Historical, political and cultural context

In 1981 Britain was in a ‘state of crisis’, the government was unpopular, unemployment was on a rise and riots were breaking out across the country. the song is described as ‘the soundtrack to an explosion of civil unrest’. the specials announced a gig promoting racial unity on the day of ‘Ghost Town’s’ release due to the riots that were caused by indiscriminate use of police stop and search powers on the black community and the murder of of a local teenager in a racist attack.

How does the music video create and communicate meanings in media language?

the music video shows images of an empty city which creates an eerie atmosphere, the band are driving around the town in a car singing their song. the lyrics ‘the people getting angry’ refers to the current riots going on in the UK.

Essay

Explain how representations used in music videos communicate information about their cultural and political contexts:

The Specials ‘Ghost Town’ music video was released in 1981, a time when many of the UK citizens were rioting due to the government in control, the rise of unemployment and racial attacks on the black community. In the music video the band are driving round an eerie and deserted city which makes reference to the title ‘Ghost Town’, whilst driving the driver is seen to swerve the car many times and drive in the middle of the road rather than sticking to the white lines, this may represent the loss of control that the government experienced during the riots of 1981 and how nobody was following the laws. The deserted streets depicted in the music video also communicates the representation of the high amount of unemployment as nobody seems to be working so there is nobody out in the streets, making it seem like a ghost town. The use of police sirens in the background at the end of the video suggest a Link to recent riots that were fuelled partly by police abusing their powers and specifically targeting members of the black community.

The preferred reading of this music videos message is about the decline of coventry, where the band grew up but it also relates to the bands split and the feeling of hopelessness. There is a different message in the song for the Audience and the actual band members.

the music videos suggests a tone of anger towards the government, police, big cooperations and unemployment and the way the country is being run, it expresses anger not only from the band members but also from the general publics point of view.

Post Colonialism

• colonialism – when a country or nation takes control over another country and exploits it economically
• Post colonialism – the academic study of colonialism and imperialism
• Diaspora – ethnic people outside of their original country
• BAME – a term to refer to black, asian and minority ethnicities
• Double consciousness (GILROY) – internal conflict in groups who are oppressed by a society
• cultural absolutism/racial essentialism – the idea that ideas such as intelligence and honesty do not differ from culture to culture
• cultural syncretism – a combination of separate concepts into one new unique idea
• Orientalism (SAID) – a way of seeing that imagines, emphasizes, exaggerates and distorts differences of Arab peoples and cultures as compared to that of Europe and the U.S
• Appropriation – adoption of an element or elements of one culture by members of another country
• cultural hegemony – the domination of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who manipulate the culture of that society
• the public sphere (Habermas) – an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify social problems and through that discussion influence political action.

Mood board

non copyrighted song

Preliminary images

Music video style models

statement of intent

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essay

how useful are ideas about narrative in analysing music videos? refer to the close study products ‘Ghost Town’ and ‘Letter to the Free’ in your answer.

Post Modernism

• Pastiche – an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist or period
• Bricolage – refers to a do it yourself tinkering process where you make something new out of other things, e.g. existing film clips
• Intertextuality – the shaping of a texts meaning by another text, intertextual figures include: allusion, quotation, plagiarism, translation and parody.
• Implosion – something collapsing violently inwards or the collapse of an organisation/system
• Cultural appropriation – the inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices and ideas of one society by another more dominant society.