Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know (OFFICIAL VIDEO) Analysis
Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know
Alanis Morisette's music is predominantly described as 'alternative rock.' The stereotypical characteristics of an alternative rock star and their songs are reflected in the music video for her song You Oughta Know. Although I am not familiar with Morissette's songs, I feel as though she has a very distinctive voice. When researching Morissette, I discovered that she is considered to be the fifth 'best' female alternative rock singer, which suggests that her voice would be recognisable to people that like this genre of music.
Throughout the music video, it's clear that Morissette is trying to address the audience, shown through close up shots and eye-contact with the camera. This would help the audience feel like they were being personally addressed and therefore feel more connected to the artist. Building on this, Alanis herself heavily features in this music video, taking on the role of the main/only character in the narrative as well as performing the song. With her look, she has the visual characteristics of an 'alternative rock' star. She has long, curly hair that hangs in her face. This unkempt look suggests she is someone who is careless and fearless, which the typical 'alternative rock' audience would expect from her and would strive to be like. This in turn would guarantee more repeatability and success for the song/music video.
Although there is narrative in this video, where Morissette is sat on the bench with a suitcase, the lyrics aren't directly reflected in the visuals although it could be said that the journey she takes throughout the music video is her going to 'remind [them] of the mess [they] left when [they] went away.' Nevertheless, the main connection between the song and the visuals in the lip syncing used throughout. In both the performance and the narrative, lip syncing is used to connect Alanis to the words she's singing.
In-keeping with the characteristics of a rock music video, a sense of disorientation and recklessness is conveyed through the use of short takes, cutting back and forth between the narrative and performance elements of the music video. This in turn effectively reflects the aggression that is signature to rock and therefore Morissette's style. Audience members who are a fan of Morissette or alternative rock would be expecting these things which is why it's important they were included in this video.
A lot of close up shots are used in the video, particularly when she is performing, again to portray Morissette as intimidating. Even now, for a woman to be performing alternative rock isn't as common as for men to do so, which makes the production of this music video more important as it needs to highlight her strength to match the aggression of the song.
Although Alanis changes outfit several times in the narrative, the use of costume is effective in separating the two different sections to the video. The first thing we see of Alanis is her sitting on a bench with her all-black dress and this cuts to her on stage, in a white jacket. These outfits directly contrast each other which could be symbolic, but also help the audience to understand this is her at two different times.
A lot of close up shots are used in the video, particularly when she is performing, again to portray Morissette as intimidating. Even now, for a woman to be performing alternative rock isn't as common as for men to do so, which makes the production of this music video more important as it needs to highlight her strength to match the aggression of the song.
Although Alanis changes outfit several times in the narrative, the use of costume is effective in separating the two different sections to the video. The first thing we see of Alanis is her sitting on a bench with her all-black dress and this cuts to her on stage, in a white jacket. These outfits directly contrast each other which could be symbolic, but also help the audience to understand this is her at two different times.
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