For my video review I looked at the song Papaoutai by Stromae. This song is in French so my narrative will be totally based on facial expressions, video scenes, and body language. The song opens with a plastic man sitting in a living room. The camera is zooming in past the right side of his head and the scene switches to the man watching a blank TV with a boy wearing the same clothes as a man dribbling a basketball. From the fact that they are wearing the same clothes it can be assumed that the living boy is the plastic man's son. The camera pans from the living room to the left and into the kitchen in one take. The plastic man is sitting at the kitchen table staring blankly ahead while the son eats a bowl of cereal. The next scene the boy is trying to play catch with his dad but the ball keeps bouncing off of his chest and onto the ground until he falls over. At this time the son looks really annoyed and leaves his plastic dad laying on the ground. These last few scenes have really showed us that the dad is not involved in his sons life at all, and the son wants a relationship with his dad very badly.
The next scene shows the boy looking into the street while his neighbors are walking through the street. There's a mom and daughter dressed in the same clothes and then a boy and dad dressed int he same clothes. The next few clips show the mom and daughter dancing together and the son and father dancing together. It is all well choreographed dancing while the original boy just stands to the side looking at them with envy. I think it is now very clear that the boy wants to have the same parent/child relationship that he has seen being displayed in his neighborhood.
The next couple of scenes show the boy getting angry with his plastic dad and I think he is talking about how the dad has not been around since he was a baby. He starts dancing in front of his dad as if he is trying to get his attention, or a response out of his plastic father. The clip switches to the bedroom where the plastic dad has been tucked into bed and the son is looking out the window. Out in the street there are two more dad/son dance duos going on and the boy has a longing look on his face. It is clear that he wants a real relationship with his dad. The scenes switch quickly showing the son thinking and pondering something in various situations. I believe the son is trying to think of a way that he can get that relationship with his dad.
The boy is once again dancing in front of his dad trying to get a response from him. He is busting all the best moves while the dad just sits there staring on. Through the entire music video the boy has just looked on at his plastic father and made meager attempts at getting a response from him. This time is different though because you can see intense emotion on the son's face and you can see how badly he really wants his dad to notice him. It gives me a feeling of sadness and longing. Near the end of the son's dancing the plastic dad starts to smile a bit. It makes you think that the dad is finally starting to notice his son.
The clip switches to the boy and son dancing in the street. The boy looks so happy as they do their dance and it really makes the view feel happy too. The camera switches angles to be in the father's car and you see the plastic father sitting in the car doing nothing while the son dances alone in the street. You then realize that the boy was dancing all by himself. The boy pushes the car into the driveway and the scene switches to the boy walking into the living and sitting on the couch by his father. The son then turns into a plastic boy like his father. This ending could mean a couple of different things. One meaning could be that boys turn out like their fathers. Another meaning could be that the boy simply gave up trying to get his father's attention. Whatever the meaning I love this music video and think it has a great, interesting, and well portrayed story of a son who wants nothing more than his father's attention.
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