Essay on What I've Done by Linkin Park

I have chosen to do this video because it is by Linkin Park who are an American rock band and my previous essays were on different genres. The video is quite controversial because it shows lots of human suffering and pain along with many political leaders and shows.

The band are presented in an isolated dessert scene enclosed in their own instruments showing that they are in the middle of nowhere also possibly suggesting that there is nowhere else for them to be anymore because the human race is in the process of destroying everything. They are dressed in black which is ironic because they are in the dessert so the logical thing would be to be wearing light colours in order to reflect the sun. This again suggests that the human race has altered the planet because the singers are not sweating and dehydrated. Several members of the band are wearing dark sunglasses to conceal themselves and there is a close up of one of the singers as he sings the line ‘there is no alibi’ which agrees with Goodwin’ s theory that there is connection between the lyrics and the actions within a video.

Lots of high angle shots are used to show that the band who symbolise the human race are in control of everything which is happening in the world. The camera pans around the singers which shows that no matter which angle you look at it from the truth cannot be hidden.

Within the video the narrative does not contain the singers but instead uses many recycled video clips from recent events such as malnutrition, September eleventh and also past events such as Hitler ruling over the people of Germany. These video clips are both in colour and black and white to give a sense of time and show that the destruction of the world has been happening for a long time but nothing has been done about it. The video clips are of high impact because it shows that the human race are our worst enemy because we are responsible for other peoples starving, the death due to conflicts and also environmental issues.

Upon first viewing of the music video it is easy to understand even if the lyrics are unclear because the images tell the story of the song. After first viewing it is easier to concentrate on the lyrics where upon connections are easily made between the content of the video and the lyrics.

There are re- occurring themes within the music viedo which are often things that people try to ignore such as malnutrition and eating disorders within LEDC's; poverty, war, terrorism, communism, nuclear weapons, global warming due to traffic and pollution via water and air. Every theme has a video with it which illustrates and amplifies the world issue instead of just speaking the problem which means it has greater impact on the viewers. Additionally contrasting themes are shown such as a group of American children waving flags and smiling contrasted with an African child waving a gun which shows there are differences all around the world and that people live differently and in awful situations which many people do not realise.

An economic context within the video shows that money is being spent on nuclear weapons and wars when it should be being spent on helping poorer countries and assisting the change in global warming. It is shown that the band have money because they have been transported into the dessert with all of their equipment in order to film a music video whereas the clips being shown are of people who have no money to choose where to go.