Media Deconstruction

Teenage Dirtbag is a Narrative film, as we have the

band performing in front of an audience, and we

also have a story about a guy who dreams of this

girl that is way out of his league. Through the

video, there are many signs that show that the

main character is different, like when he is sitting

on his own eating lunch under a sign that says

“LOSER”, and when he is walking down the wrong

staircase.

The band Wheatus are situated in two different spots. For the verses, they are in the school gym, the camera pans around them in circles. For the chorus, they are dressed differently, and they are in what looks like the school corridor. Here, they have an audience of teenagers behind them, singing and dancing to the song.The storyline in the video is about a guy who likes a girl. At the start, we see him falling asleep on the stairs while he is studying. The transition suggests that we enter his dream, and we see an American high school. As previously stated, there are signs in the video that this guy has no friends, like when he is walking through the corridors, other guys do „L‟ signs at him with their hands to their foreheads.

The girl he likes drives over his bike as he reaches school and is about to chain it up. She gets out of her car and walks past him like she hasn‟t noticed a thing. This is where we hear the lyrics “She doesn‟t know who I am...” suggesting that she acts like he doesn‟t exist. Through the day, we see the guy get exiled from other students, again, showing us that he has no friends and that he is different from everyone else. The girl‟s boyfriend knocks him over at one point, with the lyrics “Her boyfriend‟s a dick”. When he is sat under the sign that says „LOSER‟, he see‟s the girl‟s boyfriend, and gives him a friendly smile and wave. He then throws something at him. This is the point where the girl notices, and is angry with her boyfriend. She walks off, and we come back to the shot of the guy on his own under the „LOSER‟ sign.

The lyrics then say “Its prom night...” and we see the guy sat at a table. He takes off his tie, showing the audience that he has given up. He then see‟s the girl again, and this time she is looking at him. She then sings that she has two tickets to see Iron Maiden, and that he has to go with her. They then dance, and Wheatus are on the stage. Everything seems perfect. That is until the disco ball falls, and the camera takes a shot of the guy looking up as he is about to be hit by the falling ball.He then wakes up on the stairs where we found him at the start, telling the audience that this was all a dream.