Don’t we all wish we had a time machine to escape past relationships we regret? Well, so does Ingrid Michaelson. In her satirical music video, Time Machine, the visual motifs throughout the music video are regret and the main theme is the breaking of stereotypes. These scenes of the music video that really stand out as prime examples of the motif are at the times forty-eight seconds and at one minute and fourteen seconds. During these scenes, the characters show regret while also breaking gender romantic stereotypes. 

During the first scene that encapsulates the theme, forty-eight seconds in, there is a plump male in a tight white t-shirt and jean cut off shorts in the foreground. He has his leg propped up on a car with a water hose in his hand, spraying himself, instead of his car like the scene implies. He is soaked from head to toe and the water hose is specifically spraying his leg.  In the mid ground, there is a woman in a red, sparkly dress with her arm up in a defensive manor, sitting on a raised platform. The woman is the singer and star of the music video, Ingrid Michaelson. In the background there is a building, to which the raised platform belongs to, that is very dark with one door open to a pitch-black room. The only two lightly colored objects in the scene are the hefty man standing in the foreground and Ingrid, in the mid ground. Her red hair and dress contrast with the dark green door behind her. Even though he is in the foreground, she is directly in the middle of a “wide shot”, so this and the contrast draw the viewer’s eyes to her and then to the man. He is dressed in clothing that would be considered to be stereotypical “sexy” clothing for women. A fitted white t-shirt that is soaking wet and short jean cut off shorts is an outfit that would easily be found on a woman in a “wet t-shirt contest” in any spring break movies.  He is also attempting to be sexual in a very aggressive way by spraying himself, dancing, and facial expressions. He is acting this way because he is wanting to “show her what she is missing” and that she will regret not being with him anymore. He is doing this by following the advice that almost every woman in romantic movies receives after a breakup; dress sexy and make him jealous and regret his decision. He is breaking a stereotype by acting like the woman would be expected to act like in this situation. Throughout the full scene the man is lip singing that he wishes he could go back in a time machine or rewind time and change ever being with her. Acting out while singing these lyrics signifies how much regret he feels about their relationship. While he is doing that, Ingrid is sitting in the background just waiting for his “performance” to be over. The woman in the relationship is expected to be the more dramatic one, so by her just sitting back and waiting for it to be over, is breaking a stereotype of what role she is expected to be playing in this scenario. 

During the second scene, where the visual motif and theme are the most present, at one minute and fourteen seconds, in the foreground there is a new obese man, dressed in all black with a long pony tail. He is beside a trashcan with a fire burning inside of it, dramatically dropping pieces of paper into it. Earlier in the scene we can see that he is burning photos of Ingrid, letters, and other memorabilia from their relationship. She is still in the sparkly red dress and now is holding a saxophone. In the background, there are plain white panels and three bright light stands. One light stand is located in the middle of each panel. The middle light lines up directly behind the trashcan and it lights up the smoke, drawing attention to it first. The rather bovine man is implying he regrets the relationship with Ingrid by burning memories from their relationship. It also is breaking a stereotype. Almost every one has heard of someone burning their ex’s things, or at least seen it in a romance movie. Stereotypically, the emotional and vengeful act of burning photos and memorabilia from a failed relationship, is done by the female. If you google “Burning my ex’s things”, almost every article, video, and photo that shows up adds “boyfriend” to the end of “ex” or is posted by a female. He is going against the grain and being different by doing this. 

The main theme of the visual piece is breaking stereotypes, which relates to the visual motif of regret in that, through their actions of acting out in a certain way shows regret but also is breaking the stereotypes of women and romance. The roles in this music video are switched to where the overweight, older men are playing the role that would usually be played by an attractive, young, woman. Also, because it is a woman’s voice the men are lip singing to, it implies that they are trying to portray that they are playing the part of a woman. 

The title, Time Machine, correlates with the visual motif of regret because each person that is featured in the music video is singing about wishing they had a “time machine” and could go back in time to change ever being in that relationship. The visual motif was a given before even seeing the music video, but the main theme was not. If you were to hear the song, and were told about the scenes, but not told who played which part in each scene, the majority of people would think that Ingrid was participating in these dramatic actions and the men were playing the passive role. The music video as a whole breaks the stereotype of music videos. For the most part, if the artist is going to be acting in the music video, you can expect them to be playing the main role. Ingrid has other people playing the main character, instead of her.

The visual motif and theme are present in every single one of the scenes, but are shown the best at forty-eight seconds and at one minute and fourteen seconds. In these scenes, the actors do and lip sing things that show that they regret their past relationship, while also breaking romance gender stereotypes. 
