"Take Me To Church" - Hozier

Representation:

Hozier comes from Ireland where the Catholic faith is heavily present in the lives of the everyone. The
video tackles both the oppression of gay people within Ireland as well as highlighting the events that
were happening in Russia, all being horribly oppressive and homophobic. Hozier uses a shock value
video to put across the fear gay people face within religious or culturally dangerous environments,
making the audience realise the kind of dangers others face in different countries. The video shoes
two young men, and their family, being attacked for expressing their love or romance to any degree.
One of them is taken away by a mob of men who drag him to burn his secrets and beat him, while the
other frantically tries to warn him, yet he is too late.

Camera:

Camera is used heavily to bring the struggle of the two men to light. Using wide and long shots,
usually from a distance, of the two men connotates the idea that someone is watching them from far
off and their secret love is not truly secret. Close ups are used when showing the chained box, this
box represents the repressed emotions the man is feeling, all while the close up shows the ever
looming eyes trying to see into his secrets to ‘crucify’ him for.

Editing:

In post the video has been edited to be watched in greyscale and could be used for different reasons.
The first could be to create a more artistic feel for the video, using grayscale creates a unique feel to
the video, giving no colours allows the audience to focus on the storyline and lyrics rather than be
distracted by the beautiful colours. The second could be to use the lack of colour as a way of
representing the lack of freedom the gay community has in the video, there is no joy of colour in their
world since it is all shamed and dangerous to express, giving no beautiful colour to their life

Target Audience:

Hozier has no intended audience for this video, it was evident that he was conveying the message of
repressed sexuality, being from Ireland this would have been very apparent within his life. Hozier is
trying to express to those who believe the same homophobic ideas, to any extreme, should see to
what lengths their ideas harm those who they are against. Hozier’s audience would be anyone old
enough or educated enough who understands the problem being conveyed in the music video,
bringing light to those who may be ignorant of what happens outside of their comfortable bubble.

Sound:

Hozier’s lyrics to “Take Me To Church” is highlight important in telling the story of suffering the two men
are facing. “I’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife” shows how if anyone was to confess
their true feelings or the secrets they hide that they would just be prosecuted since it is outlawed. Or
rather seen as being illegal by those of strict faith or backgrounds. “Take Me To Church” as a title, with
no context of lyrics or the music video, would connotate the idea of having a religious song maybe
singing praise of some sort rather than seeming to attack the church an religion (within Ireland) as
being horribly oppressive. Hozier's lyrics convey how much backlash gay people can face but they
stick to what they believe, much like someone who i religious, their true belief or faith will come out on
top.