ROAR

KATY PERRY
 FACTS

Released: 10th August 2013

Genre: Power Pop, Arena Rock
Lyricist: Katy Perry, Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin, Bonnie Mckee, Henry Walter
Producer: Dr.Luke, Circuit, Max Martin
Label: MXM Studios, Lukes in the boo, Santa Barbara, Secret Garden Studios
Director: Grady Hall, Mark Kudsi
 PLOT

After a plane crash in a forest, Katy Perry made friends with the
animals and out-roars a tiger who attacked her boyfriend
previously, to become Queen of the Jungle.
 OPENING
The opening starts with a comic book like style, if specific, a jungle book
comic. The title of song, ‘Roar’ appears, with a non-diegetic sound of
tiger’s roar and chirping of birds. A burning transition transmits the video
from animation to real life. Next up bird’s view and high angle shots
reveal the location with a crashed plane and a couple in view.
 INTERTEXTUALITY+ REFRENCE
After accepting Katy’s leadership, the tiger is seen wearing a label
saying ‘kitty Purry’. It’s in real life, the name of Katy Perry’s pet cat.
This can be interpreted as the Tiger now being Katy's pet and
obedient to her demand. Or it might also be used to insult the tiger
by calling it a "Kitty",which usually is used for meekly pet cats and
not wild tigers.

The lyric ‘now I’m floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee’ is
reference to the boxer Muhammad Ali’s famous saying, a
philosophy in boxing. However, the quote has a bit different
meaning when it comes to Mohammad Ali and his boxing career,
but, in the music video we see how Katy finds a new life in jungle,
similar how a butterfly is born from a caterpillar.
The music video has a very clear reference to Tarzan's character or Mowgli from The Jungle book. Katy Perry enacts
the iconic scene from it by swinging on the vine. Moreover, just like how Tarzan is the leader of jungle, or just as
Mowgli lives with animals; Katy becomes the human leader of jungle and lives with animals.
 NARRATIVE THEORY
Symbolic code:
Katy’s attire along with her posture while she stands at the waterfall and later when she’s sitting on the glass throne
wearing a flower crown, are hinting at her having a position of authority and power amongst all the animals of
jungle.
Enigma code:
At the beginning where we see a crashed plane and random couple in the middle of nowhere, leads to questions
regarding the couple’s identities, the circumstances that lead to them crashing and also what’s the location? This
makes the audience curious.
 SEVEN E CARLSON
Television Brad Performance:
Katy Perry herself plays the main character and performs throughout the video.
 ANDREW GOODWIN
Star Image:
Katy Perry is known for her "cartoonish exaggeration" in public, hence her dramatics and expressions through out
the music video makes sense.
Relationship between lyrics and visuals:
Lyrics repeatedly support the main theme of the video. The lyric ‘you held me down, but I got up’ just after her
boyfriend has been eaten suggests how he controlled her previously but now she is free.
Another example: "I went from zero To my own hero" hints at her transition from a weak women to a strong leader
who protected herself on her own, hence the lyrics "her own hero".
Also as she sings ‘I got the eye of the tiger’ and compares her strength with the Tiger.

“I WENT FROM ZERO TO MY OWN HERO”

“I GOT THE EYE OF THE TIGER”

LAURA MULVEY
Male Gaze:
 MUSIC VIDEO TYPES
Performance Based:
Perry can be seen looking directly at the camera and lip syncing to the song; breaking the forth wall in
various shots. Her emotions of fear and defenselessness; establish an emotional link with the
audience.
 MUSIC VIDEO TYPES
Narrative based and Conceptual:
The music video has a start, mid and an end, along with a main character that drives
the plot forward. The narrative revolves around the main concept of “Confidence,
Empowerment, Adaptability, and the will and power to stand up for ones self“. Series
of events lead Perry to protect herself, establish authority and leading all the
animals, while adjusting to the life in wild.

Surrealistic:
The use of animation and the music video being set in a fictional/fantasy world,
credits to it being a surrealistic one.
 MISE EN SCENE
Katy's costume; tiger print bikini and leaves skirt, accurately represent her being the
queen of the jungle.

The editing is in sync with the musical beats. The cuts get faster where the beat gets faster,
accompanying the energy of the music video.
Bright lighting along with bright colors like green, brown and red have been
used. These colors compliment the location of the jungle, and also the overall
Power Pop genre.