The music video for Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” begins as an unpretentious romantic story, which stands out among others only with a boxing entourage in the spirit of “Million Dollar Baby”. Nothing happens in the first half of the video other than cute scenes like eating chicken wings together and kissing in the back seat. But from the moment the heroine leaves the young man, the meaning of the Shape of You clip becomes hazy…
What’s going on in Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” video
A beginner boxer played by red-haired handsome Ed falls in love with a more experienced athlete with a spectacular appearance. The girl takes sports seriously: she devotes days and nights to warming up and training, and follows a diet. During a joint trip to the diner, she chooses a vegetable salad, while her companion picks up a huge plate of chicken wings and french fries.
Against the background of his girlfriend, the hero of Ed Sheeran looks infantile. He likes to fool around more than go to training. At first, the girl succumbs to his charm and even joins a harmful meal in an eatery.
Capa – a symbol of the girl’s perseverance, as well as a kind of talisman for the hero
However, the girl decides that it is time for her partner to grow up. She disappears, and leaves the guy her mouthguard (this is a protective plate for the teeth that boxers put on before the fight) and a photograph of an unfamiliar place.
In desperation, Ed’s hero begins to train hard, at the same time finding out the coordinates of the place in the photo – this is an underground club where fights take place. Weeks of stormy training change the hero – he seemed to have matured for a dozen or two years. Now the young man is ready to fight with an unknown opponent. He comes to the club, puts on the same cap that his girlfriend left … But opposite him in the ring is not a boxer, but an immense sumo wrestler.
The hero understands that all his training will not help him in any way. In addition, he is forced to wear an uncomfortable suit that hinders movement. The sumo wrestler in no time copes with the clumsy opponent. While the hero is powerlessly rolling around the ring, his girlfriend suddenly appears from the crowd and strikes the sumo wrestler.
Physical strength does not help the hero in the fight against an unexpected opponent
What is the meaning of the plot twists in the video
The heroine of the clip is in every sense more experienced than the hero – both in sports and in life. She disappears to teach him a lesson. No matter how cute their walks and playful boxing are, the girl expects a different behavior from the guy – bold, decisive, courageous.
When a girl leaves her mouth guard to a guy, she sets a goal for him – to reach her level. At the same time, the cap is a kind of talisman, a guarantee that the heroine believes in the success of the hero. Now the hero has no time to walk around the city or overeat chicken wings – he must train intensively. The sooner he reaches the desired shape, the sooner he will see his beloved girl.
The hero believes that he is already worthy to put on the cap of his beloved girl – he trained hard and, as it seems to him, has reached her level
And so the hero got into shape, he is full of self-confidence and willingness to fight for his love. However, physical strength does not help him in the fight against the sumo wrestler. The lesson turned out to be more difficult: the strength of a wrestler is not in the mountain of muscles, but in flexibility, the ability to quickly respond to changing circumstances. The girl has this flexibility – both literally and figuratively. Remember the beginning of the clip, where she demonstrates stretching during a bag exercise. And in the finale of the clip, she again shows this quality – she attacks the sumo wrestler and takes him by surprise.
During the preparation for the battle, the hero grew a lot above himself: he became stronger and more courageous, more resilient and stronger, and most importantly, more mature. But this was not enough. In the final scene, the girl shows what she expects from the hero – determination and flexibility. It seems that these qualities help not only in battles, but also in relationships.
Decisiveness and flexibility help the girl to defeat the sumo wrestler
Who starred in the clip Ed Sheeran – Shape of You
Seattle model and dancer Jennie Pegouskie played the title role. For the past three and a half years, Jenny has been actively collaborating with the duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis : she performs dance numbers at their performances, takes part in the filming of videos and herself appeared in the video for the song Downtown . You can follow Jennie’s work on her Instagram and on her official website .
Check out the clip Downtown , in which Jennie took part as an assistant director
Also in the Ed Sheeran video – Shape of You, the real sumo wrestler Yamamotoyama Ryuta starred. True, since 2011, Yamamotoyama has been retired, where he had to go after being accused of participating in fixed matches. You can read more about the wrestler’s career and retirement on Wikipedia .
