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Ashley McKenzie
Professor Diehl
Reading Response
24 October 2023
Reading Response 5
In general, music is a way for artists to show their creative sides. It is a way for
them to sound relatable. Their songs are how they try to be seen as human. Music videos
do this in a very unique way. While solely hearing a voice can be meaningful, seeing
someone’s facial expressions and body language can be 10x as more significant. This can
be seen in Amy Winehouse’s video for “Rehab”. During the initial watch, the video
seems relatively simple. However, if you rewatch it at least 2-3 times, various aspects
start to jump out at you.
I think this video shows broken-heartedness/depression because Amy is dealing
with being addicted to drugs. The situation alone breaks your heart because you are
seeing someone suffer. However, in the music video, a broken young woman is not how
she appears. Instead, her body language shows a supposed confidence in her decision not
to go to rehab. Actually seeing her sing “no no no” expresses how much emphasis she is
placing on the word. You seemingly already know where her head is at, in regards to her
circumstances.
Something I found interesting in the video is the change of setting. I also found
Amy’s change of outfits in different scenes intriguing as well. In the first scene, we see
her character in a bedroom. She is wearing a robe and tank top, perhaps her pajamas. It
looks like she just got out of bed. Her hair is not really done yet, yet she’s wearing
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makeup. It is almost like she woke up from some kind of hangover. Maybe she is
experiencing withdrawal and has not had her fix yet. In the second scene, we see her
outside, sitting on a staircase. She is wearing a stylish outfit (a dress with heels) and her
hair looks nice. She herself looks relatively healthy. In the last scene, she is seen in a
rehabilitation room. However, the next two scenes were the most interesting to me.
In the third scene, we find Amy’s character in a doctor’s office. She has traded
the white dress for a more “bad girl” type outfit, leather jacket and all. Her posture is
quite compelling here. She is posing like a sort of troublemaker, who has been sent to the
principal’s office. Like she does not care about the rules or anyone else’s opinion, except
her own. She even has her feet up on the desk. I noticed when she sings about the doctor
thinking she is depressed, it looks like she rolls her eyes. It is really helpful to have a
visual because you can see her emotions as she is singing the words. The same thing goes
for “have everyone think I’m on the mend”. At that moment, she has a kind of sarcastic
face. Her facial expression, in a way, says “yeah…like that’s going to happen”. On the
mend means that a person is recovering and improving health wise. I think deep down,
Amy knew that she needed/wanted rehab. But, she did not want to truly admit it. It could
be in fear of disappointing people (her fans, her team, etc) and being seen as less than.
The last setting in the music video is of Amy in a rehabilitation room. She is
wearing the same outfit from the beginning of the video. Only here, it looks more
disheveled, if that is believable. I think this is the actual main setting for the music video.
I actually think that the whole music video was a dream. As in, Amy’s character had
actually been in rehab the whole duration of the video. And she was just imagining that
she was back in her bedroom. She was back just sitting on a staircase, chilling outside.
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Perhaps, she was remembering what it was like to actually be outside. Maybe she was
remembering how her doctors’ visit was.
The last aspect of the video that stood out to me was the guy in blue. I think
he may represent how Amy actually feels. In the bedroom, bathroom, and staircase, we
see him dancing in his seat. He continuously taps his feet to the beat and moves his head
to the rhythm. He represents Amy’s desire to just be at home, listening to music, and
ultimately doing drugs. He is still dancing in the doctors’ office as well. I think in the 1st-
3rd scenes, he shows that Amy is a bit in denial that she has a problem. Music is what
makes the problems “go away”. However, in the final scene, the guy in blue is simply
sitting in a wheelchair, looking distraught. And he has stopped dancing completely. Is he
representing Amy being medicated, so he is calmer? Is this Amy accepting that she has,
in fact, gone to rehab?
