Music Video Analysis - 3.) "Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots

With the release of the film Suicide Squad (David Ayer, 2016) came the spectacular accompanying soundtrack for the film. The song "Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots was the film's lead single; the music video that was released for this song is - while similar to other music videos by the band - very much a promotional point for the film (as too were the music videos of the other songs on the soundtrack, such as "Purple Lamborghini" by Skrillex and Rick Ross.)

In terms of the relationship between the visuals and the lyrics, there is a strong significant theme of societal outcasts, heathens, and sinners. The prison setting provides a perfect environment to find such people, while also linking to the prison Belle Reve from the film.

Locations & Mise-en-scene

The opening shot is an aerial view of some unidentifiable and isolated backwoods marshlands, which links to the location of the prison in the film.

The next shot is a long shot of a thick concrete wall with barbed wire at the top, which we take to be the wall of a prison. The wall also has a macabre piece of artwork on it; A skeleton is pictured clinging to bars and the words "Welcome To Belle Reve", "Till Death Do Us Part", and "Special Security Barracks" which link to the prison in the film and also denotes the situation to the audience.

Intertextuality

The song for this music video was featured in the recently released film "Suicide Squad" and so this music video has heavy links to the film. For example, the location for the video is a high-security prison, like the one we meet our protagonists in in the film. More significant however is the fact that clips of the main characters in the movie are also interjected into this video; the clips chosen are from the early scenes of the movie when the characters are all still incarcerated. By having such clear links between both products, they can have a symbiotic relationship, meaning the success of one helps to feed the success of the other.

Performance Style

Like most videos, this one also features a performance by the band's two members. Josh Dun is seen singing throughout the video, but about half-way through his prison jumpsuit is stripped off revealing a yellow jacket suit as he steps onto a small stage within the prison to perform for the inmates who arrive to be the audience.




Narrative

The narrative of the video seems linear, although the editing suggests a few jumps in time. While the ending is cyclical to the beginning (with Josh Dun compliant to the surrounding heavily armed guards,) the ending is left fairly open. The intended reading is that we assume Dun remains imprisoned at the end, but his exact fate is left open to interpretation, as is the narrative enigma surrounding his reason for incarceration into a maximum security prison.




Star Treatment

The band's singer Josh Dun is repeatedly focused on throughout the video, making him the central thread to the story. While the band's drummer (and original member) Tyler Joseph is also featured, he is only seen playing his drums. Dun on the other hand behaves as his role of prisoner but then switches out to perform.




Audience
The target audience of this music video is the fans of the Suicide Squad movie, but also fans of the band. Throughout this video the two band members are featured heavily, and they perform for the other prison inmates (who in this case represent the fans of the band.)