Music Video Analysis: Teenage Dirtbag – Weatus

 By using Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari, it is immediately apparent that this music video is going to be focusing on a teenage lifestyle. Their debut film; American pie, iconic for it’s typical teenage narrative was a hug success, so why not use the cast who made it all happen.

The video is 50/50 narrative and performance; this keeps the audience interested and also introduces them to the band – Wheatus. Throughout the majority of the video, the band and narrative are shown separately, however at the end they both come together. This could represent the two teenagers also coming together, which supports the idea of finding each other.  There are 3 different sections to the narrative; arriving at school, during the day and finally the prom with a “will she/won’t she” finale. This gives structure to the narrative and flows consistently, the first verse acts as the beginning of the story, the second being the middle and the final verse and chorus is the ending. An advantage with using a narrative, it involves the audience, allowing them to relate to it and grow feelings for the characters. In this case, the audience feel sympathy for Jason Biggs’ character as he is essentially being bullied by the rest of his school.  With the music video being set in an American High School (Jackson High) it supports the narrative of a teenage love story. The costumes the cast are wearing make it clear to the audience what purpose they represent. Biggs wears a Parker with matching fur Deer Stalker, reflecting his hidden, dull personality. Suvari is seen in a long sleeve Cardigan with Jeans, this portrays her character to be habitual and suggests she thinks of herself as an average human being and nothing special. Survari’s boyfriend is established as a typical American “Jock”, wearing a school football Jacket. “Jocks” in films are often used as the popular males or the bully, which is exactly how he is used in this music video. The band are blended into part of the school, wearing everyday clothing, similar to that of the background characters supporting the band. This suggests that the band is dressing in character and they’re not singing solely to “Teenage Dirtbags”, but putting themselves in that stereotype too.

I feel that it is intended to seem a cliché and it works well. The fact that it is an up beat Rock song stops the audience assuming that it is going to be a corny romantic story. Instead, I feel that the video has a crude comical element to the romance, for example (1.31) when Jason Biggs falls to the ground. Although the audience may feel sympathy and sadness for Biggs in some parts, I feel the video has a ‘feel-good’ touch to it, especially in the hallway when the students are dancing to the band (1.38). It suggests a feeling of happiness and abandoning reality.