




The lights of a bright, glittering carousel in the middle of a grand fair stand before us. Our love is our only ticket to give before we climb aboard and chose a pony to enjoy the ride with. Do we dare get on knowing the only shot we have at love goes in circles, with no end in sight? Melanie Martinez, the creator and main character of her music video “Carousel” warn us not to take that chance. It is dangerous being in love, her lyrics explain, where the only thing we can do is sit and see the same sights over and over again while never reaching our final destination. In her music video “Carousel” Melanie Martinez uses many colors, different shots, and lyrics to signify that love is not always as happy as it seems. 

 In the first frame, we are given a light-hearted, loveable, and almost fairytale like view of love. We see a girl and a guy riding together on a carousel. The girl is sat on one of the ponies while the boy is standing in front of her, leaning on a pole. This shot is known as long shot but can also be considered as an establishing shot because it sets the scene and establishes where the characters are. As for the colors, the contrast between the dark skies against the bright lights of the carousel create a sense of childlike energy and excitement, which also creates a sense of excitement on the viewer’s side. Now these colors also symbolize a glimmer of hope in unknown situations, hope being the bright colors and new situations being the black sky. Black is a color that symbolizes fear and the unknown, so the main character believes there will be a good outcome with her new experience even though she is scared to try it. The carousel also embodies her experience of love. It goes in circles and does not stop. The ponies move up and down but never move forward in the sense that they never get closer to one another. Nevertheless, the girl on the carousel is thrilled to be on the ride and experience this adventure in ‘love’. However the distance between the boy and girl will never shorten; they will never be able to touch. The boy is teasing her with the distance, especially since their gazes are focused on one another. This reciprocal attention establishes a relationship between the two. It may not be a strong relationship but it is still implied that they have a connection with one another. Unfortunately, however, the distance shows that the girl is left to wonder about what could have been. She will never be able to experience the love he could have given her. 

As for the second screen shot, it suddenly takes a darker turn. The main character is the only person in the shot now and her hands are tied to the pole of the pony she was riding on the carousel. The frame is centered on her face and is a close up shot, which establishes how important this still is, it plays a key part in the story. Her facial expression has now changed and instead of being joyful, she now looks very frightened and fearful. Her gaze is now on her hands and she is struggling to get out of the restraints. This object-orientated gaze and the girl’s emotions build a sense of fear with the viewers, especially since the colors have all of a sudden become more muted. However, on the pole the girl is attached to we can see three distinct lights and each one of them is a different color. One is magenta, one is cyan, and the other is yellow, which are the three main components of light. Light is a symbol of hope, so even though the girl is trapped on the carousel she holds onto a sliver of hope that things will get better. However with her being momentarily captured, she will have to ride the carousel over and over again with no hope of getting off now. She has trapped herself on the ride while giving herself away to experience that adventure in love, only now she receives nothing in return, which isn’t what she expected. The promise of love was a trick.

The lyrics also play a huge role in conveying what the music video means. In the first couple of lines of lyrics it states: “Round and round like a horse on a carousel, we go, / Will I catch up to love? I could never tell,” These lyrics explain what is going on in the first frame which we analyzed in the first paragraph. The main character is riding on this carousel, but love is always ahead of her. Even though she is constantly moving, she is stationary on the ride, so love will always be one step further away from her. Another set of lyrics say: “And it’s all fun and games, / ‘Till somebody falls in love / But you’ve already bought a ticket, / And there’s no turning back now,” This is an example for the second still from the music video. The boy in the video loves playing games and not having any real commitment. However as soon as the girl has a chance to fall in love with him, it unleashes many fears. He escapes from all those worries and just leaves her behind in the dust. The only problem is that the girl has spent time, effort and most importantly she has given herself to the boy in hopes of working everything out. She had such a commitment to the relationship that she can’t just turn back and leave it all behind. The girl is stuck in a limbo, where love just isn’t in her favor.

Melanie Martinez has perfectly shown what the ups and downs of love are, in her music video “Carousel,” and how difficult it can be when things don’t go according to plan. Her transitions from bright to dark colors set the tone and the use of different shots tell the story just as the gazes of the characters do. Her journey was hard and devastating, but maybe all of those sparkling lights of hope and childlike essence will lead her to a more exciting (and less demanding) ride in life.   




