Audience Theory applied to Same Love - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Mary Lambert

Same Love is a 2012 rap song by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Mary Lambert, the song is about having gay and lesbians having equal rights. The music video covers decades, where we see the struggles of being gay man (Main character) in society and how he over comes this to marry his partner and to their last time together before death.

Barthes

The Hermeneutic Code (HER): The lamp at the very start is an element of the story to represent how the main character is looking back at his life when an elderly person. This is revealed near the end.

The Proairetic Code (ACT): The main character is struggling with the difficulties of his sexuality around his friends and society.

The Semantic Code (SEM): The narrative is showing the difficulties of the main character and trying to live a good life with his partner, however people in society still don't except homosexuals today.

The Symbolic Code (SYM): The narrative is showing the difficulties of a homosexual in today’s society and trying to feel excepted.

The Cultural Code (REF): The video is trying to get the view that whether its heterosexual or homosexual it the same type of love and should be respected the same.

Propp

The Hero: The main character is trying to marry the one he loves.

The Villain: Different people in the main character life, the father for not accepting his son's sexuality and the man that shouts abuse to the main character and his lover in the street.

The Helper: The main character partner who help him in being who he really is and eventually marries.

Narrative Paradigm

Paradigm: The concept of the video is the struggle of a homosexual in today's society and how it’s across their whole life, from being a child to an adult. However the video does show that homosexual can live a good life like heterosexuals, and want us to show it’s the same love like heterosexuals.

Paradigm Shift: The music doesn’t follow the use conventional camp gay couple, but instead want to show homosexuals as no different to heterosexual relationships.

Todorov

There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

1. A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be.): The main character is living a good childhood after being born from his mother without any problems.

2. A disruption of that order by an event: The main character is slowing releasing that he has different sexuality and is coming to terms with it.

3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred: The dance makes the ain character fully aware that he is homosexual.

4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption: The main character finds love, however society still don’t except their love with the father and the character walking down the street mocking them still making a disruption.

5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium: The main character gets married, showing to everyone that was against the relationship, that their love is no different to everyone else’s.

Levi-Strauss

Binary Opposites:

Young Vs Old

Homosexual Vs Heterosexual

Love Vs Hate

The reason I choose this song as an example in my work is because although the song is only roguhly 5 minutes long, the music video is 7 minutes long, and in that time, which although is long for a music video, at the same time is short to tell such a meaningful narrarttive. The choice of scenes, location and charcter is very important as you have so little time and the scenes must be right. I will use this in my music video as help in knowing that everything I put on screen needs to be carefully planned to get the message of the video across to the viewers.

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