Johnny Cash vs Nine Inch Nails

The song 'Hurt' has been interpretated in two very different ways.

Johnny Cash gave his video of 'Hurt' a more emotional meaning. It is a very personal video and reflects over the mistakes in his life. As it was made months before Cash's death, he is shown in a very frail and delicate state in the clips that he is performing the song. Therefore, the genre of this video is performance and narrative, which is shown by the clips from the past.

The clips of his life give the idea that he is apologising for the actions he has done in the past. This then creates a link between the lyrics and the visuals, one of Goodwin's rules. This point is emphasised when the song says "Everyone I know goes away in the end" and the video shows a picture of his mother who has passed away. This makes the video emotional and poigniant, along with the idea that this is his last song.

Towards the end, the editing speeds up, signifying that the end of the song is near, along with the end of his music career and his life. As the music fades, the visuals continue and the camera shows Cash bow his head and close the piano lid. This creates a dramatic atmosphere and ending to his career. Although the song and video itself have a depressing feel, Cash could be trying to end his career and potentially his life on a high.

On the other hand, Nine Inch Nails interpreted the song in a very different way. They were the original writers of the song and, in their video, they seem to focus more on the performance based aspect of music videos, compared to Cash's hybrid of performance and spectacle.