My artifact to be analyzed is the song and music video, Russian Roulette, by the Carribean pop artist, Rihanna. This song is featured on her most recent CD entitled, “Rated R.” This song has went gold in the United States and is her most recent single. To begin, this song is called Russian Roulette. Russian Roulette, is a type of suicide game that people play. It involves putting a single bullet in the chamber of a gun or pistol. This barrel is spun, pointed at the player’s head and the trigger is pulled. The object of the game is simply to not die.
This song and video has been confidential because the fact that Rihanna is a teen idol. In her video she is in a asylum where she pleads to the guard and observers singing ,”And you can see my heart beating, you can see it beating, im terrified….so to past the test…just pull the trigger” Throughout this video, there are sign the can give the viewer a reason to believe she is talking about killing herself over life. Another part of the video is where the outline of her heart shows through her skin in a outline of blood. Also, there is a scene where she sits across from the man she is in love with and on the table there is a gun. During the whole video they pass the gun back and forth, playing “Russian Roulette”.
Another section of the video is when, Rihanna is swimming and a stream of bullets fly through the water and some of the bullets miss her but a few pierce her helpless body. This video tries to explain how love can be so hard. I think she is trying to explain a relationship that had problems and is now on the verge of ending. She wants the relationship to end but she is not sure and does not want to “pull the trigger.” At the end of the video, a single gun shot is heard and the camera is not on Rihanna. This shows that it was not Rihanna who “pulled the trigger” but the young man sitting across from her.
