Dream By Dizzee Rascal
Dream music video
Dream is a music video written by Dizzee Rascal. The video itself seems to be somewhat light-hearted but actually has some meanings behind everything that was used.
To start off the videos breakdown, it is important to analyse the narrative of the video and understand what is going on. The main story of the video is about Dizzee rascals life and how when he was younger he and his friends used to be delinquents and be "up to no good". This is expressed through the quote I just mentioned and when the puppets are shown to be stealing a tv. The police then arrive in a car and helicopter who then fight the other two black puppets. This could be to reference the fact that Dizzee has been arrested before and supports the idea that he used to be at the wrong side of the law. Maybe he didn't do anything too serious but he did do wrong things. It is then clearly expressed that he had a dream about becoming a music artist and that he eventually reached his dream. The music video has many optimistic messages imbedded inside it like being explicitly told that you need to have a dream to have a dream realised and that if you put your mind to it you can reach your dream. At the first part of the video, Dizzee doesn't have a microphone and talks normally but then gets one afterwards. Shortly after the setting then eventually changes and turns into a music studio. The microphone could have been representing how his dream of becoming a music artist was starting to become real since music artists use microphones. When he got the microphone the puppets were dancing in the background, the lighting was darkened and the lights were all colourful and in motion. These suggest that the puppets are in a nightclub. This setting could have been used to show that Dizzee worked for his dream to come true, plus the microphone also shows that it started happening when he was working for it. The music studio represents something more obvious and that is that Dizzee finally reached his dream. He even advertised his first album that was very popular to show that he reached it and with flying colours. The microphone and the music studio as a setting reinforces the music videos message that anyone can reach their dream if they put their mind to it as it is a way of showing that even though Dizzee was not the most privileged person he still worked for his dream and reached it, using himself as the prime example.
In the music video "Dream" the things that mostly represented in many ways are ethnicity and class. On the right side playing on the piano you have a white old woman, most of the puppets are young back males, there is a white male policeman, a young white male and what appears to be an Irish man. First off we have to analyse the first three puppets. They are loitering around an off-license that has graffiti on it and are shown to steal a tv. They then proceed to have a fight with the police when they get caught and are wearing the stereotypical clothes that young men wear, the jogger hoodie set. The graffiti and the stolen tv suggest that the social group that these three puppets represent are linked to crime. The off-license looks old, unused and the fact that their surrounding has a drunk man and what seems be stray dogs could be a hint at their poverty. Considering that two of these three puppets are black could be a reference to the stereotype about young black males. That stereotype is that young black males are always committing crimes, especially theft. Next is the puppet that is holding a bottle of what is suggested to be beer since that puppet acts as if it's drunk. It has red/ginger hair and is wearing a kilt. These suggest that the puppet is Irish and is a reference to the stereotype about Irish people all having red hair and loving to drink. All these characters are portrayed as puppets with strings suggesting they are being controlled. This could be a way the music video is saying, these puppets act this way because of the stereotypes about their social groups. This could be a remark suggesting that it's the same concept in the real world. The identity theory by David Gauntlett reinforces this idea as his theory depicts that we use the media to help create our identity. Since at the time when Dizzee was young, stereotypes where widely believed to be true, the media would always portray these social groups in the stereotypical way. Meaning that these social groups would also eventually subconsciously believe in these stereotypes and act the way the stereotypes depict because they exist, not because they are true. The woman playing the piano is suggested to be in either the middle or upper class judging from how well dressed she is, her well-spoken English and the piano. She is the representation of the mid/upper class in the hierarchical society in older times who the majority were white and older aged. They are represented in this video to show how they are binary opposites to the other social groups represented in the video. How they are represented compared to the other groups shows the inequality between them. The woman in the video is the only person that is big and the others are on the piano she is using. The fact that everything that Dizzee and the puppets do is on the piano could be hinting at the idea that the piano is their world. Since the woman is the biggest character and the one playing it, it could be said that she is the one controlling their world. This could be a way that the music video is again hinting at the difference in social power between these social groups, in the older hierarchical society Dizzee would have been born in.
The music video makes multiple cultural and media references. One of these references are about the period when hoodies were seen to be linked with crime since most criminals used hoodies. Since most young people liked to use hoodies they were banned in some places like in Bluewater in Kent and the police had a "stop and search" policy for anyone who wore them. This is because hoodies were seen to influence young people negatively and it would be easier to identify criminals. Dizzee made a reference to this by giving three of the puppets and himself a hoodie. Since the puppets in the video who wore these hoodies were suggested to be young it would be a direct reference to that period. He did this to link the puppets and himself to crime since the hoodies they wear are also linked to crime. This is to reference the stereotype about young black men being violent and criminals. He made this reference to this stereotype maybe to show how even though he was out of control when he was younger, he was able to reach his dream by cutting the (metaphorically speaking) strings that made him act in a stereotypical way. one of the media text references that was made in the music video was about muffin the mule. This reference was made by using the setting and characters, for example just like in muffin the mule there is a piano, vertically striped wall, most of the characters are puppets on the piano and there is a woman playing the piano. This link to muffin the mule was made to reinforce the idea that ,I already mentioned , there was hierarchy in society with a specific social group on top. I think this because like in muffin the mule, the woman playing the piano who represents high and middle class white members in "Dream" is the one that introduces the music video and ends it. This could be suggesting that before, it was that social group that decided when they other groups could speak out and when they had to be quiet, suggesting that the high/middle class members that were being represented were on top of that hierarchical society.
In the music video "Dream" the things that mostly represented in many ways are ethnicity and class. On the right side playing on the piano you have a white old woman, most of the puppets are young back males, there is a white male policeman, a young white male and what appears to be an Irish man. First off we have to analyse the first three puppets. They are loitering around an off-license that has graffiti on it and are shown to steal a tv. They then proceed to have a fight with the police when they get caught and are wearing the stereotypical clothes that young men wear, the jogger hoodie set. The graffiti and the stolen tv suggest that the social group that these three puppets represent are linked to crime. The off-license looks old, unused and the fact that their surrounding has a drunk man and what seems be stray dogs could be a hint at their poverty. Considering that two of these three puppets are black could be a reference to the stereotype about young black males. That stereotype is that young black males are always committing crimes, especially theft. Next is the puppet that is holding a bottle of what is suggested to be beer since that puppet acts as if it's drunk. It has red/ginger hair and is wearing a kilt. These suggest that the puppet is Irish and is a reference to the stereotype about Irish people all having red hair and loving to drink. All these characters are portrayed as puppets with strings suggesting they are being controlled. This could be a way the music video is saying, these puppets act this way because of the stereotypes about their social groups. This could be a remark suggesting that it's the same concept in the real world. The identity theory by David Gauntlett reinforces this idea as his theory depicts that we use the media to help create our identity. Since at the time when Dizzee was young, stereotypes where widely believed to be true, the media would always portray these social groups in the stereotypical way. Meaning that these social groups would also eventually subconsciously believe in these stereotypes and act the way the stereotypes depict because they exist, not because they are true. The woman playing the piano is suggested to be in either the middle or upper class judging from how well dressed she is, her well-spoken English and the piano. She is the representation of the mid/upper class in the hierarchical society in older times who the majority were white and older aged. They are represented in this video to show how they are binary opposites to the other social groups represented in the video. How they are represented compared to the other groups shows the inequality between them. The woman in the video is the only person that is big and the others are on the piano she is using. The fact that everything that Dizzee and the puppets do is on the piano could be hinting at the idea that the piano is their world. Since the woman is the biggest character and the one playing it, it could be said that she is the one controlling their world. This could be a way that the music video is again hinting at the difference in social power between these social groups, in the older hierarchical society Dizzee would have been born in.
The music video makes multiple cultural and media references. One of these references are about the period when hoodies were seen to be linked with crime since most criminals used hoodies. Since most young people liked to use hoodies they were banned in some places like in Bluewater in Kent and the police had a "stop and search" policy for anyone who wore them. This is because hoodies were seen to influence young people negatively and it would be easier to identify criminals. Dizzee made a reference to this by giving three of the puppets and himself a hoodie. Since the puppets in the video who wore these hoodies were suggested to be young it would be a direct reference to that period. He did this to link the puppets and himself to crime since the hoodies they wear are also linked to crime. This is to reference the stereotype about young black men being violent and criminals. He made this reference to this stereotype maybe to show how even though he was out of control when he was younger, he was able to reach his dream by cutting the (metaphorically speaking) strings that made him act in a stereotypical way. one of the media text references that was made in the music video was about muffin the mule. This reference was made by using the setting and characters, for example just like in muffin the mule there is a piano, vertically striped wall, most of the characters are puppets on the piano and there is a woman playing the piano. This link to muffin the mule was made to reinforce the idea that ,I already mentioned , there was hierarchy in society with a specific social group on top. I think this because like in muffin the mule, the woman playing the piano who represents high and middle class white members in "Dream" is the one that introduces the music video and ends it. This could be suggesting that before, it was that social group that decided when they other groups could speak out and when they had to be quiet, suggesting that the high/middle class members that were being represented were on top of that hierarchical society.
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