The music video 'Dollhouse' by Melanie Martinez is a narrative based video that is solemnly based on a dysfunctional family. 'Dollhouse' is about a family that appears to be perfect on the outside looking in, yet it's far from it. Her mother is presented as an alcoholic due to his disloyalty, and the son (her brother) is engulfed in the life of drugs. The daughter (Melanie herself) seems to be the only one that notices the catastrophe surrounding her. This family is visualised as dolls living inside of a playhouse that belongs to a little girl. Since the daughter knows the truth about her dysfunctional family, she narrates the song in an attempt to get the girl to realise her reality.
Throughout the music video the symbolism of 'dolls' is presented through creepy and weird concepts making you feel uneasy, even Melanie's costume, makeup and gestures in this video resembles one of a real life doll. This song overall resembles a family with so many problems behind closed doors for example the mother is an alcoholic this is portrayed with a few scenes were she's passed out from intoxication or is actually drinking. The father cheats this is portrayed by the lyric "Dad's with a slut",the son is addicted to drugs this is also portrayed by the lyric "your son is smoking cannabis" here, the scene shows the son smoking and sniffing a plant.
There's also the use of low-key/ dim lighting adding effect to the eery atmosphere that surrounds this music video, the gifs below allow you to visualise what I've said above.
