Goodwin Analysis of Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Can’t

Stop (Romanek, 2003)

• Performance – This medium long shot clearly shows members of the band performing their song. This helps to make the song seem more realistic and gives the audience more of a connection with the song and therefore members of the band as there is less sense of surrealness than there would be in a music video without performance.

• Star Image – As well as this close up, there are many other shots of the lead singer of the band, Anthony Kiedis, which give him screen prevalence over the other members of the band. He is portrayed as an irreverent, alternative character, through the shots clearly including his tattoos, his outfit consisting of no top and his exaggerated action in the music video where he constantly throws himself aroud.

• I believe the shots in this music video are disjunctive and there is no correlation between the actions in the music video and the lyrics. For example, this mid shot shows one of the members of the band in what seems to be a tent made into an outfit. During this shot, the lyrics are “Worth your weight the gold of meditation”. Clearly there is no correlation between the two.

• This close up helps to portray Goodwin’s theory of the notion on looking. The close up shows the lead singer looking directly at the camera as if he knows it is there. This helps to connect him with the audience through para-social intimacy and gives the viewers a more immersive experience whilst watching the video.