A New Feminist Era

By: Alexis Carreno

Imagine Dragon released their single “Radioactive” back in 2012, however when the music video came out later that year it was different than what most people associated the lyrics of the song with. It is not to say it was a bad video; it just takes a little more thought to deconstruct the symbols and understand the message of a new era with a feministic perspective.

The video start with a woman carrying a covered cage and entering a creepy isolated building. In this building, men conduct fights between stuff animals however, one seems to dominate every round and destroys all the other teddy bears. Here semiotics is used to demonstrate the current era. The dominant stuff animal has similar characteristics to a gorilla which is symbol for dominance and masculinity. On the other hand, the stuff animals he is destroying are the cute and fluffy. The teddy bears have a female connotation because as Denise’s article mentions teddy bears can be a representation of a woman’s personality. Therefore, these scenes represent the age where male dominated females, the patriarchal era. The gorilla stuff animal destroying the other small animal is not showing physical abuse, it’s more of an analogy to show that women are beneath men.

An article by Linda Napikoski, describes this era as men holding all the positions for instance being the leader of the family and being the boss at work making great money. This concept of men being bosses and having money is demonstrated in the environment of the arena. While the stuff animals are fighting, the people who surround the arena are all men with money in the hands. Furthermore, the one who oversees the fights and the controller of the dominating stuff animal is a man who sits on chair like it a throne. This further establish the current male dominance era because women were not given any high positions of authority and thus had to depend on their male spouse for big money.

The masculinity era comes to an end when the woman who entered the building pulls the blanket off the cage and a reveals a pink stuff teddy bear. Pink is associated with feminine characteristics such as loving and caring and thus this teddy bear symbolizes the power of women. The teddy bears end up knocking out the gorilla in one powerful punch shocking the male audience. Two men try to grasp the bear however it vaporizes them resulting in all the other men to drop the money and leave the area. The new era has now begun. This new era is the current era in the world where, women have been given more rights and are seen more as equal to men. They are able to work in a high position job with a great salary. Female no longer need to feel dependent of men because not they are able to live life as an independent woman.

Besides the interpretation through the stuff animals there is another way the music video demonstrates the theme of a feminist new era. The actual band members are shown in the video however, they are trapped in the basement beneath the arena. The man in charge of the place has the key to get the band members out but will only hand over the key when beaten. So again, demonstrating the important role that women play, here come the lady with the pink stuff animal to not only beat the one in charge but to save the band members who are all male. The men who had the guy is sent to the basement where all the destroyed stuff animals are which can be interpret that males are no longer are above the females, in fact it can be said that they need females. The band member would have been stuck there forever if it was not for the lady coming to the rescue. Furthermore, when the members are freed they automatically get out of the basement and the last member turns back and looks the women. She is show like a mysterious savior or super hero with the light shining from the background which bring this strong connation to girl power.

 According to the behind the scenes of the music video, the band member wanted to tell their message but in a way the viewers would never expect. The music video accomplishes that and at first their message is not as clear but once you see it a second time it became obvious that the message is about revolution or a new era. However, taking it to a higher level, the semiotics and feminism features can be depicted as the rise of a new era for women.