Manhattan Sonata

So today my friend Jared sent me a link to Sara Bareilles' new music video for her song "Gravity". This has always been one of my favorite songs from Sara. The vulnerability in it is captured so beautifully in the music and lyrics, using the metaphor of gravity to illustrate how she cannot escape her feelings for someone, no matter how hard she may try.

But AHHHH, the video. Now, I have no expertise in film, but something tells me that this music video is beyond compelling. At the beginning it appears as if she's standing against a painting of a city, bird's-eye-view. This makes total sense, as someone from this perspective would literally fall to earth if unaided. This already sets up the theme of what it means to be under the pull of gravity. The camera pans out and we see she's standing against a wall on a city sidewalk. She begins to walk towards the camera. The camera moves away from the wall with her, revealing more and more of her surroundings.

This is where things truly get fascinating. We see an oversized streetlight and a truck pulls up with a model of the earth on the back. Immediately we see that, though she's merely walking down the street, something surreal is going on. Her motion away from the earth on the truck works with the lyrics: she's trying to pull away from the gravity of the situation. We see little things. A man walks in front of her holding a model airplane. She walks through steam from a vent. Clouds? Perhaps. People move past her holding illuminated umbrellas. Planets? She passes a tree with an odd glow that, perhaps if you squint looks a bit like a nebula. Lights strung above the street look oddly like stars. The entire video is a constant motion away from her original source. She is moving past everything. There is a sense of contrary motion between her and everything else that permeates the video....until....

She hits the end of the bridge. The passing chaos has increased, but right as the bridge builds we see the effects of gravity hit. The motion changes as suddenly a rush of people holding lights (stars?) comes towards her. On the phrase "keeping me down" they surround her in a swirling motion and the camera pans to a different angle. She stops moving. Gravity has overcome her.

The musical and lyrical metaphors are so beautifully portrayed in the imagery of the video. The surreal world she's in, existing both as a city and a walk through space show the juxtaposition of the metaphor in the lyrics. The camera angles, the motion, everything. So, though you probably won't be nearly as obsessed as I am, watch the video and see if you can tell what I mean... You don't see mainstream music portrayed on such a deep artistic level much anymore. )If you're viewing from facebook, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBiGrHc0Xy4&fmt=18)