
In visuals, many authors approach the subject in a way to express an underlying meaning to their audience. They can use color, camera tricks, and certain subjects to contribute to the theme and overall message of the visual. In music videos, the visual aid is there to help the audience have a better understanding of the deeper meaning the song than just the lyrics. The video helps to relay a specific meaning to the viewer, especially when the video goes along with the meaning of the lyrics. Finding happiness is something most humans want and strive for. The pursuit of happiness is defined as a fundamental right mentioned in the Declaration of Independence to freely pursue joy and live life in a way that makes you happy, as long as you do not infringe on the rights of others (Your Dictionary). In the music video, “Pursuit of Happiness,” by Kid Cudi, the director, Megaforce, uses unique camera shots, symbolism of the couch, complementary colors of clothes, and two characters to represent a bigger symbol in the theme of the pursuit of happiness. Megaforce describes the message in the film, as one will never find happiness while staying in the cycle of alcohol and drug use. 

Through the use of camera tricks, the couch epitomizes the theme of looking for happiness, and the symbol Kid Cudi is trying to get across. He begins to realize that waking up on the couch every morning is not bringing him happiness. The couch aligns with the lyrics because at first look, it seems Cudi was in a rut, waking up and going to bed in the same daily cycle. The text supports this theory that he is on the “pursuit of happiness.” The last time we see the couch is when Cudi opens up a trap door in the couch and leads into the scene of the guitar playing and then a house party. Opening the trap door allows the viewer to go into Cudi’s world. This expresses what the cycle is like for Cudi where he performs or works on music then goes to a party. The ending scene of a house party alludes to how people at the party won’t remember and will only end up on the couch like Cudi does every night. Cudi uses this music video with the motif of the couch to express the cycle he is in and that it is not providing him happiness. After falling and rising so many nights onto the couch, Cudi realizes that what will bring him happiness is not the cycle he is in now.

Additionally, the scene of Cudi on the couch with two women demonstrates the good and the bad in his life. Two women are placed on top of the couch to make it seem that they are on Cudi’s shoulders, and these women are presented to the viewer as being the devil and the angel, temporary bliss and actually happiness. The devil’s face looks more serious and the angel’s face looks happy, meanwhile Cudi shows no emotion at all.  The angel in the scene is sitting upright and acting ladylike while the devil is laid back dress in dark colors. During this scene, he sings, “I’m on the pursuit of happiness and I know,” (Cudi, Kid). This expresses how Cudi wants to change his life to find happiness in a different way. The devil tells him to use drugs and alcohol, but luckily the angel is there to show him a different way of living his life, which results in the elimination of the cycle of the couch. The allusion to the devil and angel signifies how the devil was with him on the couch but the angel has come to save him to find happiness. (Switched around)

The camera tricks of upside and circling shots in the video expresses what happens in Kid Cudi’s party life style, and how it is a cycle of him waking up on the couch every morning. In the first seven seconds of the video, the scene introduced Cudi on the couch and then repeats this pattern of falling back onto the couch over the next minute due to his life cycle of partying. The way the video is produced is disorientating, allowing the viewer to understand and relate with Cudi when he attempts to get up from the couch. The camera moves from a small point of view to up, down, side to side, and twists to a larger point of view to make the viewer not understand where the view is. The first lyrics he sings are, “crush a bit, little bit, roll it up, take a hit,” suggesting he has been taking drugs and from there always wakes up on the couch (Cudi, Kid). These lyrics present to the viewer the party scene that Cudi has lived to pursue the ‘pursuit of happiness.’ Meanwhile, the music video expresses his life that he is actually living, or the one that he can remember. Cudi expresses that he has failed to find happiness that he wants due to addiction of drugs and alcohol. This motif of the couch depicts how Kid Cudi is looking for his pursuit of happiness, but he keeps getting caught up in the cycle of going back to the couch. His search for something more leads him to the realization that there must be something more. 

In both scenes, Megaforce puts Cudi in a simple red flannel that pops out against the sandy couch to prompt the eye to look at him, as he is the main focus. The director wanted Cudi to stand out against the background and the couch to represent his life that he wants to live. Color is a factor in visual aid that helps to pinpoint the viewer’s eye to look at what is the brightest and most interesting. The sand colored couch describes how plain and boring it is. Many people may have similar couches to this one, but not many people would have this flannel with bright colors. Cudi’s life is a consistent cycle of him waking up every morning on the plain couch and not getting his happiness from the way he is living. Therefore, the color red is there to express a pop in his life that is different from the one that he is living right now and to change from the cycle he is in. Additionally, the two women in one scene are dressed in complementary colors of black and white. This scene further depicts how these two women are on the couch with Cudi to represent the angel and the devil. For this video, the viewer’s eyes look directly at Cudi the whole time to show he is the main focus to help support the theme. 

Megaforce develops the theme of Cudi changing lifestyles to find the pursuit of happiness. Through camera tricks, color, and subjects, the argument of Cudi’s life cycle develops the argument to get off of the couch and do something different with his life. These elements help the audience to relate to the larger message of how to find happiness in a different way. Finding happiness is not something that just comes to people, that is why it is a pursuit.
