TEEN SUICIDE//BIG JOYOUS CELEBRATION
RUN FOR COVER RECORDS
Big Joyous Celebration is the title track from Teen Suicide's second album - a double album featuring twenty six tracks. It was described by their label as their last album but the band states that they will be simply changing their name when their contract ends.
"The directness with which it speaks to its audience makes it easy to imagine Celebration inspiring a lot of its younger listeners to start a band. For anyone else, it’s just an inspiring testament to indie rock’s continued vitality." - Ian Cohen//Pitchfork Media
This videos once again uses conventional settings such as the woods and other places that are natural however it also uses inside setting such as a house and a hotel room. The outside settings are considered relaxing and peaceful however, quick cuts of seemingly unrelated and unsettling imagery are used such as the dead fish and the dead flower in water. This, much like N.M.S.S unsettles the viewer and gives the video a sense of ambiguity (this is emphaised by the use of handheld footage for these shots).
Arguably the setting of the house would also be percieved as comforting, however due to fast paced cuts, quick pans at a dutch angle and cut to black between shots of the man working in his home the viewer is presented with the idea of monotony. It evokes sympathy for the working man who seems to be trapped in routine and deepy disatisfied with his life. This is also emphaises by the muted colour palette, which can also be conisdered a convention of Indie music videos.
The representation of the man as being overworked and - as the lyrics of the song wouls suggest - depressed, can be extremely relatable to an audience as it is a common problem, also this adheres to elements of uses and gratification theory as audiences crave this kind of personal relationsip and ability to identify within an artist/media. This is another reason why the ambiguity of parts of the video are so important, it alows the viewer to project their own thoughts and feelings onto the video and see their own meaning and adaptation of it which allows them to further idenitfy with the text.
Lots of point of view shot are also used in Big Joyous Celebration, this further emphasises the importance of personal identity within the video. It also adds to the sense of ambiguity as it doesnt show the mans emotions and only allows the viewer to infer his feelings from non verbal communication such as the clenching of his fists over the steering wheel and the associations of escapism that come with smoking. The quich cuts and chnages in camera angle also show recklessness and carelessness which further evokes sympathy for the protaginists arguably self destructive tendancies.
intertextuality is also used in this video. The shots of piles of Malboro cigarettes and the thin stemmed flowers refer to Teen Suicide's video Violets. It is self refferential and therefore postmodern, which is another thing i am beginning to see as a recurring theme in indie music videos.
Symbolism is used heavily in this video too, the blue masks being indicative of both the man and the teenage boy's depression and negative emotions, it also once again plays on the idea of uncertainty in how someone thinks and feels due to their face being obscured. It also leaves the details of the relationship between the man and the boy unkown and allows the viewer to make the connection between them which depending on how the viewer sees it given very few clues and only a simgle moment of intimacy to referance from.
Fast cuts between images of the masked boy, the masked man and the man looking at himself in the mirror coupled with the handheld camera footage shows the fragmented mindset of the man and the mirror shows his moment of self reflection in a very literal sense. The use of the cuts between narrative and abstract fast paced flashing or imaged with sombre or negative connotations (such as the burning flowers and the dead fish) contrasted with the seemingly hopeful lyrics about how "Depression is a construct" and "heaven is a package deal" leaves the video treading a fine line between comforting and unsettling depending on the viewers interpretation.
In conculsion, unlike Neck Deep's video this doesnt particualry present the band in any wya other than being emotional and craving a deep connection with their audience as there is not physical representation of them within the video. This shows the audience that they are truly 'about the music' and not about their constrcuted appearence which is heavily regarded in the indie scene as everything is about being raw and emotional and not the way the world sees you physically.