KEY TEXT: Dizzee Rascal Dream Music Video

Analyse the content of the music video for Dream, using technical codes and the narrative of the video.

Dizzee Rascal has portrayed his narrative and his point of the music video and a very clever and sophisticated way. Overall, the autobiographical music and lyrics itself is about his rise to success and his own personal journey; however, the very last verse is a direct address to the audience (the younger generation) as it subverts to him, who is someone in a position of success, inspiring them to make the most of what they can and believe in themselves. This is altered in the visual elements of the video; lighting, colour, camera framing and more. The use of props plays a big role when highlighting the message of the video as it begins with pastel and soft colours of baby pinks, baby blues and yellows which is viewed as playful and joyful aura that suggests that the narrative would be optimistic and upbeat. During the music video, there was an iconography of puppets which also feeds into the positive and high spirited narrative but since Dizzee's genre in this music video is grime/pop, the puppets almost mocks the genre and what it represents. Moreover, the smaller sized puppets of ideological implications of what the music video is. Adding on, the puppets could also be viewed in a negative perspective as they are being controlled which automatically states something about his status and stereotypes people of colour as usually controlled by upper class middle aged white people. Nearing the end of the music video, it ends with a young black male with a pram which goes against the stereotype which is not a classic trope as in society it is well known for women to be nursing and caring for the babies. As for the setting of the music video, there is a scene where there is a shop with graffiti sprayed on it that depicts that Dizzee grew up poor and inferior which changes what the audience thinks the narrative of the music video is. The binary oppositions in this music video is upper class middle aged white people and the supposedly lower class "poor" minorities. 

Representation is also shown throughout the music video through different groups such as: gender, race social and ethnic groups. The representation of ethnicity in Dream is sued all throughout the music video as it is based on the perspective of the white woman because it is shot in her living room with her sitting by her piano, this further highlights that white upper classes dominate and control the city. The white woman is a direct representation of the old children's TV show "Muffin the mole" suggesting that i is much less threatening and childlike. On the other hand, placed on top of the piano is a much smaller puppet box where Dizzee eventually comes out of but with only the woman's permission "Should we see what Dizzee Rascal is up to today?" suggesting that even though he has risen to success and is well known, himself and other black artists still fail to be recognised as the white artists as they are the ethnic minority. The upbeat song clashes with the setting and the lyrics as people of colour have boundaries that they can not overstep. Furthermore, Dizzee is describing stereotypes by portraying the black puppets in a negative concept as they are involved in petty crime (theft and vandalism). When this happens, white male police officers arrive and begin beating up the other puppets which causes an immediate reaction from the white woman as she recoils and flinches suggesting that she disapproves of the police violence but she fails to bring herself up to say anything which heightens her white privilege as the action is not being done directly to her. In addition, the grime and rap music that Dizzee is singing too makes the woman seem on edge and uncomfortable which indicates that she does not approve of his music and this type of genre. Dizzee is also imitating and making a fun of the original sample of the music, Captain sensible. Captain sensible was a former member of a punk band before resulting in making pop music, Dizzee mocks him by coming out of him grime music to join pop music.

Moreover, the representation of the black puppets in the music video include another serious stereotype of the 'comedy black man' which back in those days were called 'golliwogs' where children would play wit them or would just be used as a source of entertainment. This suggests that back in the day, mostly black males were either just there for comic relief and are not taken seriously heightening their stupidity. Alternatively, black males were also seen as criminals, some crimes that were said that they would do is rape, steal and more. This is shown through a short movie where it shows a white man doing blackface who is chasing a girl in need of raping her. This links to the Dream music video through the pupppets as the golliwogs can be interpret in that way. Furthermore, the white woman in the music video portrays the British empire as in the music video there is a drastic size difference between both Dizzee and the woman indicating a source of dominance. History shows that the British colonised Jamaica and other African countries for slavery so black people would have to migrate to Britain. By black people going to Britain by force to do work for the british, this shows that white people are controlling and dominant.