Exam Style Question - Music Videos
Explain why music videos use intertextuality. Refer to one of the music videos you have studied to support your answer.
plan
- introduction
- definition
- link to music videos e.g. impact and reason for use
- overview of references
- paragraph 1
- British children's TV of the 60s
- Trumptonshire Trilogy
- how it relates to political messages and ideologies e.g. right wing politicians and authoritarianism
- paragraph 2
- British horror films of the 70s
- The Wicker Man
- how it's presented
- what it conveys e.g. fear, violence
- compare with (1) e.g. genre conventions
- medieval times and pagan traditions
- Witch Trials and plague of 1665
- what it conveys e.g. nativism/ right wing policies/ nationalism
- paragraph 3
- marketing technique
- The Dawn Chorus
- how it's presented
- conclusion
- link ideas and question
answer
Intertextuality can be defined as the referencing of another media text or cultural product to shape and develop meaning. Music videos use intertextuality in order to convey meanings and introduce/ emphasise these key themes and ideas. Radiohead's 'Burn The Witch' adopts the use of intertextuality in order to communicate a recognisable video that explores their concerns behind realistic issues - such as the Refugee Crisis - and for a ways of advertising themselves to a wider audience.
'Burn The Witch' creates a narrative that references 1960s British children's TV. This is achieved through the inter-textual reference of 'The Trumptonshire Trilogy' TV series that connotes simplistic, carefree and normality driven lives. The series is referenced during the entire video, with 8" stop-motion characters - including a mayor, investigator and community - acting as the main focus and narration. In the original series, children are shown the way of life in idyllic little communities that teach them about community values. In Radiohead's rendition, the community stands, but the video diverges by making its own values hideously outrageous. The reference helps the audience to pick up on the scale of what Radiohead is trying to communicate - using a pre-existing, innocent product to showcase realistic issues and concerns. Through the use of a character in power and its followers (the mayor and his community), the video also communicates themes of power and control. This gives additional meaning to the lyrics as we learn that, as in the series, there is a person of importance that decides and influences what everyone obeys to, thus reinforcing the ideology of authoritarianism.
The inter-textual filmic reference of 'The Wicker Man' remains a significant moment during the video and holds an important message with it. The 1970s British film refers to the horror genre themes of fear, paganism and xenophobia. The film is directly referenced, at the end of the video, through the sacrificial burning of the wicker- man cage. The iconic and recognisable scene is reflected and allows the audience who seen the original to understand the themes in 'Burn The Witch', amplifying the lyrics and artist message. As well as promoting the artist to wider audience to further fans of the movie, Radiohead wanted to bring emphasise the cultural reference of medieval, pagan practices and how they have a sacrificial effigy that houses their sacrifices. They wanted to connote the metaphorical link between these crazed cultists and right-wing Nationalists. These references only amplify the sacrificial lyrics and meaning of the song, but position the audience to listen to the artist's concerns about relatable issues, so the video will thus appeal to a wide an audience as possible: those who will be familiar with the older filmic reference and those who experience the real-world problems that are caused/ influenced by nativism and xenophobia as a whole. Further connections can be made between 'Burn The Witch' and the Refugee crisis and how people segregated them as the video depicts the unfortunate inspector that faces the wrath of the cultist community.
The bird singing cheerily at the video's open and close, ignorant of the lyrics' nightmarish vision of mob-like communities, relates to the artist's marketing technique of 'The Dawn Chorus', communicating the artist's interest in International Dawn Chorus Day and attempt at advertising themselves towards their target audience. The song's title of 'Burn The Witch' proposes a direct contrast between the gentle nature of the bird and the serene connotation of 'dawn chorus'. This allows for the marketing technique to stand out even more and thus catch the attention of the audience - even more so as it is at the beginning and end of the video. Radiohead created a company called 'Dawn Chorus LLP', and another called 'Dawnchorus Ltd', a tactic they have employed before prior to an album release to minimise the effect its success or failure has on any of their other albums. They took part in a social media shutdown on International Dawn Chorus Day, and they have a song called Dawn Chorus that was pending release at the time of release of 'Burn The Witch'. All of this together, allowed for the artist to advertise themselves and their music to a larger audience number and demographic - with the repeated reference to Dawn Chorus acting as a teaser for upcoming work.
Other than the 'Dawn Chorus' marketing technique, there is little to none other references to the artist within the video. This suggests that the video was made to tackle the issues of the time that the artist thought were important - such as Authoritarianism, Nationalism and the Refugee Crisis - rather than to promote the artist.
To conclude, intertextual references are used by music videos as a technique to allow directors to create additional meaning, to amplify the lyrics and engage the audience. Inter-textual references also enable the artist to propose their concerns/ outlooks on real-world issues and present and convey their brand identity so the purpose of a music video, to sell the song and artist, can be achieved.
'Burn The Witch' creates a narrative that references 1960s British children's TV. This is achieved through the inter-textual reference of 'The Trumptonshire Trilogy' TV series that connotes simplistic, carefree and normality driven lives. The series is referenced during the entire video, with 8" stop-motion characters - including a mayor, investigator and community - acting as the main focus and narration. In the original series, children are shown the way of life in idyllic little communities that teach them about community values. In Radiohead's rendition, the community stands, but the video diverges by making its own values hideously outrageous. The reference helps the audience to pick up on the scale of what Radiohead is trying to communicate - using a pre-existing, innocent product to showcase realistic issues and concerns. Through the use of a character in power and its followers (the mayor and his community), the video also communicates themes of power and control. This gives additional meaning to the lyrics as we learn that, as in the series, there is a person of importance that decides and influences what everyone obeys to, thus reinforcing the ideology of authoritarianism.
The inter-textual filmic reference of 'The Wicker Man' remains a significant moment during the video and holds an important message with it. The 1970s British film refers to the horror genre themes of fear, paganism and xenophobia. The film is directly referenced, at the end of the video, through the sacrificial burning of the wicker- man cage. The iconic and recognisable scene is reflected and allows the audience who seen the original to understand the themes in 'Burn The Witch', amplifying the lyrics and artist message. As well as promoting the artist to wider audience to further fans of the movie, Radiohead wanted to bring emphasise the cultural reference of medieval, pagan practices and how they have a sacrificial effigy that houses their sacrifices. They wanted to connote the metaphorical link between these crazed cultists and right-wing Nationalists. These references only amplify the sacrificial lyrics and meaning of the song, but position the audience to listen to the artist's concerns about relatable issues, so the video will thus appeal to a wide an audience as possible: those who will be familiar with the older filmic reference and those who experience the real-world problems that are caused/ influenced by nativism and xenophobia as a whole. Further connections can be made between 'Burn The Witch' and the Refugee crisis and how people segregated them as the video depicts the unfortunate inspector that faces the wrath of the cultist community.
The bird singing cheerily at the video's open and close, ignorant of the lyrics' nightmarish vision of mob-like communities, relates to the artist's marketing technique of 'The Dawn Chorus', communicating the artist's interest in International Dawn Chorus Day and attempt at advertising themselves towards their target audience. The song's title of 'Burn The Witch' proposes a direct contrast between the gentle nature of the bird and the serene connotation of 'dawn chorus'. This allows for the marketing technique to stand out even more and thus catch the attention of the audience - even more so as it is at the beginning and end of the video. Radiohead created a company called 'Dawn Chorus LLP', and another called 'Dawnchorus Ltd', a tactic they have employed before prior to an album release to minimise the effect its success or failure has on any of their other albums. They took part in a social media shutdown on International Dawn Chorus Day, and they have a song called Dawn Chorus that was pending release at the time of release of 'Burn The Witch'. All of this together, allowed for the artist to advertise themselves and their music to a larger audience number and demographic - with the repeated reference to Dawn Chorus acting as a teaser for upcoming work.
Other than the 'Dawn Chorus' marketing technique, there is little to none other references to the artist within the video. This suggests that the video was made to tackle the issues of the time that the artist thought were important - such as Authoritarianism, Nationalism and the Refugee Crisis - rather than to promote the artist.
To conclude, intertextual references are used by music videos as a technique to allow directors to create additional meaning, to amplify the lyrics and engage the audience. Inter-textual references also enable the artist to propose their concerns/ outlooks on real-world issues and present and convey their brand identity so the purpose of a music video, to sell the song and artist, can be achieved.
Comments
Post a Comment