1. Goodwin’s Theory – Arctic Monkeys (When the
Sun Goes Down)
Indie/Indie Rock Genre

2. Music Videos Demonstrate Genre
Characteristics
• “When the sun goes down” by Arctic Monkeys falls into the Indie
Rock genre. Indie Rock videos are often associated with
instruments being played in the video, lots of shots of the lead
singer and a specific storyline. Typical locations for indie music
videos are often rural such as in a forest or very urban such as
taking place on city streets and subways. Indie music videos often
tell a story and are upbeat.
• We can see that this music video clearly fits the Indie Rock genre,
as it tells a story about a prostitute and her life through mostly
narrative shots, many of these shots taking place in council houses
and on the streets, which is extremely typical in indie rock music
videos, although not always under the same circumstances as this
kind of setting is usually used in performance based music videos or
ones that are less narrative. The song is very upbeat and lively,
following the Indie Rock convention.

3. Relationship Between Lyrics and
Visuals
• In the music video, “When the Sun Goes Down” by Arctic Monkeys, there is a very strong
relationship between lyrics and visuals, most of the lyrics translating literally into what is
happening in the music video. Because of this, we would call the relationship between the
lyrics and visuals in this song Illustrative.
At the very beginning of the music video we see an illustrative
relationship between the lyrics and the visuals when the main
character is introduced, the lyrics saying “So who's that girl
there? I wonder what went wrong so that she had to roam the
streets”, whilst showing a shot of a girl who appears to be
homeless in a poor looking area, the lyrics beginning to explain
why she has a life of prostitution.
As the story unfolds and we learn more, the pimp is
introduced and we see his nature reflected by both the lyrics
at the same time, showing him to be a greedy, malicious
man. The lyrics at this point in the video read “And what a
scummy man. Just give him half a chance I bet he'll rob you
if he can”, the man stealing an egg from the plate of the girl
as the lyrics “rob you if he can” sound. This shows the literal
nature of the music video and further demonstrates that it is
illustrative.

4. Relationship Between Music and
Visuals
• In this music video there is a fairly
strong relationship between the
music and the visuals, as a lot of cuts
happen directly on notes, making it
flow nicely. We can also see the way
in which the visuals in the music
video change when the tempo of the
song changes. At 0:58, the verse
ends and a guitar solo starts,
increasing the tempo of the song.
Mirroring this in the music video,
illustrative shots become less
prominent and instead we see more
shots of roads, giving an idea of a
busy night on the streets in the city.
While the tempo of the music speeds
up, so do the cuts as well and so we
see lots of different images along
with the music.

5. Demands of the Record Label (Need for close-ups
of the artist and motifs of the artist which may
recur across their work)
• Unlike many Indie Rock bands, there does not seem
to be any member of the band present in the music
video and there is no noticeable motif in this video
that is distinctive in other works by Arctic Monkeys
either. The band are signed to Domino records, who
are not one of the largest record companies, possibly
explaining the lack of demands and influence.
However, while this is the case with this music video,
other music videos also by Arctic Monkeys are not
the same and include many close ups of the band.

6. Reference to Voyeuristic treatment
of and looking at the female body
• While the lyrics of the song and the video
do technically show and talk about women
in a sexual manner, seeing as the main
character is a prostitute, they do not talk
about her as though she is someone who
they look at in a voyeuristic way, and
instead tell the sad story about her life and
the terrible consequences of living a life
where you are seen voyeuristically by
other people constantly and as an object.

7. There is Often Intertextual
Reference
• There do not seem to be any intertextual
references within this music video or links
to any other form of media or anything
else of that sort, as the video is quite
serious and instead focuses solely on the
storyline behind the music.

8. Performance based, Narrative based or Concept
based music video?
• This music video is very narrative based
rather than performance or concept
based, as it tells a story of a woman’s life
and how a city changes when it gets dark.
The shots used focus on the main
character as though it was a film, with no
inclusion of the band in the video or even
the lead singer, the music simply narrating
the visuals illustratively.