InsaneJournal

Taste of a Poison Paradise

What do a blonde female flight attendant, a red-haired girl breaking into a heavily-guarded place to steal poison, and a dark-haired girl scaling a building all have in common? They are all personas taken on by Britney Spears in her music video "Toxic". "Toxic" is about independence being the most important thing in life, and the idea that love makes one weak. This is shown through the images, music, and lyrics of the music video.

            Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Never is that shown more clearly than in this video. In between the interesting characters mentioned above, Britney is shown almost completely nude except for hundreds of what appear to be glittering diamonds. This is one of the most powerful images because diamonds represent power and wealth and luxury. She is all alone on a background of white. It is a far cry from the first persona shown, a flight attendant in a crowded airplane. The flight attendant, while in a futuristic outfit, is the traditionally feminine image, down to her painted fingernails. She is cute and blonde and is one of three flight attendants who are all dressed the same, underlining her compliance with traditional ideas of beauty. But when she spills a drink on one of the men on the plane and acts surprised when it was clearly done on purpose, one sees the falseness of the innocent flight attendant image. When she moves the man toward the bathroom, she pushes him along with her drinks cart, as if being with a man is just another part of her daily regimen. During their time in the bathroom, she yanks off his face, and what lies beneath would be considered more attractive. In changing him, she indicates that she is hard to please and rather superficial. As she leaves the bathroom, she slides his wallet out of his pocket, adding to the fact that he was being used, even if he simply adjusts his tie and does not look very upset. The next stage in her appearance is bright and more alternative. It's also more masculine, as she is wearing leather. Her sunglasses are particularly symbolic, as the lenses are covered in rhinestones, representing the image of her diamond outfit, as if she is feeling a stirring need to get away from the man who occupies her thoughts. She rides behind a shirtless man on a motorcycle, bright red hair blowing behind her. It's as if she's trying to forget the man on the plane by running away with this man. She is starting to reject society, shown in her rejection of traditional style for a more alternative one, in order to please herself. The two of them are driving rather fast, even blowing past the regular people on the street, who represent society. Her journey down the entryway to the place that holds the poison includes a series of fiery explosions that are indicative of the way to hell, especially combined with her red and black outfit. The fact that she is duplicated many times in the moment that she stands there looking at the poison indicates how strongly she feels that she is doing the right thing. When she breaks into the house to find a different man than the one on the plane, it shows that she didn't even fully remember what he looked like, having not really cared at the time, until that moment was over and she kept thinking about him. Once again she is very dominant. This time, she feeds him the poison she stole, gives him a chaste kiss, and leaves him to die. She winks at the very end, and falls back into her role of tradition and femininity.

            The music for "Toxic" is upbeat and repetitive. Along with being so fast-paced and empowering, it's very suspenseful, set in a minor key. The music adds to the thrilling quality of the images and the words. There is also a sort of desperate quality to the way the song is presented, underlining the desperation in an act of murder. Parts of it are sung in a normal voice and parts are sung very high. The repetitive well-known musical hook for "Toxic" sets the song apart from others and stays consistent from the first few measures to the last.

            The third aspect of the video is the lyrics. The song seems much more harmless without the images from the video. "A guy like you / Should wear a warning / You're dangerous" is the first indication that she is wary of the man she's singing about. She talks about him like he's a drug as well, saying "I need a hit / Baby give me it" or in the bridge, "Too high / Can't come down", or in the chorus, "I'm addicted to you / Don't you know that you're toxic?" When she wears the red and black outfit, the hellish image from before is enforced by the words "I took a sip / From my devil's cup / Slowly / It's taking over me". When she speaks of the guy she is trying to forget by being with the man who rides the motorcycle, she says "It's getting late / To give you up." The most touching words of all, though, perhaps, are "Intoxicate me now / With your lovin' now / I think I'm ready now" because these words are sung as she poisons the man. That effectively says that she's only ready to have fun with someone if it doesn't mean anything. Poison is just the metaphorical extreme for that distance, and for calling it all off between them. But taken literally, the poison aspect highlights even more the utter importance that her independence held for her. The character Britney plays was so willing to get rid of the one man whom she felt she could show her weak and vulnerable side to that she poisoned him. "It's in the air / It's all around" indicates the way her true self was being suffocated by her beginning to actually care about the "toxic" man (Toxic).

            As shown through the images, music, and lyrics of "Toxic", independence is something some people will stop at nothing to retain, even if it means giving up love. Even if it means murder. Though I don't like to see people being used, I like to see displays of what is commonly referred to as "girl power", or at least some sort of a rejection of the usual gender roles. But despite the power she displays, I believe in love and in the idea that caring for people only makes you stronger. Even still, it's not hard to see where the character in "Toxic" is coming from when you watch the video.