesn’t move you forward in life. The video shows some of the lengths that women go to in order to fit in. 

In one scene, Beyoncé poses with dotted lines on her face as if she is being prepped for surgery – as an audience we infer that she is doing it out of the immense pressure that she feels from society. The lyrics within this part of the music back this idea up “It’s the soul that needs surgery” – suggesting that society’s idea of beauty needs to be re-visited and re-thought. “Plastic smiles and denial can only take you so far, then you break when the fake decade leaves you in the dark, you left with shattered mirrors and the shards of a beautiful girl” – these powerful lyrics propose the idea that we all need re-educating about what beauty is as this is the reality to what happens to young women.

To conclude, it is evident that Sven Carlsson and Bordwell and Thompson’s theories apply to Beyone’s music video ‘Pretty Hurts’. Also, that it is obvious to the audience that there is a clear narrative structure – making it easy to follow and understand.