Johnny Cash - Hurt

Johnny Cash - Hurt

Directed by Mark Romanek, the video was created to capture the essence of Johnny in his youth and in his older years. When filming Cash was 71 years old, and sadly passed away 7 months after filming.

From looking at the video, many things become significant, this includes religion and money. But at the same time Mark uses archive footage, in which he shows Cash as his younger self enjoying the life he was leading. 

These are some of the things I have picked up on when watching the music video. 

The music video cuts on the beat, this shows a statue of a man, but at first the shot is quite wide, showing some of the leaves behind. The next time the beat comes in, the video has been cut so that a close up of this statues face can be seen, when this was done, I was unsure as to what significance this figure might have in the video. As the next cut shows somebody on a horse, to then go on to show a large fruit bowl, full up of things like grapes and bananas.

This clip is then followed by a close up of Johnny playing his guitar, this shows his frail old hands, but still shows how music is still in his life even at this late stage. As well as noticing that he has a black guitar, you notice that he is wearing black clothing, which for Johnny Cash was quite symbolic.

After seeing the first part of the song being performed by Johnny, you are then shown an American flag, this shows his nationality and it also gives the video a setting as you know that the footage has been taken in America as you see a sign for the House Of Cash Museum which was set up in Nashville, Tennessee. However from seeing this sign you learn that the museum was closed to the public and then later closed down.

The use of close ups and extreme close ups, especially of Johnny's face are used to show his age. The fact age is significant in this video actually makes me wonder why he's made the video, but as it carries on, you see him sat at his piano with his hands of the lid covering the keyboard, which makes you ask yourself whether he's actually going to play it or not. Following the line 'I remember everything', seeing Johnny as his younger self, this flashback then comes back to the present showing him opening the piano to play, it then becomes apparent that this will be the last time.

Showing Johnny to be sat at his piano before he begins to play.

Johnny's mother.

More archive footage of him is then used, again showing him when he was younger, but this time he is shown with children, possibly his or even his grandchildren, but from seeing this, you see him when he had life in him, whereas now, he isn't as young as he use to be. From this, one of the lines in the song is 'Everyone I know goes away in the end' this creates many different meanings to me as a viewer and it suggests that he could push people away, but then as he's older you start to relate this line to death and that is when you see a picture of his mother in a frame on his wall.

The video then shows footage of the museum, it is shown to be dusty and abandoned and you then see Johnny's records broken on the floor, which in the music industry is a large achievement. But even as a massive star, Johnny use to go into prisons to perform and a clip of this is seen in his video, but is it possible that he once went to jail and by him performing it was showing himself as a reformed man.

A broken record left on the floor of the museum.

'You stay the hell away from me you hear' is a line you hear from a clip you see, this suggests he could be talking to the devil, especially as the song seems quite negative towards some aspects of life, and throughout the video you see things that are symbolic to Christianity and religion. This again becomes more apparent in the video as you see him taking his wealth for granted when he is shown with caviar and lobster in front of him. But when he sings ' I wear this crown of thorns' he is shown to be sat in a large chair, maybe even a throne, but on the table in front of him there is champagne and a large turkey ... So could this be saying it's his last supper ? The only other thing that then resembles religion is when he tips red wine away. This shows Johnny to be selfish, whereas Jesus turned his blood to wine to enable him to share with others, whereas Johnny hasn't, you can see this as there is no one around him.

Archive footage is then used again to show Johnny going home when he was younger, to have a video camera at that time would suggest that he was quite privileged and even wealthy as it wouldn't have been something for everybody to have at the time. The video then becomes quite sad as the line you hear is 'What have I become'. From having him question himself to then show his wife behind him looking quite sad, you feel quite sorry for him. This is because you realise that there must have been times in his life that he might have regretted doing and for him to look back on this is upsetting. You are then shown archive footage of him with his family, this shows him and his family to be happy and enjoying themselves whereas  now, he doesn't seem as happy as he use to be.

Here you can see his wife behind him.

At the end of the song, the tempo of the last verse increases, this is together with more archive footage of him when he visited the jail, of the life that is around him, there is even footage from a film and this shows Jesus in the crown of thorns, then being nailed to the cross. The feeling you get as a viewer is quite uneasy as you start to wonder what he's thinking about if he can relate himself to Jesus in the way that he might have done something wrong but maybe hasn't been punished for his actions and this enables him to get a lot of lost feelings out. Furthermore, the use of archive footage near the end of the song definitely brings out emotion and by using footage of him finishing a song when he was younger, starts to bring the video to a close to then show a close up of his face which shows in to look down at his keyboard to shut the lid on it. The emphasis on the use of the piano then makes you ask the question on whether this was the last time he used it, and it was. His last song was Hurt, the closing of the piano symbolised this and by having the screen fade to black it makes you as the viewer of the video sit and think about what you have just watched. This video in a way summed up all of Johnny's life for him then to die later that year.

After closing the piano, Johnny wiped his hands across
the lid of the piano and then the screen faded to black.