This music video stars Kid Cudi, an African American rapper who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Born Scott Ramon Mescudi, Kid Cudi broke out into the hip-hop scene in 2009 with his debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day. This Gold album contained hits like “Day’n’Nite” and “Pursuit of Happiness”. Kid Cudi is signed to Kanye West’s GOOD Music Record Label. Kid Cudi is known to have struggle with the use of alcohol and marijuana in his past but has since turned a new leaf.
Smoke is the first and last thing shown in this video and remains present throughout. It gives a certain shady feel, which represents the haze of life. During the video, the haze acts as an element that merges his reality and fantasy, making it hard to distinguish between the two. At one point the haze settles to the ground and is rowed through as if it was a boat in water. Kid Cudi is in this boat with two other women who are directing it. This portrays how, in his pursuit for happiness, others took over his life and now it is not his own. It is controlled by a current of uncertainty and directed by others. This haze and misguidance hinders his ability to find true happiness by his definition.
The couch within this video is shown repeatedly and is always being sat on in one form or another by Kid Cudi. The video portrays the couch to be a center of his world, a magnet that always is drawing him back. In the beginning of the video Kid Cudi is trying to get off the couch but ends up right back where he started. Each time he attempts to leave he gets one step farther, but as soon as he gets through the door he tries to find a different way to leave. This parallels the paths of life. As you go through life you take two steps forward then one step back. Once you hit a dead end you hit reset and go back to the couch. His relation to the couch is indicative of a relationship. At first he struggles to resist the pull to the couch. However, towards the end, he ends up accepting it and staying with it. This shows that the couch is and always will be a point where Kid Cudi belongs.
Once Kid Cudi makes it out of his room and into the world, it shows him at a costume party. Everyone but him is wearing physical masks. This plays towards the haziness of life. Kid Cudi, by not acknowledging the people around him, is showing that he doesn’t know or care who these other people are. What is not apparent, is that Kid Cudi, himself, is wearing an emotional mask, keeping himself cut off from others. This fact is paralleled by the little girl that follows him around. She displays no emotion, yet wears a sweater that is covered in what people perceive as materialistic objects that bring short term happiness. Kid Cudi realizes this and continues to search for the longterm happiness.
This video shows Kid Cudi rising and falling into a “dream space”. Cudi can be viewed as a dreamer in his own pursuit of happiness. What do you think the binary between black and white means? What is the significance of the little girl that follows Kid Cudi around? What do you think Kid Cudi is actually looking for in his “pursuit of happiness”? What is the effect of Kid Cudi basically going right back to where he started from every time he opens a door or leaves the room?
http://sdr94.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/video-analysis/
ReplyDeletealso, here's another analysis of this video, because we forgot to include it....
I love this song but this is the first time I've ever watched this video. The video was kind of frustrating because, like you said, everytime he stepped forward he'd end up back where he was. The whole time I was wondering if he'd ever get out of the house. This could definitely be related to life. He's in the pursuit of happiness but some unknown force is pushing him back, making it a struggle for him to move forward.
ReplyDeleteGreat song, but i agree, it was a bit confusing. I think that the video is showing Cudi going through a tough time in his life and drugs and alcohol may be playing a role in him not being able to find long term happiness. The lyrics "I'll be good, once I get it" implies once he gets his fix he will be happy, however as he starts dreaming, he is shown hanging on the edge of window. His problems become more apparent when he tells listeners "People told me to slow my roll, i'm screaming out f*ck that". I'm not quite sure what the significance of the little girl in the video is, hopefully someone else will be able to figure that out.
ReplyDeleteI think that Cudi want to pursuit the real happiness, but some force prevent him to do so. Again and again, he was pull back to the couch every time he make the effort to escape. He want to escape the world of alcohol and marijuana and pursuit the happiness outside, but finally he finds out that the happiness gained from alcohol and marijuana is easier.And eventually, he stayed in where he was. The music video shows the process of Cudi was struggling for getting rid of alcohol but failed at the end.
ReplyDeleteI also am a fan of this song. I have never seen the video until now. It just reminds me of someone tripping off of some kind of drug. Maybe that could have played into the video too. Kid Cudi could be trying to escape from his reality through drugs. The haze could be a blur of the reality line in his mind. The little girl following him around confused me. I didn't really understand her purpose in this video. The couch is definitely a magnet through out this video. He can never seem to get too far away from it before it drags him back in.
ReplyDeleteI love this song and Kid Cudi very much. This was also the first time i had seen the video and i feel like he was showing the struggle between his alcohol and drug use too. Because alcohol and drugs provide that short term happiness that you were talking about and he keeps trying to get away from it yet it keeps pulling him back in. Which goes along with the drug use because it is hard to kick a habit you have had for a very long time. But i did not understand the point of the little girl following him around at all.
ReplyDeleteThe Video has a very dreamlike characteristic. Through out the video the sofa is seen as the one reoccurring theme and this could be seen as like his waking up and reliving and rewriting his past. As Allyson said he struggled with drugs and this could symbolize the way that he is trying to reinvent himself and turn his future into something better than his past.
ReplyDeleteThis video creates a fantastic feeling which makes people feel like they are in a dream. The coach scene repeated many times in this video, which presents Kid Cudi want to get rid of something but it fails for many times. He even tried to suicide to end this but when he jumps out of the window, he still find that he lies on the coach. At the last scene, he is in a party which confuse me because lt seems everyone in the party do not smile. Anyway, it is an interesting video talks about how different to peruse happiness.
ReplyDeleteThe video was very trippy and made me dizzy at times with the couch placements. The couch and that process of try to leave could be the process of drug relapse. Each time he tries to break free of the couch and leave it behind it just pulls him back.
ReplyDeleteThis video and especially the scene with the couch can be seen as even though he tries to accomplish things, he always gets set back in a way. Sometimes we have our safe places, and for that I think the couch is his...he talks about night terrors and dreams and maybe this is where most of that stuff happens, maybe he sits alone at night just thinking about his life. He is in the pursuit of happiness, but he is lost in that pursuit to get his happiness, which leaves him hopeless and lonely, hence him constantly alone or in 'la la land' with women, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe parts in the video where he keeps trying to get off of the couch could represent his struggle with addiction. He's "on the pursuit of happiness", maybe trying to be clean but his lifestyle just keeps leading back to the drugs and alcohol.
ReplyDeleteThe reoccurring couch scene could represent his addictions. He always seems to wake up or end up on the couch without really knowing why. Maybe after getting high or drunk he wakes up on the couch. He's trying to better his life, but keeps falling back to his old ways.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Ryan, the first thing I thought of when I saw him keep falling back towards the couch was symbolizing him trying to break free from the drugs (couch) each time he separated it was a longer and longer time being drug free, which is normal for some individuals that they must take little steps to get away then eventually break free. It seemed like not just one but three women were in different scenes with him, but rarely when he was on his couch, maybe they are some type of protection when he isn't with the couch or some relation to his need for drugs?
ReplyDeleteDat Kid Cudi has been on his grind for quite some time. It is crazy the path he has gone through, including his many successes and failures. It is interesting that this blog team asked the question of the little girl. Cudi, somewhat recently had a baby girl and that is obviously what the girl resembles. This video is almost the start of his new beginning. Following this video Cudi dropped all of his drug habits, and I found it interesting that the blog group left out Cudi's cocaine addiction. This habit was pulling him down a horrible path as shown in the video and the couch defintely represents his addictions. On a solid note, Dat Kid Cudder dropped the drugs and is on an upbeat path, HOLLAAA!
ReplyDeleteI believe that the pursuit of happiness that Kid Cudi is striving for in this video is kind of unknown to the viewer but it is synonymous to the idea of him getting off his couch and leaving. Where that is exactly, I'm not sure, but it can be assumed it's related to his drug and/or alcohol addictions of the past. However, it is important to notice his attempts be stalled by finding himself back on the couch against his will in a way, but at the same time he gets progressively further before once again returning to his couch. This could be a sort of explanation of the struggles of beating drug and alcohol dependency.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people are bringing up the struggles with drug addiction which I think is true. But I also think it is making a statement on the culture that surrounds and promotes the use of recreational drugs and partying. You spend so much time just trying to get on your feet again that when you do, you find yourself back with the are enabling your issues. When dealing with drugs initially like alcohol or weed were you could walk away when ever you want its the culture, expectations, pressure, and friends that keep pulling you back in until stronger things keep you pinned down. This video shows a great concept of the internal struggle that someone would feel as they try to break that destructive cycle.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly this is also the first time I've seen this video, but I really love this song. I agree with that its all one big drug trip. Every time he tries he tries to leave it, or stop it, he ends up back in the same place, on the couch. I also think the haziness represents how his life on drugs is. The pursuit of happiness Cudi is on I believe is a better place for him, more of somewhere he wants to be, instead of always falling a step behind on the couch.
ReplyDeleteI think that this video is symbolizing that although most people have dreams and goals that they want to accomplish some just keep going back to a safe place; either because they are scared of what is ahead are because they aren't motivated enough.
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