A blog developing a corpus of short films, originally in conjunction with Professor Jeffrey Middents' course Literature 346/646, "Short Films," at American University during Summer 2006, Fall 2008 and Fall 2011.
Thursday, November 03, 2011
She and Him's "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"
Why Do You Let Me Stay Here (Version 2)
Directed by Marc Webb, United States, 2009, 4 Minutes.
Source: YouTube
This film is about a man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who enters a bank with the intent to rob it. Little does he know, the female bank teller (Zooey Deschanel) behind the counter is bored and looking for a little adventure in her life. In the first few seconds of the video, we are following the man, but the minute he meets the woman, she becomes the dominate character and so does the song, which, if we did not already know, the actress/singer Deschanel sings. The video becomes the dream world of the bank teller, her desire to dance and interact with this mysterious and handsome male customer. In the end, the man leaves with the money, and we are not sure if he has experienced her fantasy too, or if he fears she will confront him and alert the bank of his thievery.
This music video is the second one made for this song, and the higher quality of the two. Directed by Marc Webb, this music video was released to promote his film (500) Days of Summer also starring Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt (G-L)--also, Deschanel wanted to promote her band and their latest song. I like this video because it is whimsical, well-stylized, and a stand-alone yet additive for the feature film. Though the characters are different between music video and feature, they have similar character attributes. For one, Deschanel always wears the color blue in (500) Days and that is carried on to her bank teller who wears blue vintage style clothing. As for G-L, he is able to show off his dance moves in a dream sequence similar to the scene in (500) Days where he dances to Hall and Oats' "You Make My Dreams Come True". This music video short successfully develops Webb's directing style, and She and Him's image. Also, I like that this video compliments the song, and does not do a lyric play-by-play.
G-L's character has so much mystery to him. Why is the man robbing a bank? Does he want to? I pose these questions because I had never seen the first few seconds of the man's development until I found this longer version of the video. Starting the film in a bar and watching the man swig back a little more than a shot appears to me that he is about to do something that he does not enjoy. I love how the bank teller's fantasy is interrupted with reality throughout the video. When she and the man are dancing on top of the desks, they take turns, him first, then her, and while she is dancing, we get a shot of the man checking his watch. We can take this gesture to mean two things: either he is being playful and gesturing that her solo dance is taking too long, or it is his non-fantasy character telling her to hurry with the money and stick it in the bag. Furthermore, fantasies follow a different time pattern than reality. In retrospect, this 4 minute video is really about 3 seconds long--the bank teller's fantasy is occurring while she and the man are looking at each other, and he, now exposed without sunglasses, is discerning whether or not she will tell the rest of the bank about the robbery.
I absolutely agree with what you said about this video simply complimenting and not giving play-by play of the lyrics in the song. Good choice!
ReplyDeleteI live the whimsy and mystery, it is great how through music and dance we can see what lays beneath the surface, great compliment to the film.
ReplyDeleteI never noticed that Zooey's character always wears blue, now I realize your right. I think it adds to her ethereal nature. It was very smart of Zooey and Marc to combine resources, and make a video that benefit both of their varied interests.
ReplyDeleteAbout Joseph's character, I think you're right that he doesn't really want to rob the bank. I think he does it somewhat out of boredom. A yearning for adventure connects both lead characters.
As for the song, I think it's alright. Not as good as the ones in "500 Days."
I like how this piece serves as an example of how marketing of one media has evolved to include more. In a simplified sense it tells a similar story to the one told in the movie and thereby, to Haley's point, emphasizes the connection without reiterating it: two people have a lot in common, but it isn't enough to make them a happy couple (in this case, the bank robbery is a barrier).
ReplyDeleteThis transmedia marketing is something which Deschanel (or perhaps more appropriately, Fox) is employing again in the marketing of her TV vehicle "New Girl." Deschanel's character, Jess has a twitter (@ItsJessTweets), music, and Deschanel promoted the show across her own personal twitter and girl-centric website, www.hellogiggles.com.
My favorite part of this is the complete indifference of everybody else in the video. That and the already-mentioned classic costumes and set design really sell this as a fantasy. Sometimes a fantasy sequence in a music video will occur as if a mass fantasy has gripped everybody in the room, but in this case it's just two people in a big, boring bank.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's nice the video wasn't an exact interpretation of the lyrics. Instead the fantasy and the video itself seemed to represent the era or style and the underlying message of the song, which is a lot more interesting. Great video!
ReplyDeleteI agree Cori, it seems that everywhere I look these days, Deschanel is selling her persona and her music. She always plays the same character.
ReplyDeleteAs to Alex R., I agree that this fantasy scene is nice because only they exist--there are people around but I people do not do anything, allowing our characters to maintain attention.
I agree with Cori that this is an really interesting piece of marketing/art. It's been too long I think since I saw 500 Days of Summer, because other than including GL and Deschanel with similiar costuming, I didn't feel as though it connected with the movie. I think overall its probably a better promotion piece for Deschanel's song/band than anything else since that to me was the main focus, with the visuals playing as a nice back up.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cori that this is an really interesting piece of marketing/art. It's been too long I think since I saw 500 Days of Summer, because other than including GL and Deschanel with similiar costuming, I didn't feel as though it connected with the movie. I think overall its probably a better promotion piece for Deschanel's song/band than anything else since that to me was the main focus, with the visuals playing as a nice back up.
ReplyDeleteI love the play on time; especially when the person outside of the fantasy looks at their watch. I'm just fascinated with time to begin with and, H, I liked your comment about the 4 min video really being only 3 seconds long.
ReplyDeleteMy only critique is the use of sunglasses: when Desh takes them off G-L. While its a nice transition from reality and fantasy and vice versa, it just doesn't sit well with me as the right kind of prop for that much change. I'm not sure how I would have done it better, but it just strikes me as too simple. The sunglasses seem to be more of way for G-L to hide from what he's about to do, as they don't leave his face until she takes them off. Just somethings to ponder.
Sunglasses are an interesting prop to use to represent reality and fantasy, I had not thought about it. The sunglasses add to G-L's mystery, not to time. Is it because she saw his face in its entirety that she started fantasizing? The real question for me is, why doesn't he flinch away from her when she removes them?
ReplyDeleteThe 'glasses' metaphor is great. The idea of hiding behind the glasses or living a duplicitous life (fantasy v. reality).
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I'm slightly tired of these two characters. Zooey never appears surprised. Her stoic indie persona really grated me in this video. I think it was as someone else said in a previous comment that this is really about one medium advertising for another (film advertising for music). As much as I love JGL, his own 'nice-guy' with the skinny ties and polyester suits persona makes distracts me from the videos overall credibility.
I liked the interpretive dance sequence, that was entertaining and fun.
Oh, I love this music video! I think your commentary is particularly spot-on for it as well. I really enjoy the whimsical feeling of the video and that music videos can really get away with that.
ReplyDelete