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Video Analysis: When You Were Young

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The music video for The Killers “When You Were Young” depicts the story of a young woman's tragic relationship through her flashbacks as she stands atop a mountain contemplating suicide. The video is set in present-day Mexico, which is shown by the Latino actors, and the costumes they are wearing that are relevant to Mexican culture. The video shows the woman's loss of innocence, adultery, love, faith in religion and God, and his punishment for those who sin. The video opens with a shot of a large white cross on a hill overlooking a small village. The camera then pans to show a young woman looking at the cross. The cross is wrapped in a flowing white cloth that symbolizes the woman surrendering herself to the failed relationship and giving …show more content…

The relationship has changed her, her trust and her innocence. Her ideas are now the past “when you were young”. “Devils water it aint so sweet...but you can dip your feet in every once in a little while” could allude to her husband, and how sin is bad but he is still human after all, and her image of a “beautiful boy” that lived up to Jesus could never exist in this world, and was only going to be imagine “when you were young”.
The mise-en-scene is a vital part in telling the story and this is done throughout “When You Were Young” with a mixture of setting, props, actors, costume and lighting. The video is set in Tlayacapan, a poor and traditional Mexican city, it is the perfect setting for the song and fits the story well. We can empathize with the woman for her dull, traditional life and understand why she is so thrilled to meet this man and how she can be so naive. The fact religion is so important and the poverty she grows up in is very apparent throughout the video and we see many dilapidated buildings and crumbling church

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