Music Video Analysis

Kanye West's music video for 'Touch the Sky' is a narrative-based '70s style one, telling the story of 'Evel Kanyevel', played by Kanye West, an obvious parody of stuntman Evel Knievel as he tries to fly a small rocket over the Grand Canyon. The video begins with a title sequence, enforcing the fact that is a film parody. The basic narrative is that Kanyevel is preparing for the jump with his new girlfriend (Pamela Anderson), talking to his fans, and testing the rocket, when his ex-girlfriend and her best friend see him. Kanyevel and his girlfriend have an argument in his trailer when she expresses concerns for his safety, then his ex and her friend interrupt an interview and they also have an argument. Eventually Kanyevel performs the stunt, crashes and dies. Throughout the video, the narrative is interspersed with Kanye West performing amongst the clouds on a blue backdrop, particularly at the end, where he has “touched the sky”. The video could be described as postmodern because of its many intertextual references: the parody of Evel Knievel; the reference to comments made about President Nixon (when in real life West had made some comments about then-President Bush); the references in lyrics/dialogue to other West songs, e.g. “that's right, girl, I told you, when he get on, he gonna leave yo' ass for a white girl". Additionally, from a feminist viewpoint, the video could be criticised for objectifying women, as all the female characters are wearing revealing clothes, particularly Pamela Anderson’s character.