Analysis of "Where is the love?"- Black Eyed Peas- Semiotics

The music video I am analysing is 'Where is the love?' by The Black Eyed Peas. The music belongs to the American Hip- Hop genre and the video contains several characteristics of the genre. These characteristics include stylized rhythmic music which is accompanied by rapping along with rhyming speech that is chanted. Furthermore the Djing is shown in the van, as one of the singers rap into a microphone whilst the other is scratching. The clothing for hip hop music videos is usually, sport wear, and in this particular video the singers appear in basic casual clothing such as tracksuit tops. Additionally, the main female singer, Fergie, is dressed in a plain white vest top.  In many hip hop videos there is usually a link between the lyrics and the video in this case the lyrics of 'Can you practice what you preach' is matched with the visuals of a man holding up a bible in a crowd. The singers appear dancing along to the song which is shown by them bouncing in time to the beat of the song which is common to the hip hop genre. This implies that they like the song and therefore further gives credibility to the song. Moreover there are many close ups in hip hop videos to help establish the importance of the artist. However the video does not follow the common convention of the hip hop genre of using scophillia, presenting woman for the gratification of men. Instead the mixed gendered band is shown equally in a not very sensual way, which is surprising for this genre.

The video alone, has used amplification, by taking the lyrics of song and emphasising there meaning through the use of visuals. The narrative shows the band running down the street placing question marks on everything that seems to be a problem. The song begins with the lyrics of 'What’s wrong with the world?' From what seems rhetorical in the lyrics alone, is amplified by the visuals as they appear to answer the lyrics, showing what is wrong with the world.

In 'Mythologies' by Roland Barthes (1973) he discusses the semiology of the image. He breaks down semiology into three components, the signifier: the associations, the signified: the meaning behind the associations and the sign: the signifier and the signified together. Ferdinand de Suassure in his 'Course of general linguistics' (1916) first describes science of signs as semiology. Semiology is the deconstruction of the significance of images and words. There are three types of signs, iconic, indexical and symbolic. Iconic is where the sign looks like what it is representing. Different to this, there are indexical signs which have a direct connection with the object and then there are symbolic signs which show no direct connection between the two and the symbol is learnt by society. In Black Eye pea’s music video of 'Where is the love?' there is evident use of semiotics in order to show key issues that the song is representing such as terrorism, the U.S government, racism, war and greed.  To begin with, the camera shows question mark signs being placed on walls and objects. This demonstrates that where the question marks are being stuck to, there is a problem. The question mark is able to be recognised by society as concern therefore being an indexical sign, whereby question marks are learnt by society as showing that there is a problem, or concern or perhaps even confusion. There is then a shot of the statue of liberty which symbolises freedom however a question mark is placed by the statue, to question these peoples freedom. The symbol of a question mark is a prevalent theme which runs throughout the music video.

 

Throughout the video, there are many close ups of actors, lip synced with the lyrics, to show their emotions within the situation. It is evident that these actors aren’t happy with the current situation, which is therefore emphasized through the frequent use of close ups. Additionally, the band together is a motif throughout the narrative and during the narrative; the shot then reverts back to the singers to give a sense of security to the video. The motif of the band helps to keep the attention on the singers, as they are the ones who need to be satisfying fans and also making the money for the music. Furthermore, there are many moments in the music video where the band are looking and singing directly into the camera. This is a common convention used to make the audience feel like the artist is singing to them. This technique makes the audience feel involved with the video and therefore they are more likely to enjoy the song.

Throughout, the video, there is a use of intertextuality. WillIAm (one of the main singers in the band) 35 seconds into the song is standing in front of the famous mural 'We are not a minority' of a tribute to Che Guevara which was painted in 1978. In order to understand the reason why this mural is being shown in context with the storyline of the music video, audiences would need to recognise this mural from something of their own knowledge.

The editing in the video always cuts to the beat in time to the music which is a common convention in music videos and in particular in hip hop videos. At 57 seconds into the video, there is the use of pause as the band is running across the road. The band is paused therefore further emphasising the presence of the band. However the pause is mainly on Fergie herself, the female singer perhaps to appeal to a male audience. This therefore presents the notion of looking as she appears in a sporting heroic manner leading across the street.

The location of the music video is in the streets of New York, which is a common convention of the hip hop genre. The location adds to the authenticity of the video but also makes the video relatable to Black Eyed Pea’s target audience of teenagers.  At 2 minutes 59 seconds of the music video, the black man is being victimised. This is emphasized by the use of lighting as his back figure is silhouetted by the use of low key lighting which emphasises his figure. The use of a silhouette in this video has created a dramatic effect in order to show the importance of this man who is being chased. Furthermore the use of lighting has been used in order to emphasise key moments of the song.

The video ends with all the actors involved, looking up to the sky, as the band repeat the lyrics 'Where is the love?' This further amplifies the lyrics as the visual are again answering the rhetorical question from the band as they are looking up to actually see where the love is and how they can perhaps change this.