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Madelyn LoPresti

Professor Sobocinski

English Composition 1201

4 February 2020

Bohemian Rhapsody

The 1975 music video for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” by Queen there are many moments

that resonated with the fans watching. In the 2018 remastered version of the video Rami Malek

and Marc Martel made sure to instill the same feeling that the original video gave the fans. In the

original music video, you can feel Freddie’s emotion while he is singing the famous lines: “gotta

leave you all behind and face the truth... I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all.” In the

remastered music video, Rami Malek did a phenomenal job portraying a different vulnerability

than the fans were used to. The 2018 version of “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a tribute to the late

Freddie Mercury and Queen, the audience is pre-existing Queen fans, but the video also

introduces new generations to the band's music. Whereas, the claim of the 1975 version of

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is Freddie “killing” his old image to the public and finally being his true

self and the audience is fans of rock and roll, along with anyone who can relate to the song.

The “Bohemian Rhapsody” music video that was released in 1975 made history for its

time. Not only did the music video make history, so did the song itself. Mainly because the song

is around six minutes long, which was unheard of. Also, there are parts of the song that are sung

in choir, rock ballad, opera, and hard rock. Almost every aspect of the song was something

people were not used to. Therefore, the song wasn’t popular when Queen first released it. Since

the song was so long, there was very little chance of it getting played on the radio. Once the

single finally got out on the radio, it made its way to the number one spot on the charts and
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stayed there for nine weeks. After the overwhelming popularity of the song, the band decided to

make a video. The beginning of the video opens with the band recreating their iconic pose from

the cover of one of their most famous albums. Their faces begin to fade out and then Freddie

appears on stage playing the piano. Freddie along with the rest of the band are wearing

extravagant outfits while performing. About halfway through the video, Freddie gets up from the

piano and starts to belt out the chorus. This scene in the music video is when Freddie portrays

how emotional the song is. For the duration of the video it flashes back and forth between the on-

stage performance and the pre filmed opera clips in front of the dark background. At the end of

the video, the song slows down, and the closing scene is Freddie playing the piano. The 1975

“Bohemian Rhapsody” video is still thought of today as one of the most groundbreaking music

videos of all time even though it only took roughly three hours to create. Creating a redone

version of such an iconic song is always a risk, but the “Bohemian Rhapsody” movie perfected

the updated version.

The remastered version comes from the “Bohemian Rhapsody” movie which was

released in 2018. The movie stars Rami Malek and the vocals for Freddie Mercury are done by

Marc Martel. The performance takes place at Wembley Stadium in London for the Live Aid

concert in 1985, ten years after the original music video first came out. The opening scene of the

“Bohemian Rhapsody” performance begins with the sound of fans screaming. Queen enters the

stage and immediately you can see that Rami Malek is wearing the exact outfit Freddie Mercury

wore for the real Live Aid performance. The details were spot on, everything was identical

including the jewelry and hairstyle. Once the fans quieted down, Rami Malek (playing Freddie)

begins to play different keys on the piano. He is noticeably anxious, and the band expresses the

same emotion as well. He starts to play “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the crowd roars once they
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hear the first notes. Rami and Marc give an emotional performance to the audience by hitting

higher notes than the studio version of the song included. At the end of the song, Rami stands up

from the piano and throws his fist in the air triumphantly. The video fades out with the shot of

Rami with his hand in the air and the fans screaming for the band. The similarities to the real

performance was what made the video so memorable for the viewers.

Since the redone music video for “Bohemian Rhapsody” was so spot on to Queen’s 1985

Live Aid performance, that makes the tribute to Freddie Mercury and Queen even more special.

Mainly because the movie’s cast and crew made sure all the details were the same. They

replicated the outfits that the band wore, the same drinks resting on the top of the piano, and

had Rami Malek study Freddie’s movements to make the performance as spot on as possible.

They paid tribute to the band in the perfect way and the fans certainly appreciated it. Even

though the similarities make the video memorable, the redone video and original video have

differences as well.

There are a lot of ways how the original music video and the redone version are similar,

but there are also plenty of notable differences. The two videos share the same claim, have the

same style of music, and start the performances at the same point in the song. Both performances

are also very emotional, but the videos show different types of emotion. In the original video,

Freddie portrays how the song is about the “death” of his image to the public and his way of

showing the world who he really is. In the redone video the band is seen to be noticeably nervous

because it was the first time they had all performed together in a very long time. Even though the

emotion in both videos is different, it is still portrayed in both. The videos also include important

differences. In each video the songs are performed differently, the setting for the videos is
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different, and the videos were filmed very differently. Both videos do a great job of making the

claim of the song clear and providing a very moving and emotional performance.

The rhetorical appeal that is used for both the original music video and the remastered

video is pathos. In the original music video, the band portrays emotion by their touching live

performance of the song. In the redone version, the actors conveyed the real emotion the band

was feeling at that moment. Also, the way the video was filmed contributed to the emotional

feeling that fans felt while watching. The 1975 version appeals to a different audience than the

2018 version, it appeals to fans of rock, usually young adults, possibly people from England

since the band is British, and since the song has such a deep meaning it appeals to people who

can relate to it. The 2018 version appeals to younger generations because it was released in 2018,

long after the band first started their career. It also appeals to people living in the United States

because that is where the “Bohemian Rhapsody” movie was released. Even though their

audiences differ, the two videos share the same claim.

Although both videos are different, they overall have the same purpose. The song is

intended to reach out to an audience who can relate to the song. The band wants people to know

that they aren’t alone in their struggles and that even a famous musician that is adored by the

world has struggled with finding his identity. Fans appreciate the lyrics that Freddie sings

because they feel that someone understands the pain they’ve felt. The original music video

shows these emotions throughout the performance. The 2018 remastered version does an

excellent job keeping the same claim of the song while also paying tribute to Queen and

introducing new generations to their music.

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Works Cited

Queen. “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Queen, A Night at the Opera, 1975,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ

Martel, Marc. “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Bohemian Rhapsody, 2018,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is6Ma2gFWyY