Mariah Carey's single 'its like that' was written as part of a sequel, 'we belong together' was the on continuing narrative to the story. 'Its like that' was on Mariahs album 'The Emancipation Of Mimi' released in 2005. It was one of Careys biggest commercial successes in years.
The main narrative is of Mariah going to a masked ball at a mansion, she goes there planning to have a good time and celebrate her night "it's my night". When all the masked people arrive she recognises an ex-lover (wentworth miller) and the video is left on a cliff hanger.
The first shot we see of mariah is a long shot to show what she is wearing, she styles a variety of costumes in the music video such as a floor lengh silver diamond low cut dress, black one shoulder dress and another black one shoulder dress but a sparkly one. All these costumes reinforce mariahs stereotype for the video as being a glamourous women. As soon as we see her in the first dress we instantly know her personna and that her sterotype is a typical glamourous, girly girl, who likes to look good. The black dresses connote mystery and sophistication and the silver outfit connotes glamour and also wealth.
The first scene we see mariah in is where she is walking down the steps to the dance floor of the mansion, she is standing in the middle of 6 masked men. From a veiwers point of veiw, mariah looks like the dominant gender as she has the men following her around. This challanges the dominant idea that males are classed as higher, as in the video the men are waiting on mariah. This is featured in alot of RnB and some soul music videos, particularly females where the women have been more dominant characters.
The next scene is mariah dancing with her girlfriends and having a good time, she is constantly referring to it as her night "this is my night, no stress, no fights, im leaving it all behind"......this could be connoting forgetting about a past relationship as it does link to the narrative of the music video. Dancing and having fun with her friends and putting lipgloss on reinforces the realism of the narrative and her stereotyped character.
The next scene is mariah changing her outfit...in keeping with her girly stereotype and flirtind and dancing with people at the mansion. This reinforces realism of her going out and having a good time, she is a typical glamourous female, who is using her sexuality and good looks to gain attention.
The end of the music video wentworth miller reveals himself behind the mask and mariah is left wiht a shocked expression on her face.
The lighting used is mainly lights from the setting of the mansion to reinforce the realism of a glittzy and glamourous masked ball. there are lots of big shandaleers and brihgt lights which are often associated with RnB artists videos as they can connote wealth and a glmaourous lifestlye. There is often key lighting on mariahs face to show that she is the focal point of the music video and also it sets her apart from everyone else, connoting importance and a higher status than everyone else.
The editing used is mainly straight cuts form one scene to another, this helps the flow of the music video and keeps the narrative cohessive, it also goes wiht the pace of the song as it is not too fast. Near the end of the music video where wentworth miller walks in the editing speeds up to cut from mariah to wentworth even faster, this enables us to see there expressions and emotions as each of them start to notice eachother. this alos creates realism and is often used in RnB music vidoes too, it helps us as the veiwers connect wiht the artists emotions.
The setting is in a mansion, the colours of the setting are browns, reds and golds...all these colours co-ordinate well with the style of the song and also the style of mariah carey. The colours connote sensual emotions, luxury, importance, mystery and glamour.
The gestire and movement of mariah carey expresses a feeling of confidence. She dances very seductively and sensually, using her steretype to help her. She is posed as a very self confident and secure women who knows she is very pretty and uses this as an advantage and as confidence to reinforce her typical glamourous and luxurious personna.
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