An Analysis of 'We Were Once A Fairytale'

The film 'We Were Once A Fairytale', directed by Spike Jonze, follows Kanye West as a caricature of himself during a night in a club. The film begins with a blurred image, leaving the people out of focus in a similar manner to what West would be seeing in his inebriated state. This allows the audience to see the situation from his perspective. Very little is clear in the opening of the film, considering the image is out of focus as well as the sound that has been muted slightly, as if the listener were deafened slightly by the volume of a club scenario. As though to set him apart from the crowd, West is dressed in white as opposed to the rest of the cast who are dressed in black, therefore making him clearly different to everyone else in a way that can be seen despite the lack of focus. As well as this, West is also set apart as he is often in the centre of the shot, giving him an element of importance. Considering this film seems to be based around the idea of this caricature being extremely egocentric, placing him frequently in the centre of the shot is a way of emphasising this.

Before West leaves to the bathroom, the music becomes duller than it had been previously, signalling a moment of importance which can be seen as a moment of self-realisation. At this point there is no change in scenery, and the aural change is the only way that the viewer is able to tell that he has come to a realisation. Once he reaches the bathroom, the change has become far clearer to the viewer as the room is brighter than the previous one, showing a sense of enlightenment. This is quickly followed by West vomiting a stream of red petals; the red seems to represent impurity, the action of vomiting acting as a way of him purging himself of said impurities. The petals appear to act as an emphasis to the fact that this is a metaphorical purification, rather than a literal action. West then continues this act of purging by using a knife that has appeared in front of him to stab himself, releasing another flow of red petals showing that this is another act of purification rather than a violent act of self harm that this could otherwise be construed as. The fact that this is such a violent act shows determination to change on West’s part.

After he has stabbed himself, West brings out a creature from himself resembling a rodent that we are to assume is a personification of everything impure about West’s lifestyle, considering its dark colours and the fact that it has come from this violent act. West finds that in the handle of the knife he used to stab himself, there is a much smaller replica of the knife that he then hands to the small rodent, this being further evidence that the rodent is an extension of West himself. As this happens, the music has become a classical piano piece, a great contrast to the loud club music that has been playing previously. The creature then kills itself, and the only sounds that can be heard after this are the classical music and the creature dying. While this is meant to be a scene that provides West the chance to create a new life for himself, it is a somewhat sombre one that may lead one to question whether it was a well deserved death; the creature does nothing that might indicate it was guilty or deserved death, and so this may either be indication that West is not truly purified, instead this being an undeserving death of a different aspect of his personality. However, it is instead possible that Jonze did not think of this interpretation, or did not feel that evidence needed to be given as to the persona of the creature. The end is left on a cliffhanger, with simply West looking down at the now dead creature, leaving the audience to interpret how they think he will change in the future.