'Johnny Cash - Hurt' Music Video Analysis

For our analysis of a music video as part of research into existing products, we as a class watched a music video of a cover of Hurt by Johnny Cash, which was originally done by Nine Inch Nails in 1994. This was one of Johnny Cash's final hits before his death and was critically acclaimed, given best music video by the Grammy Awards.

The video features images and archive footage from Johnny's life and career, from the House of Cash Museum to a prison where he was once banged up, showing the highs and lows of his life.

The video in its entirety is very grainy almost old fashioned in the way it has been edited to look, even though it was 2002 at the time. This gives it a dark look maybe to signify that Cash himself was in a dark place because of his ever decreasing state of health and that he was in an unstable state emotionally.

The video was shot in his house surrounded by antiques that seem to clutter the place up. These are possibly what Cash has Collected and been given over the years and it gives a sense of the life he once had.

Another shot sees the American flag fluttering with great power and the connotations we get from this is that Cash is a True American, and American icon, important and the he's living the American dream.

As mentioned at the start we are shown the House of Cash Museum. To have a museum totally dedicated to you is a true honour and it's this, that lets you know that you're at the ultimate level of fame. That Cash was at the highest point of popularity you can get.

Archive footage dominates the second half of the video, but little snippets are found near the start but they are irregular, because it's mostly Johnny Cash himself at his house sitting alone. Some of the footage are of films that he has done, personal home videos and shots of him performing on stage. This shows the good times of his career.

Another feature in the video is a picture of his mother on the wall and at the same time the lyrics are sang "Everyone I know, goes away in the end". Which gives us a clear message that people close to him are suddenly disappearing and leaving including his mother years ago that he didn't cope with very well.

We can see from the video of his house, possessions and footage the he is of great wealth and power, however we see him sitting on a thrown at a table full of food all alone not looking very happy, which is evident from him pouring wine all over the food (which incidentally is red wine, which is to signify blood and God). This is a sign that you can have everything but if your alone it's not going to make you happy. After all this song is about reflection and regret of his past life, like when he tampered with drugs and was sent to prison.

Towards the end of the video we are shown a fast montage of everything that was to do with him. It features his performances, parts from 'The Johnny Cash Show' which was his talk show, films, the music video it's self. Also it features shots of Christ dragging his cross and being nailed to it which looks like it's from a separate film entirely.