
Mainstream pop music videos seem to all be the same. Some supercilious pop star singing and dancing in clothes that are barely there, repeating the same line over and over again about how some imaginary person broke their heart or how crazy that party was and how much alcohol they drank. But every once in a while you come across a song that has meaning with a music video that is for once, thought provoking. Pink's F**kin' Perfect, is one of those exceptions. Through the scene changes, angles and color schemes, the song gains more meaning that becomes even more effective along with the words and context of the song.

The first truly striking scene shows a wide screen shot looking into the open door of a bathroom where she is standing on a scale wearing plain white saggy undergarments hanging loosely from her protruding bones. This shot leaves us without any doubt about what the music video is meant to portray, which is the solemn story of the main character. The angle of the shot, being far away and looking through an open door, leaves the viewer feeling as if they are watching something that they shouldn’t be, or witnessing a private, personal, and emotional moment. The colors of the scene are all very bland and mundane, making her blend in with her surroundings and making her feel invisible and insufficient, which there lies the underlying theme of the music video. She is standing on the scale looking down, her body language showing signs that she feels defeated, foreshadowing the next scene.

The following scene is just as, if not more striking. She is sitting in a bathtub, and then proceeds to carve the word perfect into her forearm with a small razor. The angles of the camera are very close and only show her and the bath tub, signifying that at that particular moment in time, in her mind she is the only person in the world. The close angles also give us a sense of intimacy and feel as though we are experiencing it with her. The camera changes angles, showing all sides of the story and giving the viewer more perspective. The colors of the scene are again all bland and neutral, and her skin has a ghostly white glow, giving the whole scene even more of an eerie and surreal feeling. The blood dripping from her arm and on and around the bathtub and bathroom contrast with the white and light neutral colors of the bathroom signifying her desperation and her feeling of difference from the rest of the world. The tub eventually turns all red from the blood from her arms, but she remains sedentary and simply sitting in a pool of her own blood, which symbolizes her acceptance of defeat as she literally drowns herself in her sorrows.

Both of these scenes are meant to portray a certain feeling in the viewer. The use of bland colors gives the sense of normality, even though nothing being shown is normal. The changing angles and the contrast between the distant shot and the close up shots are taking the viewer between the feeling of witnessing something that they feel they shouldn’t, and then placing them right into the scene and making them feel as though they are experiencing it as well. Both these scenes add so much depth to the words of the song. The song itself has meaning, combined with the whole music video with the angles and color and the message it portrays gives the song meaning and depth. 