In Passion Pit’s Carried Away music video, the main couple undergoes many ups and downs in their complicated relationship. They are shown doing an array of things, from goofing around, to being intimate, to arguing, to laughing, to angrily throwing glass vases at each other. During their fights, both the man and the woman say things that they later regret.  These words (quite literally) come back to haunt both of them.  The use of gazes, color, and framing in Passion Pit’s Carried Away music video are used to visualize the couple’s hurtful words and the apologies that follow them.


The couple’s hurtful words finally catch up to them near the end of the video. This frame is the start of the couple’s physical battle with their words. In this shot, the man and the woman face the words that they have said in the past. Their object oriented gazes are fixed on the negativity that they have uttered to the other. The vibrant warm colors bring life to the frame and make it appealing to look at. The dark colors in the background contrast the white letters to draw the eye to the floating words. The medium shot is used to show the characters’ position while also showing the subject of their gaze. The couple’s intra-diegetic gaze are both fixed on the representation of the unkind words they have said. This is when they realize the extent of what they have said. The physical position of the man and the woman supports the idea that they are going to “fight” their words; both characters are shown in an alerted state. The woman clings to the man’s arm while he finds a way to fight the words he has said. The closeness of the two characters shows their intimacy, and that they are going to sort their disagreements out together. They are both preparing to face the words that surround them. The filmic language used in this frame are used to visualize their internal struggles with the words they have said.


With the harsh words destroyed and in the past, the couple is able to take the last step in an apology: the formal stating of the words ‘sorry.’ In this frame, the man is pointing to clouds in the sky that spell the word ‘sorry.’ The soothing light blue sky gives the frame a sense of serenity, while the white clouds symbolize peace. The over-the-shoulder camera angle is used to show the perspective of the two characters. What the audience sees is identical to what the man and the woman are seeing. Both of their gazes, along with the audience’s, is on the word “sorry.” The couple’s gazes were in different places while dealing with the chaos surrounding the attack from the words, but in this shot they have a unified gaze which shows the newfound unity between them. They went from fighting their words separately to coming together to apologize. This shot is the formal apology that the man issues to his girlfriend for all of the things that he had said to her. Following this, the woman accepts his apology by pointing to a different location in the sky, which has “ok” written in the sky with clouds. This is the point at which their issues are resolved at last. The use of filmic language in this frame are used to visualize the act of apologizing.

The music video’s message and the message from the lyrics both act as an apology to the girlfriend of the singer. The root of their problems is suggested in the lyrics of the song. The singer says, “Please don’t ever note me as your friend… Let’s perform our favorite little scene.” The root of their problems is the fact that the man just wants to sleep with the girl, rather than be committed in a relationship with her. She says that she is, “certain that [she] need[s] this,” which gets questioned by the man, “tell me what your point is in defense.” He later says hurtful things to the girl when he states: “Listen, I don’t really know you, and I don’t think I want to… Let’s just keep pretending to be friends.” These words are what fuels their arguments in the lyrics and in the music video. The music video acts as an apology by symbolically, and literally, saying “I’m sorry”. In the music video, the man is shown saying mean things, such as, “You make me sick,” and, “You’re being childish.” Subsequently, the couple is shown getting into many fights, but they end up both apologizing to the other. The couple’s past words come to life and start attacking them. Together, they destroy the words and go outside where the man apologizes to the woman, and she accepts it. The music video and the lyrics both act as an apology for the way the singer has acted.

Though the couple had their troubles, they were able to come clean by apologizing to each other. The couple symbolically destroyed the mean words they had said in order to make peace with them. They then issued a formal apology to each other in order to put their grievances in the past. It took a physical battle to do so, but, in the end, they were able to arrive at a peaceful state. By using framing, color, and gazes, the music video is able to visualize the apology that the singer gives to his girlfriend.
