Blue October – Hate Me
Todorov’s Narrative Theory:
The beginning equilibrium of this video is where the singer, Justin, is hearing his Mother’s voice on the answer machine, this is the equilibrium as it is the norm for him, being distant from his Mother.
The Disequilibrium however is where Justin is having flashbacks of his youth, remembering how he was treated by his Mother and following the lyrics this makes him uncomfortable.
The Re-Equilibrium is at his Mothers’ grave, although sombre things have returned to normal, and Justin is once again distant from his Mother.
Propp’s Character Theory:
I suppose it could be said that the singer is the hero in this video, following Propp’s theory. This could be as he appears to be searching for a way to come to terms with his Mothers’ death.
At the same time as this he is also the villain of the of the video, as he is opposing himself in his attempt to accept the passing of his Mother.
Barthe’s Theory:
In the very first few shots of the video it is unclear as to what the song and video are focussed on, this shows the code of Enigma as suggested by Barthe. Throughout the video there are semic features symbolic to the main characters life, the strongest of which is the acoustic guitar found on his bed in the second shot, representing how music has always been in his life (This is further made clear by the ‘Teen-Like’ nature of the room)
Claude Levi-Strauss:
This video makes use of binary opposition with costume and actions, comparing the singer to his Mother, examples of which are:
Drunk Sober
Suicidal Safe
Depressed Uplift
Dark Good
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