The song "Youth" by Shawn Mendes was released on the 3rd May 2018 as one of 4 singles released from his self-titled album, "Shawn Mendes". The song features guest vocals from an artist called, Khalid. in an interview about the song, he said that the song was inspired by the Manchester Arena bombing in May 2017.
Following the release of the song, the music video was also released on the 5th November 2018. The video addresses many issues in today's society, one of them being the March For Our Lives campaign in America.
The video depicts a gun being dropped from above and then being shattered across the floor. This could be seen as relating to the fight against gun laws in America needing to be more harsh and may even represent the fact that guns are not needed and are not the way to solve disputes. This shot almost takes the power away from the weapon and is a way of connoting that guns do not solve everything. This is an extremely powerful shot, particularly because of people's opinions on current gun laws in the country and the president's reluctance to chance
them.
The campaign is continually referenced throughout the video, particularly through shots of young people campaigning and voicing their opinions. This relates to the lyrics of the song which are, "you can take my youth away". This suggests to the audience that young people
should be heard and should be able to have a voice, as this is something that is often ignored. In addition to this, it also conveys the idea that young people are strong in their fight against gun violence, specifically in this case, school shootings. This, again, is another method of taking the power away from school shooters and anyone who does use a gun in a violent way. The shots used in the video provoke emotion in the audience as we are made to feel sympathy for these young people who are not able to feel safe in school. This urges us to join their fight in implementing harsher gun laws. In fact, the person used in the second scene shown above is a survivor of gun violence. The use of people who have experienced the effects of these issues first hand only provokes more emotion in the audience and makes the situation seem even more real.
In addition to this, the video also represents issues such as race. This can be seen in one of the first scenes of a group of black ballerinas. This breaks the conventions of ballerina dancing of the large majority of the ballerinas being white females. The scene is shot in dark surroundings, making the scene more poignant as all of the audience's concentration will be focused on the ballerinas beauty.
In addition to this, the video also addressed another convention of ballerina dancing, which is that the dancers are usually really skinny and have a stereotypical "beautiful" body. This scene is also shot in a similar way, in that not much is happening in the background, forcing the audience to concentrate on the performer.
Moreover, the video addresses other issues, such as terrorism and Islamophobia. The scene show above it a really important one as it shows a young Muslim boy carrying out his daily routine of worship. The fact that the statue of liberty is shown in the background represents the idea that everyone is welcome in America and that people should be seen as equal. It also represents the freedom that the country has, for example freedom of religion. This addresses people's attitudes towards Muslims recently and the stereotype that has been created in the media. The effect of this can be seen in this single shot:
This is a shot of a young Muslim boy who was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school. Noticeably, in this shot, the statue of liberty is not shown, suggesting that although the idea is there that everyone is treated fairly in America and everyone has a freedom of religion, people do not always remember this throughout their everyday lives and these beliefs are not always put into practice. This is to make the audience think about the stereotypes created in the media and to second guess their judgements.
Furthermore, the video also represents the LGBTQ community. This scene depicts a young drag performer. The way in which this scene is shot provokes a sense of pride within the audience as the performer looks extremely strong and powerful, due to the city being shown in the background. This suggests that the person is in control and holds create power and that they are fierce. This is very important because it represents the community, which is something that isn't done in frequently in music videos.
As well as this, the video addresses the struggle of amputees. This is shown in the scene above , including Hasaan Hawthorn, age 20, who is a wrestling state champion. The scenes in which Hasaan is shown in depict him as strong and unstoppable as he is shown succeeding in wrestling fights. This creates the idea that being an amputee should not limit a persons opportunities as the person used in the video to present this clearly hasn't let it get in the way. It is also a way of showing that being an amputee doesn't always mean that the things you are able to do are limited. The video almost uses Hasaan as a role model for any other amputees watching the video.
Overall, the video represents a wide rang of issues and ensures to represent a wide range of people. The video is extremely important and effectively portrays the true meaning behind the song and what the artist envisioned when writing it. Throughout, it continues to break the conventions of a performance video, as the content isn't just the artist lip-syncing to the camera, but portrays different people's stories and addressing many political issues. In addition to this, all of the performers shown within the video are given a segment each at the end in which their name appears on the bottom of the screen, as well as their achievements. This helps to empower each of the different people and the issues that they have addressed in the video. This is another way in which the video breaks conventions as this is not usually shown at the end of the video and any performers shown in each scene are usually just in the background and are not the main focus of the video. This is also another way in which the video empowers each person and the issue they represent. The video helps to represent the artist as one of the key things that he wanted to begin portraying through his music and his music videos is that he is not just another teenage pop singer who has a large female teenager fanbase. This video helps to prove this and begins to change how he is represented in the media.
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