Textual Analysis - Macklemore

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Same Love



Conventions of Genre:

Macklemore is a pop/hip-hop artist. Conventionally, an artist like this would have songs about girls, that doesn't really have a meaning, and their video would feature a lot of girls. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis break this convention and go against the stereotype in that their song and their video has a very strong message about gay and lesbian rights. A lot of hip-hop artists can be quite homophobic so an artist of this genre doing a song about equality and same-sex marriages is quite unusual.

Use of cinematography:
Many close ups are used throughout the video to show the emotion of the characters in the video. Because this is a song and video with a strong message, it is important to get the characters emotions across to the audience so that the audience can relate to the character or at least understand what the character is going through. 

Deconstruct the text in relation to connotations:

The video, spanning decades, depicts the life of the main character and the same-sex partner with whom he falls in love, including the social conflicts which befall them in relation to their sexual orientation, their eventual marriage, and their final parting in old age. Throughout the video, it shows different kinds of love for example to love between a mother and child, love within a friendship and the love between a couple. This is to show that there are many kinds of love in the world, and that people should accept that, everyone should be allowed to love who they want to love without it being a big issue. At the beginning of the video, there is a close up of the mother and baby holding hands, showing that they love each other unconditionally. This is carried on at the end when the man is on his death bed, holding the hand of his partner, showing that they love each other unconditionally, no matter what anyone says about same-sex marriages, they will always love each other.

How is narrative developed:
The video shows the mans life from the day he was born to the day he died and all the struggles he faced throughout. His past is reflected in his future. At the beginning he is a happy, care free child, at the end he is a happy, care free man.

How does text appeal to the audience:

The text appeals to the audience because a lot of people want same-sex marriage to be legalised. It is appealing because people like that it shows all those that don't really understand same-sex relationships, how hard life can be because they are not accepted in society, and it shows how stupid it is that it is not accepted so it has the ability to change people's opinions on these sorts of issues. It also shows that if someone who is from a rap/hip-hop type of background, who conventionally can be homophobic and sexist, can sing about and support same-sex marriages, then there is no reason why everyone can't accept it too. If a music video has a love story type of narrative in the video, usually it will be a love story between a boy and a girl. This video is unconventional in that way in that it is a love story between a boy and a boy. This may be what appeals to the audience as it's different to every other music video, and that if it's been accepted in the music industry, it may soon be accepted in society.