G324 - P!nk: Funhouse Textual Analysis

P!nk's music video for her single Funhouse appears to be a combination of a performance, narrative and symbolic video due to the way in which P!nk is shown to be performing the song throughout the video whilst also telling a story which is further exemplified through the symbolic use of props and characters.

The video appears to be very pop/rock which suits the aesthetic that P!nk finally discovered upon the creation of her "I'm Not Dead" album, a few years before the release of this single. After being heavily pressurised in the beginning of her career to be an R&B and pop artist, P!nk rebelled against her record label in 2003 with the creation of a heavily rock influenced album "Try This". It wasn't until the release of "I'm Not Dead" in 2006 that P!nk found her comfort ground and settled into the pop/rock genre that she is now known for.


The typical narrative of pop/rock videos is interspersed with performance shots rather than interwoven amongst it as is shown in the Funhouse video. In addition, it is common for the artist to be included in the narrative of pop/rock videos which is exemplified through P!nk's continuous appearance in the video for Funhouse. The typical narrative of pop/rock music tends to focus on everyday life and the issues surrounding it, namely love and relationships, and this is evident throughout this video due to the the depiction of P!nk leaving behind a home full of "evil clowns", symbolising bad memories from her recent life.

P!nk's eccentric dance moves and use of iconography is expected within the video due to these being common within her music videos. Her wacky videos are created to resonate with the viewer and be memorable, therefore the powerful images which have been carefully constructed to reflect and intertwine with the lyrics are what the audience have come to expect from P!nk and they are definitely not left disappointed by Funhouse.
It is common for P!nk to subvert expectations and therefore, ironically, this has come to be expected from her. Again, this is shown within Funhouse, namely through the use of personal images which are dribbled in amongst the story, such as a graffiti painting of her recently deceased dog, Elvis, and a photo frame containing what had been a widely distributed photo of her and her at-the-time ex-boyfriend, Carey Hart from when they had been together. This also acts as an ambiguous intertextual reference to magazine features about the break up.

The video adopted the theme of leaving behind the past shown through the camera panning past a grave with "Elvis" written on it at the start of the video, referring to the death of her dog, and the way in which she discards the photograph of her Carey. The video itself appears to depict the falling action and resolution of the story behind P!nk's break up from Carey.
It begins by showing the audience the aspects that P!nk is abandoning (her dog and ex-boyfriend) and proceeds to demonstrate the way in which P!nk became aware of the destruction this had caused, symbolised by her dancing through the burning house, noticing more and more aspects which are not the way that they should be. The video ends with P!nk exploding the house and driving off on a motorcycle which indicates her leaving behind all the pain and attempting to find her own way. The "evil clown" characters, which are used as visual metaphors to reflect the lyrics, symbolise P!nk's memories of life with Carey in their family home that she is remembering as she walks away.

The clowns, however, are not the only reflection of P!nk's lyrics from within the video. The first line of the song, "I dance around this empty house" is directly shown within the video for the majority of the duration. As mentioned before, P!nk picks up an old photograph of her and Carey at which point she sings "Pictures framing up the past, your taunting smirk behind the glass". In addition the line "I'm going to burn to it down" is repeated many times throughout the song and is reflected by the house being on fire. Whilst singing the numbers of the countdown, P!nk is shown to be counting down on her fingers in an aggressive manner, reflecting not only the lyrics but also the tone behind them. These are only some of the examples however, and it is clear that the lyrics and video go hand in hand for the duration of the song.

The video tackles two issues of representation, one of which is obvious whilst the other is more ambiguous. The more ambiguous representation is that of mental health. This is represented through the negative imagery and visions of clowns that P!nk is having, thus representing her as being stuck in a negative mindset. However, by walking away from all the pain, P!nk is exemplifying the way in which we have control over our own mental heath and have the ability to save ourself, thus representing mental health in a healthy and stable fashion. The second,

and more obvious, representation within the video is that of the event of P!nk and Carey's break up. This has been presented as being a big turning point in P!nk's life and as destructive and powerful. The stereotypical use of colour helps to present P!nk as the innocent character in the story through her white clothing. However, as P!nk moves through the house, her outfit becomes more stained and tarnished by the ash and smoke from the fire. This indicates the way in which the events depicted in the video have caused P!nk's innocence to be compromised, leading to her donning a black motorbike jacket and helmet which connote her attempting to protect herself from further harm. The clothing itself is all ripped and torn which adds to the idea of P!nk's destroyed innocence yet also presents P!nk as being tough. It is very clear within the video that P!nk is there as her complete and true self.

The video is set in a dusty, dirty field with a grave, a huge swimming pool and a burning shell of a building which is surrounded by debris and household furniture. The house is abandoned par the visual metaphor of the evil clowns. This connotes the loneliness P!nk was experiencing at the time and hints that despite her tough exterior, behind closed doors she was falling apart - burning. The most dominant colour within the video is by far the white of P!nk's outfit, as discussed above.
Arguably the most important shot within the video is when P!nk is shown to caress the face of one of the clowns. This symbolises the way in which P!nk overcame her demons by accepting them for what they were yet also represents the way that she was still holding into her memories of the past. Throughout the video, P!nk's rock-star-esque body language symbolises her strength in dealing with her situation and her anger at Carey. The slow, stooped and almost robotic nature of the clowns indicates both the negativity of the metaphor and their lack of personality.

At multiple times within the video the camera follows P!nk as she moves through the scene, giving the illusion of the video working much like a comic strip by following the story. The editing of the video is inconsistent, containing some fast cuts lasting no more than a second and some slow cuts lasting up to 10 seconds. This further creates an idea of the camera following the story as the fast cuts interspersed with the slow cuts help to add depth and meaning to
the scene. The shot at 00:20 (left) is interesting as the camera is looking at P!nk from a low angle, focusing on the way that she is holding the photograph of her and Carey and therefore establishing her dominance within the story that is to follow. At 01:29 (right) there is a medium-long shot which shows P!nk to be dancing in front of the clown characters within the burning house. This establishes that P!nk is no longer scared of the bad memories and is not only facing up to them but also is no longer bothered them, symbolised by the dancing.

There are two different target audiences, potentially, for this video. The first of which is P!nk's fans, who come from all kinds of demographic yet most commonly are working or middle class. This is made evident through the references to P!nk's life which give the video it's meaning - if the audience did not know of the events being depicted, the video would make very little sense. This indicates an assumed understanding from the audience, therefore making it clear that they were expected to be fans.
The most likely access method from these fans is through P!nk's YouTube account, however upon the video's first release it would have also been shown on some TV channels, such as MTV and Viva. The video helps fans to understand P!nk's situation and calls upon them for support during the time period she was finding difficult. However, there is also the potential that the video was targeted at Carey Hart, to cause him to feel regret for his actions and jealous of P!nk's unwavering strength.

The record company's role within the video is to continue P!nk's brand image of strength as well as presenting her as unchanging in attitude. This is important for them as if P!nk were to go through another dramatic change, as she did before, due to the break-up with Carey, it would risk her losing her audience and therefore lose the record company money. On the other hand, by continuing the brand image of P!nk's strength and promoting her strength through the video, she becomes more of an idol to her fans, seemingly unbreakable. P!nk's online presence through her FaceBook page, twitter feed, youtube account and instagram keep her fans entertained with constant updates and her CD releases, including the release of her Funhouse album, are always widely distributed through this. The single and video are further promoted through the album being called the same thing. This draws audience attention to Funhouse more than any other video, as to become the featured single must, theoretically, make it the best. In addition, Funhouse remains to be the only single P!nk has ever released which shares it's name with an album.

Completing this analysis has allowed me to pay close attention to the way in which one of my favourite artists has constructed one of her music videos. This will help me when it comes to creating my own music video as I will be able to use some of the most effective aspects within my own to improve its quality.