In J.Coles music video “She Knows” he uses a juvenile young man to demonstrate the life of an average suburban family and the struggles they go through. By looking at the two scenes spoken about in this essay, we can see what exactly J.Cole means in his title “She Knows”, which most viewers don’t see; this is important because J.Cole changes the meaning of the title “She Knows” throughout the entire music video. The first important scene in the video starts with the young man being dropped off by his mother and father on his way to school. This scene is significant because earlier before the young man left the house he stole money from his parents' and the young man's mother gazes at him in the car as if she knew what exactly he had done. The second important scene starts with the young man gazing at his mom after school as he walks into his house only to find his mother having an affair with another man. This scene is significant because it changes what the viewer had once thought the meaning of “She Knows” was.

Starting with the scene where the young man is dropped off by his mother. The scene takes roughly two to three seconds, all of which the mother is scolding the young man. The fact that she is staring at him leads viewer’s to believe that she knows something is up, and conveniently the young man earlier that day stole money out of his parents dresser. This scene is a typical point of view shot, allowing the viewer to fully understand what the mother is thinking as she scolds her son. In this scene the young man is the dominant figure in both the foreground and mid ground because the focus is on him, but the image has a background of the backseat of the car where the young man is sitting. To add to the point of view shot, J.Cole clothes the young man in bright colors to make sure that his is the center focus, contrasting  against the bland colored backseat of the car. By doing this it allows the viewer to look and see nothing else but a guilty looking young man, it also gives the viewer's the perception that the mother is angry at the son and that she knows something is up. To create even greater meaning in this scene an intra-direct gaze shot was used, the shot went from one person to another during the scene, all in hope to continue the effect where the mother is suspicious of the sons wrong doings, developing the title “She Knows.” The image appeals to the viewers emotions in the sense that the average person has experienced this same event before. The all knowing mother, catches her son in the act of doing something he shouldn’t. It draws a connection between the viewer and the video because most likely a relation can be drawn because the scene depicts a reality for most Americans. Although this scene leads the viewer to believe that  “She Knows” is the fact that the young man's mother knows he stole from the family, J.Cole hits viewers with a major curveball in the next scene drastically changing the meaning of “She Knows.”

Whereas the first scene was focused on the young man the second scene focuses on the mother. The scene starts with the young man coming home after a risky day of skipping school only to find his mother having an affair with a mysterious man. In this scene the young man is once again the dominant figure in the foreground. But unlike that in the previous scene the young man in no longer in either the mid ground or background. This time the mother is in the mid ground and the mysterious man is in the background. The colors used for each individual also work together with their placement in the scene, the young man and mother are wearing vibrant bright colors, whereas the mysterious man is wearing dark clothes and his face is blocked out.  This is so that first off the viewers attention is drawn to the young man and the mother, and second the mysterious man in the background. This format allows the viewer to put the pieces of the puzzle together in order to declare that what was going on was in fact an affair. To further in the development of the scene the shot used here is an establishing shot, because it develops the setting, and once where the shot was point of view and the viewer could really only interpret the mother's thoughts, as a spectator in this scene the viewer can interpret both thoughts of the young man and the mother. This allows for the viewer to understand that both parties in the scene are in shock of what just happened, the young man was unaware before he walked in the house that he would find his mom with another man and the mother was unaware that he affair would become uncovered. In this scene J.Cole uses a spectator gaze which similar to the effects of the establishing shot, allows the viewer to get a complete and full understanding of what is going on, because all of the elements in the scene are visible.  Although all features in this scene are important in understanding the video as a whole the most significant and telling piece in this scene was the fact that the mysterious man was wearing dark clothing and his face was blacked out. This allows the viewer to come to the conclusion that this man is not the young man's father, because if he was, his clothing would fit the same color scheme as the mother and young mans and his face would be visible so it would be recognizable. Looking at all of the pieces in the scene it can be determined that the young man and mother are equally in shock because the mother was caught in the act of infidelity. Whereas in the first scene “She Knows” was thought to the young man's mother knowing he stole and was a juvenile actually turned to “She Knows” as she is aware that her son now knows she was having an affair.

The meaning “She Knows” experiences  a great change throughout the music video. From the first scene the young man was being scolded by his mother following his theft of the family’s money, which led viewers to believe that the music videos title “She Knows” meant that the mother knew about her son stealing her and her husbands money.But as the video progressed it actually became apparent that the music video title “She Knows” actually was given its meaning in the second scene where the young man caught his mother having an affair with a mysterious man. This gave the title “She Knows” the meaning that the mother knows that the son knows about her affair. It was these two scenes specifically that gave the video its meaning, because the first scene gave viewers a false message and the second scene allowed viewers to grasp the true meaning of “She Knows.”
