Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Viva Forever - Spice Girls

In honor of the upcoming Spice Girls Musical, here's the analysis of the music video for "Viva Forever"!

Overview

Release year: 1998
Length: 4:12
Type of video: narrative; linear
Themes: childhood, innocence, growing up

Plot


A book titled Viva Forever opens to share with us the story of two boys. 


The boys run through a meadow and find a big plastic toy capsule from which a toy chicken springs and hops away. They follow the toy chicken into the forest and it leads them to another plastic toy capsule.





Five faeries spring from the capsule and fly up into the air. The shortest boy runs away scared, but the other one stays, amazed




Each of the Spice Faeries interacts with the boy, then Baby Spice blows some faerie dust on him and they all fly him to a giant Rubik's Cube. The faeries dance on top of the Rubik's Cube.


The middle square of the cube goes up and reveals a yellow light. The boy stares inside and is mesmerized by what he sees, though they don't show what it is. The other boy sees him from afar and runs towards the cube. The first boy climbs into the middle hole and disappears with the faeries.


The other boy grabs the cube (now normal-sized) and keeps walking trying to solve it. He sees more toy capsules and a giant toy vending machine. One of the capsules glows, so he puts the cube there, locks the capsule and throws it back inside the vending machine. 



He walks away hopelessly as four faeries fly out of the vending machine.






Stitching





Two friends embark on a fantastic journey by following a toy chicken that leads them into the forest. The forest represents their unconscious desire to hold on to childhood, innocence and imagination. Much like Peter Pan, the faeries offer them the opportunity to come with them and stay young and innocent forever. One of the boys is fascinated by the idea, but the other one is scared, confused about whether he wants to grow up or stay young. The first boy follows the faeries, while the second one regrets his initial choice and  attempts to find a way to go with them too. He is offered a second chance and, while the video doesn't show what happened to him afterwards, we can assume that he went away with his friend and the faeries because innocence and imagination are not necessarily lost when we grow. They are states of mind that can be part of us forever, regardless of the age.

Symbols


Forest: Represents the unconsciousness, a journey into the deepest fears and desires of the soul.
Fairy: A childlike or innocent state
Toy: Childhood
Rubik's Cube: A puzzle, a problem, and trying to solve the puzzle, in turn, means trying to find a solution

In Conclusion

"Viva Forever" plays out as a fairy tale, a tale about growing up and losing innocence or trying to hold on to it forever. 

This is my view, do you agree or not? Is there anything you'd add? Let me know in the comments!

2 comments:

  1. Wow! Nice analysis. I have to watch this video again. I heard also this video was made because the red haired one left the group at that time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great analysis! I've always loved the Spice Girls and always will. I liked them all, but Baby was my favorite. When I was a teenager, my mom told me I looked like Sporty.

    ReplyDelete