Welcome to the Black Parade is a
song by My Chemical Romance, the biggest single on their last album before
splitting up. This song from 2006 was directed by Samuel Bayer and has been
awarded some titles; it was named one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500
Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, and has been recognised by MTV and labelled as
MTV’s Greatest Music of the Century in 2017.
This song and video ranges over
many genres, but it mainly consists of alternative metal punk. It can be
compared to Green Days earlier music but injected with a lot more ‘emo’ feel.
The main premise of the music video is of a man who is called ‘The Patient’ in
a cancer ward and as he is dying he is transported back to a memory of going to
a parade with his dad, which is clearly stated with the first lines, ‘’When I
was a young boy My father took me into the city To see a marching band’’. This
emo punk genre is clearly indisputable through the colour scheme Bayer used
throughout the whole video. The whole video is shown in black and white with
the only splash of colour evident is the red flowers decorating the parade
float that the band is playing on. The director uses a black and white colour
scheme to show that this is a memory for The Patient and he has been transported
back in time. The black and white theme could also portray binary opposition
between life and death, and the red that is vibrant and a contrast to the black
and white filter could suggest the pain and anguish The Patient has suffered
through with his illness. The genre is also clearly portrayed through the way
the band present themselves through extreme close ups of the lead singer Gerard
Way black eyeliner and dark clothing of marching band uniforms are apparent
which solidifies the punk/emo/metal genre of the song.
This video would fit under the ‘mixture’
category on identifying music videos, this is because there is a live
performance element, but also a narrative storyline throughout the video. This
could be also seen as an abstract piece of work as it has artistic details that
helps to develop the mood and tone that they want to portray. They want to show
the memory of going to a parade that The Patient is having, but because he is
dying it is showing it in a much more depressing and creepy way. The whole
video is black and white with little to no colour, there are close ups of
people in very eerie costumes of gas masks, which could be the dream sequence
of the original parade The Patient remembers with colourful costumes and masks,
but because this is his dream and memory of it, they have morphed into death
and decay. There are a lot of cut-away’s to the band and of the lead singer
Gerard Way, which constitutes it as a performance piece, it’s short and snappy
and on the beat of the song which makes it interesting and a lot more
satisfying to watch than the jump cuts being out of control.
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