Textual Analysis of "Fell In Love With A Girl" by The White Stripes

"Fell In Love With A Girl" was released in 2002 and the music video was directed by Michel Gondry and features Gondry's son, at the beginning of the video.

The video is a mixture of concept and performance based, as it is mainly The White Stripes performing; however the band is portrayed as being made out of Lego, holding up the idea of it being a concept video also. This also includes a postmodern theme by using the Lego as simulacra of the band, as it shows very little detail, but the block colours and shapes resemble Jack and Meg. Many other images are depicted out of Lego throughout, such as; people chasing each other, swimming and cars moving, with many of these transforming into shapes and somewhat psychedelic patterns.

It is quite typical of Gondry’s style, as it has a playful atmosphere, mainly due to the whole video being made out of Lego; but also as its production values, are not as high as they could be. This slightly highlights the constructed nature of the video (which again is quite postmodern) but also adds to the ‘playfulness’ of the video by giving it quite a childish edge, as it’s not quite “perfect”.

High key lighting is used throughout, which enhances the bright colour palette consisting of mostly white, blue and red, as well as some green, black and yellow. The primary colours also maintain the childlike quality of the video, making it seem more lively and is also quite intriguing to watch as the palette is fairly limited so it's interesting to see how it's used. Straight cuts are used consistently within the video, which not only adds to the lively atmosphere of it, it creates a much quicker pace, suiting the upbeat tempo of the song.

The video adheres to  most of ‘Goodwin’s Six’ elements that are common in most music videos, however there isn’t really a sense of voyeurism or any intertextuality. There are a few close-ups of Jack and Meg, as Goodwin stated, but due to the Lego, their facial features are only really picked out at one point, however this may amplify the intended result, if the audience can recognise who it is from some simple shapes. One of the most prominent aspects of Goodwin's Six that "Fell In Love With A Girl" highlights it the link between the music and the visuals, as almost constantly throughout the video the Lego pieces move in time to the music, and alter to accommodate different elements - archetypal of Gondry's panache. For example some lit up red and green Lego blocks are used to represent a kind of equalizer image which corresponds to the opening chords. Similarly to this, the visuals match the lyrics, but only really at one point (1:23) as the lyrics are "she turns and says "are you alright? I said I must be fine cause my heart's still beating" where assumedly Meg is shown lip-syncing the 'girl's' part and Jack the boy's, to illustrate the song, but that is the only part that incorporates that specific feature.

I liked the video as it is quite an original idea, as is most of Gondry's work, but isn't really what would be expected of a White Stripes music video, creating a clever contrast between the song and the video, whilst enhancing it slightly, as it exaggerates the pace and movement almost, of the song.