Music Video Analysis - Johnny Cash Hurt (2003)

Johnny Cash - Hurt (2003)
Directed by Mark Romanek

The video begins with Johnny Cash sat in a chair playing a guitar the LS used allows us to see he is dressed fully in black signature to Johnny Cash - this is already a powerful, emotive image. The picture appears to have a sepia effect looking like a sunset, provoking the thought that this is the end not just of the day but for Johnny Cash himself. The LS cuts to a CU showing emotion in the artist's face.

Archive footage is used frequently through the video the first is the shot of the American flag waving implying he lived the "American dream" he was patriarchal to his country as that is what made him and broke him. The flag is situated outside his museum "House of Cash, Museum" showing he is that much of an icon there is a museum about it, the lyric accompanying the image "I focus on the pain" the museum would be full of memories from his life, along with the rewards and accomplishments would come the pain and the trouble too.

It then cuts back to a LS of him again this time showing the setting, it is full of souvenirs from his life as though he is living in a museum all his old memories are all embodied away. "the only thing that's real" is sung with this image, showing us that all his memories are real but at the same time they are painful memories.

The next shot jumps to his piano the emotive image of the old wrinkly hands over a closed piano symbolises one final song one final performance before closing it for good. The following arrangement of the different CU of Johnny Cash's face allow us to see the "hurt" in his face he looks deeply saddened and the lyrics appear to have a true reflection of how he is feeling.

The archive stills around the "House of Nash Museum" especially with a shot of the closed sign highlight its emptiness something which was once very popular is now closed, maybe its out of fashion now. After the stills its shows a CU of his face singing "trying to kill it all away" suggesting maybe he closed the museum, maybe it was his choice and he didn't want people going see his past memories and he doesn't want to remember them anymore but with the next line he sings "But I remember everything" shows he is trying hard to forget but he can't. The chorus kicks in and is a pattern of archive footage of when he was younger and happy which switches to CU of him playing the piano and back, this builds an image of his life and is very effective.

"Everyone I know goes away in the end" at this point it shows a CU of a picture of his mum hanging on the wall, shows he still miss' and thinks about her, I like how personal this video is to artist himself and has it goes on we as an audience feel as though we have been on this journey with him.

It then shows archive footage of him performing when he was younger the line with it sings, "You could have it all", he did have it all but he the images portrayed to us suggests alot of regret, and pain. The still here shows all the crowd/fans in the background showing how successful he once was/is has he continues to sing on the word "..dirt" it cuts to stills of the abandoned museum with empty shelves and all his achievements piled up. It then shows us a smashed gold record, highlighting a

wasted career and that he could of done more with his career is he hadn't had gone down a negative destructive path. A Gold Record is hard to achieve and the fact that his is smashed shows how little remorse he had. The record smashed is one from Columbia Records who in the end dropped Cash from their records this image could then show what Johnny Cash thought of them by breaking it. The connotations from the video and the lyrics become very biblical, he is sitting at a table all alone and gives the impression that all of this means nothing without family, symbolised by the great feast laid out, could be the last super from the bible this gives us connotations of the thought that Johnny Cash was thinking about the end as was Jesus at his last super.

In the second chorus, "my sweetest friend" refers to his wife who is stood behind him on the stairs, she is higher up in the frame as though she is looking out for him like an angel, this is also very biblical. There is then more archive footage used this time it is him and his wife in their younger days there is also a shot of his son as a baby portraying a family image of happy times, but this contrasts with the sad tone of the song and music video. He is then sat at the table alone again and

uses a simple arm movement to show "everyone I know goes away". He then starts to pour what looks like red wine all over the feast laid out, this could symbolise the blood of Christ and with the lyric "dirt" again he ruins the expensive

meal in front of him, the many religious connotations suggest that he wanted to be good and not let anyone down. As the tempo gets quicker the archive images in the video start to appear quicker with lots of images from what looks like an old religious film of Jesus and his Crucifixion, amongst the happy times in his career and life as a whole but the main emphasis is on the religious aspect as the tempo reaches to the climax, it cuts back to a close up of Johnny Cash at his piano and he closes, symbolising this is the end, that's it. He gently strokes the piano as this could be another reference to his "sweetest friend" - the music, he is saying good bye to it all.