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Tuesday 5 March 2019

Dream- Dizzee Rascal

The main narrative of the music video is about Dizzee Rascal's rise to fame. The whole thing is shown with a presenter and puppets. The video is actually a parody of the 1940's children's show "Muffin the Mule", starring a woman who looks very similar to Annette Mills. The whole video is quite grainy, giving it the appearance of being older. While the song itself has a clear message about following your dreams and staying true to yourself, the music video subverts that message. By using puppets, it shows that despite the message of being able to do whatever you want no matter where you come from, everyone is held back by where they're from. With the whole setting being reflective of the working class and street life, with the off-licence building on the piano and the lyrics reflect the stereotypical life on the streets. There is also imagery of graffiti and stealing TVs.

The binary opposites in the video are Dizzee Rascal and the puppets, and the woman sitting at the piano. The woman at the piano could be seen as white British society, and she is keeping Dizzee Rascal in a box. He is only let out on her terms and the use of the nursery rhyme shows that it has to child friendly to be allowed. This could very much be seen as commentary on how black artists have to portray themselves as unthreatening to be allowed in white Britain's society. Most of the puppets used in the video are also black, and are presented in a way reminiscent of black face, perhaps showing how black people are viewed by the white middle class. On the other hand, the policeman puppets are shown to be white and committing police brutality against the black teenagers. However, the policeman is also a puppet controlled by strings, which could show that all people of the working class, no matter of race, are not completely in control of their own lives.

The whole music video and lyrics make many references to typical city life, as well as the culture around grime music.

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