Kings Of Leon – Beautiful War

Kings Of Leon

• Kings Of Leon are an indie rock band from America.

• They shot to fame when they released the singles, “Sex On Fire” and “Use Somebody” from the Only By The Night album.

• The Beautiful War video is about a southern American who goes to a bar and he sees his ex with a boy (her brother) and so he beats the brother to death outside the bar because he was drunk but then he is put in jail.

Analysis

• The song starts at 1:08 when the song finally begins.• At this point the beat is very slow, there are no lyrics and we are just

seeing two people having fun at a bar, this shot is in slow motion as it follows the speed of the beat.

• When the words; “Bite your tongue, don’t make a scene dear”, the video cuts to the man in jail. This clearly represents the fact he did “bite” his tongue when he should have.

• There is a heavy use of stereotypes throughout the video, with the video set in a bar hosting a hoedown, at a prison and a bull riding arena in the prison. The southern states of America are stereotypically violent and hoedowns are a common folk social event. Also the majority of the men are wearing cowboy hats.

• The lyrics are sync with the visuals by talking about a man missing the love of his life while he is away (in jail), we see the man in prison and at the bar which represents him reminiscing back to when he had her in his arms; “when I hold the warmth of your body, there is nobody id rather hold”.

• The lyrics are sync with the visuals by talking about a man missing the love of his life while he is away (in jail), we see the man in prison and at the bar which represents him reminiscing back to when he had her in his arms; “when I hold the warmth of your body, there is nobody id rather hold”.

• “When I hold the warmth of your body” syncs with the cut to a close-up of a young attractive women in chiaroscuro lighting. This uses one of Goodwin’s theories of lyrics matching visuals as she is in a red top and the yellow lighting makes the shot look warm and vibrant.

Analysis cont.

• Every time a new verse starts the video cuts to another location. This is to jump between the memory and the present day for the character.

• The video then cuts back to the bar where the girl is trying to make her boyfriend jealous by dancing with another man. This is synchronized with the lyrics, “is making me crazy” this lyric is talking about how the person that person loves confuses them and irritates them and the girl reacts by trying to make her boyfriend jealous.

• When the music begins to reach its final climax, the video reaches its overall conclusion by showing the murder and this is cut between the character riding a bull and killing the man. These two scenes are both synchronized with the music due to the cutting pace and also they are both representing the characters adrenaline rushes but for two very different reasons.

• The final shot that does have music is for ironic purposes. The words, “it’s a beautiful war” are sung when there’s an ariel shot of a man lying dead.

• The line, “shattered and cold” is sung and a shot of the main character in prison are together. This is a clear use of the visuals to image idea and it works beautifully.

• The girl then jumps onto the mechanical bull and this is a clear use of the voyeurism idea presented by Goodwin as she is undoubtedly being provocative.