Week 9 Video Reviews
Janie's Got a Gun
Artist's Name:
Aerosmith is a legendary American rock band who began its career in the early 1970's
Song Title:
"Janie's Got a Gun"
CD/Album Title
Pump
Year
1989
Record Company
Geffen Records
Director
David Fincher
Narrative of Video:
The first image seen at the start of the video is a yellow police crime scene tape with the words "Do Not Cross" on it. There is a crowd of men behind it. The scene fades away and the screen becomes black. The next scene shows the camera moving up a dark wall. The beginning of the song can be heard playing as the camera continues to move. The camera reaches the top and Aerosmith is there. The scene changes to the drums only, then back to the entire band. The lighting is dark except for a couple of spotlights set in specific locations. As the video continues, the light changes just enough so Steven Tyler's face is seen. The song is picking up momentum and the video changes scenes to a back yard. The camera pans across it. A female in a white bikini is laying on a white towel sunbathing and a man is sitting in an outdoor chaise lounge. The scene flashes from the man to the face of a woman in sunglasses who is looking at the man who is looking at the female in the white bikini. The scene changes to police detectives and a line of police cars with their lights on. It then goes back to Aerosmith. The scene flashes back to the police scene and the detective is also the man who was in the back yard. The video continues to switch back to Aerosmith after it adds another scene to a story that is unfolding to the words of the song. The next scene shows the hand of a person laying on a train track. Then a man is walking down a hallway. You can see a teen-aged girl laying in bed and the man is entering her room. The woman, the apparent mother in the story, sees him go into the room. The scene shifts to a group of police officers with flashlights searching in the dark. The teen girl is running down a traffic filled street. The video focuses on Aerosmith during the guitar solo of the song. Steven Tyler does different dance like moves and crawls across the stage. The camera spotlights Joe Perry, the lead guitar player, for a while, and then focuses in on Steven Tyler. The scene goes back to the story as it shows the girl running in traffic again and the police officers searching for her. A stretcher is pulled out of the back of an ambulance. A man is lying in the street with bullet holes in him. The attendants cover him with a sheet. The teen girl is crying. A man wraps a blanket around her. The video ends with the police cars sitting there with their lights on.
How the Music and Video Relate:
The video does a very good job of providing images that mesh with the song's lyrics.
Review:
The song is obviously about a young girl who shoots her father after being sexually abused by him. The video does a good job of providing the images that help to tell he story. The images coincide with the words of the song perfectly. One example of this is when Steven Tyler sings "Run away, run away". At the same time he is singing the words, the video shows the girl running through dark streets that are crowded with cars. The emotion in Tyler's facial expressions match well with the theme of the song as well.