Abby Six

English Composition II

02/12/2022

The video of the song Cigarette Daydreams by Cage The Elephant has a

substantially darker story than the cover video made by Mirella, which has a very 'happy

go lucky' story. These two different videos do a great job of exploring the different ways

that the song can be interpreted by its listeners. The bands have very different creative

outlooks which further separates the two videos from each other, allowing them to span

to many different types of audiences.

Both of the videos feature the bands who made them, but there is a clear

difference in both of the videos. The video by the original band, Cage The Elephant, is

a very well made video and there is a very complex story that the video is trying to show

the viewer. The video by Mirella, however, was not a very well made video, but it still

was able to give the viewer a sense of security because it looks like it was made on an

older camera which gave it the effect of being a home movie and it also featured the

band who looked as if they were a small family themselves.

In the original video to the song Cigarette Daydreams by Cage The Elephant you

see a young girl going through a lot of physical and emotional abuse caused by the

many men that she has encountered throughout her life. You then see her grow up and

eventually confront the person who let all of these terrible things happen to her, who

appeared to be her mother. She ended up kidnapping and killing her mother by locking

her in the trunk of a car and lighting it on fire. She then dances in the parking lot with

what looks like her lover as the car is left burning beside them. The video is extremely
dark and emotional and leaves the listener feeling heavy with both sadness from the

awful things that had happened to the girl and content because the girl was able to get

revenge on the one person who allowed all of those things to happen to her.

In the video there are multiple different men pictured who have done many awful

and disturbing things to the girl as she was growing up. These men happen to be the

members of the band who created the song, Cigarette Daydreams. It gives the video

more of a connection to the band but also leaves the viewer wondering if the band has

done any of these things like their characters in the video have done. The depth and

complexity in the video pulls the viewer in and leaves them guessing what everything

portrayed in the video means and asking themselves how it connects to the band.

In the cover video by Mirella, however, you see a group of friends, who also

happen to be the band who is singing the song that is playing in the video, joyfully

dancing in a frozen tundra. In the video there are many cuts of the friends doing fun

things like rolling around in the snow or dancing to the song playing in the background.

They allow the listener to interpret the song in a more happy and joyful way compared

to the original version.

The song has a line, “If you can find a reason, a reason to stay Satndin’ in the

pourin’ rain”. This line can be interpreted in many different ways, but in this video the

viewer is likely to interpret this line as the band sticking together through thick and thin

and knowing that as long as they stay together they will be okay. It gives the viewer a

sense of security knowing that the band is able to stick together through the tough times

because then it may mean that the viewer will be able to do that too.
 In the end, the video of the song Cigarette Daydreams by Cage The Elephant

has a substantially darker story than the cover video made by Mirella, which has a very

'happy go lucky' story. These two different videos do a great job of exploring the

different ways that the song can be interpreted by its listeners. Cage The Elephant

does a great job at creating a very complex and dark storyline for their video. In doing

this, the viewer is pulled in throughout the whole video. Mirella shows a completely

different interpretation of the song in their family movie style video. They show the

happy side of the song by dancing with each other and showing the viewer that they are

having a good time with one another.

Elephant, Cage The, director. Cage The Elephant-Cigarette Daydreams (Official

Video), 24 Sept. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opeETnB8m8w.

Accessed 14 Feb. 2022.

Band, Mirella, director. Mirella - Cigarette Daydreams (Cover Music Video), Mirella,

16 Apr. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58RnJUg5EKo . Accessed 14

Feb. 2022.