• Pastiche

a literary, musical, artistic or architectural work that imitates the style of previous work

• Bricolage  

construction (of an idea or sculpture) using whatever comes to hand

• Goodbye, Goodbye uses this method, with the lyrics being written and many different common forms of meidum

• Intertextuality  

the complex interrelationship between a text and others taken as basic to the creation or interpretation of a text

• Implosion

the action of bringing to or to a center

• cultural appropriation

the adoption of elements of one culture (usually a minority) by members of another culture (usually a majority)

Handy styles of music videos guide:

Types & Styles of music videos from Khaulafaisal

addendum: (13/07/2020)

postmodernism – understood as a philosophy that is characterised by concepts such as RE-IMAGINING, PASTICHE, PARODY, COPY, BRICOLAGE. It’s an approach towards understanding, knowledge, life, being, art, technology, culture, sociology, philosophy, politics and history that is REFERENTIAL – in that it often refers to and often copies other things in order to understand itself.

• silly

music videos are often very postmodernism

re-imagining – looking at a source and re creating it from your own perspective

new expressions of identity and meaning are actually new iterations of previous expressions of popular culture

• It is therefore possible to understand postmodernism as a complicated and fragmentary set of inter-relationships, a practice of re-imagining, pastiche, bricolage and self-referentiality, which may be understood alongside another key expression / concept: intersectionality

intersectionality – small divisions in society (e.g. a white feminist’s experience is going to be different from a black feminist’s)

PARODY v PASTICHE

PARODY

a work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony

PASTICHE

is a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist (e.g a reference or imitation)

the simpsons very often uses pastiche

parody movies focus on surface signs

A good place to look for illustrations of postmodern culture, in terms of media studies, is the music video. As Shuker notes, two points are frequently made about music videos: ‘their preoccupation with visual style, and associated with this, their status as key exemplars of ‘postmodern’ texts.’ (2001:167). Shuker refers Fredric Jameson’s (1984) notion of the ‘metanarrative’ (discussed in more detail below) that ’embody the postmodern condition’ (168). For example, the fragmentary, decentred nature of music videos that break up traditional understandings of time and space so that audiences are ‘no longer able to distinguish ‘fiction’ from ‘reality’, part of the postmodern condition’ (ibid). Alongside their similarity to adverts (essentially the music video is a commercial tool to sell music products) ‘making them part of a blatantly consumerist culture‘ (ibid). And of course, the ‘considerable evidence of pastiche, intertextuality and eclecticism‘ (ibid) which is the focus of this next section.

Bricolage – a useful term to apply to postmodernist texts as it ‘involves the rearrangment and juxtaposition of previously unconnected signs to produce new codes of meaning’ (Barker & Jane, 2016:237). 

intertextuality – another useful term to use, as it suggests signs only have meaning in reference to other signs and that meaning is therefore a complex process of decoding/encoding with individuals both taking and creating meaning in the process of reading texts.

if the priority is play then the emphasis is on the surface:

 in other words, if the main focus is the idea of just connecting one product to another, then the focus is superficial, shallow, lacking depth, so ‘in a postmodern world, surfaces and style become the most important defining features of the mass media and popular culture‘ (Strinati: 234). The emphasis of style and surface over substance, means that what something looks like becomes more important than anything else, as opposed to what something might mean, or what it could be used for.

richard hoggart

richard hoggart noticed the shift in modern societies particularly the impact of ‘neighbourhood lives’

• locality, until the shift in globalisation causing the world to be populated by ‘consumers’
• most of society does not make anything and consumes more than creates
• postmodernism is linked to capitalism: with the need to consume put over everything else
• consummation is the desire to continue to desire. For example, coke adverts advertise enjoyment which draws consumers in as they want to enjoy

fragmental consumption = fragmental identities

This process of fragmented consumption separating, splitting up and dividing previously homogeneous groups such as, friends, the family, the neighborhood, the local community, the town, the county, the country and importantly, is often linked to the process of fragmented identity construction.

Again think about mobile telephony which is now able to construct multiple possibilities identities, at multiple moments in time and space. Think about the way we construct, our (multiple) digital identities, visable and varying across different digital platforms – work identity, social identity, family identity etc, which is most often not consistent with our analogue (human?) identity – look for example, at your profile pictures?

As an example, mobile telephony (both hardware and software) now appears to proliferate and connect every aspect of our lives, and generally does so from the perspective of consumption – consuming images, sounds, stories, messages etc – rather than production. We don’t make mobile phones, mobile networks (hardware) or Apps, content and platforms (software).

So in summary, the focus on FRAGMENTATION OF IDENTITY is characterised and linked to an increase of consumption and the proliferation of new forms of digital technologies. In effect, another key characteristic of postmodernism is the development of fragmented, alienated individuals living (precariously) in fragmented societies.

The loss of a metanarrative (overall narrative)

A good starting point would be to return to the concepts of PASTICHE and PARODY, as Fredric Jameson claimed that Postmodernism is characterized by pastiche rather than parody which represents a crisis in historicity.

Jameson argued that parody implies a moral judgment or a comparison with previous societal norms. Whereas pastiche, such as collage and other forms of juxtaposition, occur without a normative grounding and as such, do not make comment on a specific historical moment. As such, Jameson argues that the postmodern era is characterised by pastiche (not parody) and as such, suffers from a crisis in historicity.

This links to Jean-Francois Lyotard’s proposition that postmodernism holds an ‘incredulity towards meta-narratives‘ (1979:7) those overarching ideas, attitudes, values and beliefs that have held us together in a shared belief, For example, the belief in religion, science, capitalism, communism, revolution, war, peace and so on.

Lyotard points out that no one seemed to agree on what, if anything, was real and everyone had their own perspective and story. We have become alert to difference, diversity, the incompatibility of our aspirations, beliefs and desires, and for that reason postmodernity is characterised by an abundance of micronarratives.^[28]

 It can be also characterised as an existence without meaning, as Žižek suggests it is an existence without ‘The Big Other’ , an existentialistt crisis of existence when we realise we are alone (Lacan).

Strinati points out that ‘the distinction between culture and society is being eroded’ (231) and suggests that our sense of reality (the overarching metanarrative) appears to come from the culture (eg the media), rather than from society which is then reproduced, represented and relayed through media communication. In terms of media studies, this marks a juncture from previous conceptions of mass media communication, for example, as a ‘relay system’ – a process which just relays information and events in real time to a mass society, or the conception of the media as a ‘window on the world’ (Strinati:233).

From a societal perspective the ‘real’ seems to be imploding in on itself, a ‘process leading to the collapse of boundaries between the real and simulations’ (Barker & Emma, 2015:242). A process which the French intellectual Jean Baudrillard would describe as IMPLOSION which gives rise to what he terms SIMULACRA. The idea that although the media has always been seen as a representation of reality – a simulation, from Baudrillard’s perspective of implosion, it is has become more than a representation or simulation and it has become SIMULACRUM not just a representation of the real, but the real itself, a grand narrative that is ‘truth‘ in its own right: an understanding of uncertain/certainty that Baudrillard terms the HYPERREAL.

reflexivity –

Equilibrium

i will have a protagonist walking through the woods, feeling lonely and thoughtful

shot of her friend walking (focused on shoes), then scene cuts to the protagonist walking in the footsteps of her friends past footsteps. this represents the idea that the protagonist doesn’t want to let go of the past (doesn’t want to accept the loss of her friend.)

Scene of protagonist climbing onto top of cliff, sitting on the edge with headphones in.

Disruption

shots of scenario – ocean, sky, woods, beach

scene cuts to her dancing on the beach in the water (representing her relieving emotional pain)

New Equilibrium

*have not planned*

overall she feels alone and isolated as she has lost all connection with her friend

scenes of the past will be in black and white

pastiche = an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period.

bricolage = construction or creation from a diverse range of available things.

intertextuality = relationship between texts

implosion = an instance of something collapsing violently inwards.

cultural appropriation = cultural elements that may have deep meaning to the original culture

• Pastiche = this is an artistic work or style which is similar to the work of another time period or artist
• Bricolage = this is a process where a traditional object or language is given a new and often subversive meaning and context
• Intertextuality = this is when you shape a text’s meaning by another text and is also the interconnection between similar/related works that might influence the audience’s interpretation of the media. It is also the relationship between text, which is inflicted as a means of quotations and allusions
• Implosion = implosion happens when an organisation or a system suddenly collapses or fails and implosion can also be used to describe a person who is subjected to increased pressure and, emotionally at least, bursts inwards
• Cultural appropriation = this is the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of customs, practices and ideas of one person or a society of members of a more typically more dominant society. Cultural appropriation is also called misappropriation. It can be seen as controversial when the members of a dominant culture appropriate from a disadvantaged minority culture

• These terminology definitions link to our production task because our style models mean we will create a pastiche because our work produced will be similar to other music videos that follow the theme of isolation. Our production task is in the theme of isolation, therefore we will be applying intertextuality because we are shaping the meaning of isolation by following a tripartite structure in our music video. Implosion links to the themes of isolation and the economic crisis in “Ghost Town” by the Specials and “Letter to the Free” can be seen as a bricolage of equal rights, no matter what skin colour you have. Finally, cultural appropriation links to our style models, as “letter to the Free” has cultural appropriation of the discrimination of black people due to their skin colour.

My Style Models – The Representation of race, ethnicity and cultural difference

In Just the Way You Are, Bruno Mars is mixed race/latino and stars in the music video, and appears to be in love with a white women, thus emphasising that it doesn’t matter about the colour of your skin, people will fall in love because of what’s on the inside, not based on looks and skin tone. Similarly, Sunflower by Post Maline challenges the dominant ideology as stereotypically in all the Marvel films, the superheroes and villains happen to have white skin, however the creator of Spider-Man: into the Spider-verse has used the protagonist (Spider-man) as being a black man, thus emphasising that anyone can be a superhero and therefore giving a sense of power to black people, especially as with recent events, black people have been discriminated and felt powerless. Overall, most of my chosen style models represent race and ethnicity in a positive way, however The Scientist does not include any black/mixed race people in the music video. Instead, the music video shows cultural difference as Chris Martin (the protagonist) appears to be walking in the more poorer areas of London, but then throughout the video he walks to an open forest, which could be seen as identifying the sense of freedom that he has.

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

…..

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.

MY SONG CHOICE:

• Pastiche– an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period.
• Bricolage – (in art or literature) construction or creation from a diverse range of available things. something constructed or created from a diverse range of things.
• Intertextuality – Intertextuality is the shaping of a text’s meaning by another text. It is the interconnection between similar or related works of literature that reflect and influence an audience’s interpretation of the text. Intertextuality – the relation between texts that are inflicted by means of quotations and allusion.
• Implosion – a sudden failure or collapse of an organization or system.
• cultural appropriation – the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.

These relate to the style models because they are all sad songs with deep meanings behind them which link to the definitions.

• Pastiche– an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period.
• Bricolage– (in art or literature) construction or creation from a diverse range of available things. something constructed or created from a diverse range of things.
• Intertextuality-Intertextuality is the shaping of a text’s meaning by another text. It is the interconnection between similar or related works of literature that reflect and influence an audience’s interpretation of the text. Intertextuality is the relation between texts that are inflicted by means of quotations and allusion.
• Implosion-a sudden failure or collapse of an organization or system.
• cultural appropriation-the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.