Shows the band playing their instruments alongside the dominating story line that follows throughout the video - thus making it a performance/narrative video.
Applying Barthes’ theory to this video reveals that there is no particular enigma, the message is clearly explained and doesn’t leave the audience thinking, ‘why?’.
The cultural code is dominant in this video mainly due to the lyrics being anchored by the visuals; we see Rou, the frontman, as a news reporter, quizzing what look like politicians about their motives behind digging for the limited supply of oil - a very prominent issue in the world today, showing depth to the band’s motives and also amplifying their lyrical meanings.
Their dressing as news reporters also is a key factor in explaining the video’s semiotics: it connotes that they as a band are reporting the issues that the news reporters in the real world, are failing to do so.
Considering the hegemonic status of the media in today’s society, it could be argued that Enter Shikari are going against the hegemony in their video, challenging the current media values and presenting what everyone should know rather than what everyone is told.
When using Dyer’s theory, it seems that this video goes against the paradoxical elements that combine to create the ‘star image’ discussed in his theory.
There seems not to be a time where the band is either ordinary or extraordinary; they are not trying to be something they aren’t, in that they represent their own values as people rather than as stars.
The band only ever seem to be distant from the audience; disguising themselves as characters rather than themselves so that, even when directly addressing the audience by looking down the camera often at CU, the audience still see it as someone other than Rou or any of the Enter Shikari members delivering their message.
As a pair, these two messages that go against the paradoxes convey Enter Shikari’s ethos; they are presented as people who make music to inspire and display their own viewpoint, rather than become famous and be labelled as a ‘star’.
You Me At Six - Loverboy
In the video we see the conventional performance element of them playing instruments, combined with ‘meat’ shots of the lead singer, Josh, that is typical of the rock genre - showing who the band are and proving they can play their own music.
In the past year or two they have become more of a mainstream success with their album ‘Sinners Never Sleep’, something that has very much reflected in the evolution of their videos and therefore their meta-narrative as a band.
When studying Roland Barthes’ narrative theory it becomes clear that this is simply a promotion for the band and for their new style of more aggressive, rocky music. We see all of the band interviewed in what looks like a police station room, with officers asking them questions that sync with the lyrics; the audience do not know what the band have done and do not find out at any part of the video - thus creating enigma and distancing the audience from the band as the audience can’t fully empathise with them due to not knowing why the band are in that situation.
Furthermore, the use of the semic code provides the greatest evidence for the band’s promotion: the way they flip the tables, argue with the officers, have to be restrained, all whilst emphatically playing their instruments heavily connotes the rebellious, rock-star image that is often lusted for in the genre.
The ‘Loverboy’ video adheres to both of Dyers’s paradox’s.
Firstly we see the juxtaposition between the ordinary and the extraordinary: an innocent band, playing their instruments to make music, and then a group of people being interviewed for what seems to be a crime that they don’t care about - replicated by their emotionless reactions to the majority of what looks like questions being asked of them in the interview room.
We also see varying ways of how the band, especially Josh, address the audience; he is almost always shot at close up, but he changes between looking in to the camera and then looking away from the camera. This is in relation to the contrast between the star being present and absent from the audience.
The combination of these paradox’s build upon the band’s illusive presence; the audience feels, at one moment, they know the artist, and then almost immediately, they become distanced from the band - a process that repeats itself multiple times in the video.
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