Hozier's "Take Me to Church" was released in 2014 where it began to receive nominations and awards. It was nominated for MTV's Video Music Award for Best Direction, Best Rock Video and it won MAD's Music Video award. It topped the charts in 12 countries including the United States top adult 40.
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| Figure 1 |
The music video is focused around 2 homosexual males whose sexual identity is discovered by the community leading to violence. The video brought the fears of the LGBT community to the media, showing the violence the community faces. The music video focuses on a narrative with no performance element, a common theme amongst Hozier's other music videos such as Cherry Wine.
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| Figure 2, the first shot of the bonfire |
The first issue within the music video is that there is no
equality between gay and straight people. This is elicited through the use of
the circular narrative where the first shot is of the bonfire (figure 2) and the last shot
is of the bonfire, although in the last shot there is a homophobic group around
the fire. The use of the circular narrative reflects the hate crimes within
societies as the attacks keep happening and often those who commit those crimes
attack again. The repetition of the shots of the fire supports this as the fire
becomes a master-shot as it is often referred back to, showing the hate
harboured by certain people as fire has connotations of anger due to its bold
colours. Although in the video is it grey scale the meaning of anger is still
present. Also, the inequality is shown in figure 1. The large bonfire behind
the men causes for there to be a strong chiaroscuro effect. This sharp contrast
of light and dark reflects the opposition between straight people and gay
people within the shot. The grey scale throughout the video continues to feed
the idea of opposition between gay and straight people, portraying gay people
as lesser and weaker than straight people.
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| Figure 4 |
Also, straight people, within this music video, are presented as hateful and dangerous. The dark silhouettes in front of the bright bonfire portray
the straight group as hateful and to an extent demonic as the fire has hellish
connotations and due to the grey scale the males are completely black. They are
surrounding a male on the floor who is the gay male as they beat him showing
the unequal balance that is rooted in society. This links to Hozier’s main
purpose which is to criticise the Church’s beliefs towards gay people (hence
the title “Take Me to Church”) and to reflect the hate crimes that happen too
often within societies, particularly in America. The referral back to shots of fire reflects the hate within the straight people towards the LGBT community and more specifically the gay protagonists. Also, the fire may represent how hate can spread to generation to generation, person to person as fire spreads to house to house. The straight people within the video attack one of the protagonist and as we, the audience, are positioned on the side of the protagonist we begin to resent and build a prejudice towards the straight people. Many gay viewers will take this prejudice and see straight people as dangerous and hateful and therefore Hozier's music video may have incited new hate within the LGBTQ community towards straight people. The straight people within the video are presented as dangerous due to the parallels drawn between them and the KKK. In figure 1 the large bonfire surround by masked people has connotations of the KKK's rituals, presenting straight people as dangerous, hateful and even evil. This representation seems as though it is a hyperbole however the music video draws upon real life events, reflecting hate crimes on the LGBT community and therefore raising awareness for the issues the community faces with society. Additionally, the costume worn by the straight people is matching, showing unity within the straight community that have united to attack the gay community. In figure 4 the male in centre frame is wearing a bandanna, representing how the straight people are hiding their real identities. This further elicits that the straight characters know what they are doing is wrong and illegal and yet they are attacking an innocent, gay man. This is a huge statement Hozier is making as it truly reflects the hidden hate harboured by some societies towards the LGBT community, founded on prejudice with no real reason. The shot overall presents straight people as the antagonists, having no motivation for the attacks. As well as this, the beginning of the chorus starts with a chromatic descent from G to F# and then F. This creates discord within the song which shows how straight people are wrong to attack gay people for their sexuality as the discord does not belong within the key of G major. This therefore presents straight people as hateful as they know what they are doing is wrong and their actions do not belong to current society and yet proceed to attack them anyway.
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| Figure 3 |
Thirdly, gay people are presented as scared. This is done through the shots of the gay character running. The shots of the character running is filmed through a handheld camera causing the shot to shake, mirroring the response to fear within humans. The shaking of the camera places the audience in a position of panic as the character is running as well as the frame is shaking so the audience begins to worry for the character's safety. Also, there is a shot where one of the gay males is running down a narrow corridor (figure 3). The narrow corridor is claustrophobic, panicking the audience once again as the gay character is beginning to become trapped, foreshadowing the capture of one of the males during the climax of the video at the end. The decline down the staircase juxtaposes against the rise in pitch during the "deathless death" lyric during the chorus. The decline down the corridor may reflect the decline into hell as he is going down, linking to the song's criticism of the Church's belief. Due to the composition of the shot, with the walls coming into the middle of the shot and aligning upon the rules of thirds, the shot has an effect of being chased. The walls are encasing and almost following the character, portraying gay people as hunted and therefore scared.
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| Figure 5 |
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| Figure 6 |
Another way sexuality is represented in this music video is that gay people lack the freedom that straight people have. This is first shown by the use of the chains around a box (figure 5) which is being buried, signifying the physical manifestation of the burying of the character's identities. Due to the prejudice and hate towards gay people the character's must hide themselves and bury their true identity to protect themselves, once again showing the struggle the LGBT community faces everyday. The chains also have connotations of prison and may have an alternative meaning to reflect the laws in some countries that prohibit homosexuality that can be punishable by incarceration.The removal of freedom within homosexuals is once again illustrated in figure 6. The plane is free to fly through the sky whereas the gay males are stuck within the small community, surround by hate. The plane is small, occupying only one point on the third within the shot showing how far away freedom is, reflecting the distance humans as a whole must go to achieve freedom for all to love who they want. Also, in figure 7 the bars look similar to those of a jail cell. This removes the character's freedom and takes away their rights. Jail is for criminals and therefore it places them in a position where they have committed a crime when in reality they have not. This removes their freedom and represents gay people as having no freedom and reflects how gay people are wrongly imprisoned and targeted based on prejudice.
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