ORIENTALISM:

The Link between culture, imperial power & colonialism

the power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming or emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism

Edward Said Culture and Imperialism, 1993: xiii

all ideology hails or interpellates concrete individuals as concrete subjects, through the functioning of the category of the subject

Althusser (1971:190)

Ideological state apparatus (ISA), is a theoretical concept developed by (Algerian born) French philosopher Louis Althusser which is used to describe the way in which structures of civic society – education, culture, the arts, the family, religion, bureaucracy, administration etc serve to structure the ideological perspectives of society, which in turn form our individual subject identity. 

5. Hegemonic struggle (Gramsci) the chance to reclaim . .

‘from America, black voices will take up the hymn with fuller unison. The ‘black world’ will see the light

FRANTZ Fanon ‘on national culture’

POSSIBLE ESSAY STRUCTURE

(note don’t forget to support all of your ideas with details, examples and illustrations from the 2 CSP’s)

1. What is the link between society and media (ie McDougall/ Fenton)
2. How best to link 2 music videos and society? Postcolonialism
3. Postcolonial theory – Gilroy & WEB du Bois (double consciousness, hybridisation)
4. Postcolonialism is a way of understanding ‘the other’ Lacan – mirror theory / Edward Said Orientialism
5. How can music videos change ideas? Culture as a site of struggle – Althusser ISA / Gramsci Hegemony
6. Conclusion

jacques lacan-the other

• Often discussed by contempoary philosopher Slavoj Zizek, the recognition of the ‘Other’ is mainly attributed the French philosopher and psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. A good way to develop an understanding of this term is in his exploration of the mirror stage of child development, whereby, as we cannot actually see ourselves as whole, we use a reflection to understand who we are / who we are not. Lacan proposed that in infancy this first recognition occurs when we see ourselves in a mirror. Applying that theory to culture, communications and media studies, it is possible to see why we are so obsessed with reading magazines, listening to music, watching films, videos and television because, essentially, we are exploring ‘The Other’ as a way of exploring ourselves.
• To link this to postcolonialism would be to suggest that the West uses the East / the Orient / the ‘Other’, to identify and construct itself. How it sees itself as the ‘West’ as opposed to . . . in other words, it acts as The Other, a mirror by which a reflection of the self can be measured out and examined.
• when the black community look at tv they dont see them selves(relate to mirror theroy). no positive representation for different minorites

Edward said

talks about orientalism (look more into)

ORIENTALISM:

The Link between culture, imperial power & colonialism

the power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming or emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism

Edward Said Culture and Imperialism, 1993: xiii

Louis Althusser: ISA’s & the notion of ‘Interpellation’

(break down notes)

Ideological state apparatus (ISA), is a theoretical concept developed by (Algerian born) French philosopher Louis Althusser which is used to describe the way in which structures of civic society – education, culture, the arts, the family, religion, bureaucracy, administration etc serve to structure the ideological perspectives of society, which in turn form our individual subject identity. According to Althusser, ‘the category of the subject . . . is the category constitutive of all ideology’ (214:188). In other words, we are socially constructed and what socially constructs us is ‘despite its diversity and contradictions . . . the ruling ideology, which is the ideology of ‘the ruling class’,’ (2014:245)

Althusser noted that individuals often believe that they are ‘outside ideology’ and suggested the notion of ‘interpellation‘ as a way to recognise the formation of ideology. In that ideology ‘acts’ or ‘functions’ in such a way as to recruit subjects among individuals. In other words, the way in which society calls / addresses / hails you is interpellation, which is the way in which your subject identity is formed and which, more often than not, corresponds to the dominant ideology.

saying that the western world and the leaders of the society give the ideologies of what society is meant to be so we don’t have as much control as we would like to think. Boys will be boys and girls will be girls to be accepted by society

that the ISA’s strain and keep us where we are to conform to societies standards

‘Ideology ‘acts’ or ‘functions’ in such a way to ‘recruit’ subjects among individuals . . . through the very precise operation that we call interpellation or hailing.

Althusser 2014:190

Hegemonic struggle Antonio Gramsci – Hegemony

‘from America, black voices will take up the hymn with fuller unison. The ‘black world’ will see the light

FRANTZ Fanon ‘on national culture’

As an early critical thinker of postcolonialism, Frantz Fanon took an active role, proposing the first step required for ‘colonialised’ people to reclaim their own past by finding a voice and an identity. The second, is to begin to erode the colonialist ideology by which that past had been devalued. (Barry, 2017:195). In the chapter ‘On National Culture’ (pp;168-178) Fanon presents three phases of action ‘which traces the work of native writers’:

• Jacques Lacan – french philosopher and psychoanalytic

“the mirror phrase” – theory of representation

• Stuart hall

• Edward Said – orientalism (understanding the other) links with Jacques Lacan’s theory of the mirror phrase

• Louis Althusser: ISA’s & the notion of ‘Interpellation’ – society makes us into a certain person ( made by ISA = ideas of the state – ideological state apparatus ) they constrain us – they are in control of what you turn out to be
• the ideas are connected to the state
• they construct an idea
• “the way in which individuals are interpellated into society – we become a person – we are less free of what we think
• the way in which your subject identity is formed and which, more often than not, corresponds to the dominant ideology.
• Hegemonic struggle (Gramsci) the chance to reclaim 
• Frantz Fanon suggested that the first step for “colonialised” is for people to reclaim their own past by finding a voice and an identity.

Post modernism is about how we view and interpret the world at the current time. Post modernism makes us question what we actually know and what is real.

Definitions

• Pastiche – piece of work which piggybacks ideas from other works (imitates)
• Meta-narrative – an overarching account or interpretation of events and circumstances that provides a pattern or structure for people’s beliefs and gives meaning to their experience
• Hyper-reality –  an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced postmodern societies.
• Simulacrum – A simulacrum is a representation or imitation of a person or thing. The word was first recorded in the English language in the late 16th century, used to describe a representation, such as a statue or a painting, especially of a god
• Consumerist Society – A consumerist society is one in which people devote a great deal of time, energy, resources and thought to “consuming”. The general view of life in a consumerist society is consumption is good, and more consumption is even better.
• Fragmentary Identities – idea of a many personalities (digital or analog )
• Implosion – idea of society collapsing due to offshoring and other corrupt practices within our world
• 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.
• Reflexivity – is defined by such devices as looking into the camera, taking advantage of two-dimensionality of the screen, or simply making a film about making a film. In other words: A reflexive film is a film with self-awareness.

Parody v Pastiche

• Pastiche is a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist.
• Parody is a work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony.
• Bricolage is a useful term to apply to postmodernist texts as it ‘involves the rearrangement and juxtaposition of previously unconnected signs to produce new codes of meaning’ (Barker & Jane, 2016:237).

Inter-textuality

• Inter-textuality 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. 
• Shuker says “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’ “

Surface and style over substance

• 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 featuresof the mass media and popular culture‘ (Strinati: 234)
• In terms of the key principles of art and design the priority is in formal elements: of shape, colour, texture, movement, space, time and so on. As opposed to more discursive principles of: narrative, character, motivation, theme, ideology.

Economic, historical and societal backdrop to Post-modernism

• In 1959, Richard Hoggart (Uses of Literacy) noted the shift in modern societies particularly the impact on our ‘neighborhood lives’, which was ‘an extremely local life, in which everything is remarkably near‘.
• In other words, there is an argument that postmodern culture is a consumer culture, where the emphasis on style eclipses the emphasis on utility or need. So that ultimately there is no real value to postmodern culture other than the need for consumption.
• Different consumption = Different identities (real life vs Instagram profile vs YouTube profile).
• “Putting it very simply, the transition from substance to style is linked to a transition from production to consumption.” Strinati (235)

The loss of a meta-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 to 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 micro-narratives. It can be also characterised as an existence without meaning, as Žižek suggests it is an existence without ‘The Big Other’ , an existentialist 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 meta-narrative) 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 hyper-real.

Paul Gilroy – ‘No Black in the Union Jack’

Jacques Lacan – Theory of ‘The Other’ (a living embodyment of being the other – postcolonial). The orient as ‘The Other’. The mirror phase – doesn’t necessarily look as we feel – refers to double concious, we use a reflection to understand who we are/ who we want to be or who we are not.

Most of the time words can’t accurately justify how we actually feel or who we actually are.

Edward Said – ‘The orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience as .. one of its deepeat and most recurring images of the Other’

the power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming or emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism

Edward Said Culture and Imperialism, 1993: xiii

Orientalism 1978 – ‘Colonial narrative’. Shows how the West paints a picture/ STEREOTYPES the East. What stories are you being told via the media? Objective? rational VS irrational? Orientalism can be used as a lense when watching or reading media in order to decode the narrative in terms of colonialsism or racial stereotyping.

Stuart Hall – 80s – The theory states that media texts are encoded by the producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product with values and messages. The text is then decoded by the audience.

Louis Althusser – ISA’s & the noton of ‘interpellation‘ ISA’s – Ideological State Apparatus. Ideological state apparatuses (ISA), according to Althusser, use methods other than physical violence to achieve the same objectives as RSA. … Instead of expressing and imposing order, through violent repression, ISA disseminate ideologies that reinforce the control of a dominant class.

ISA theory is used to describe the way in which structures of civic society – education, culture, the arts, the family, religion, bureaucracy, administration etc serve to structure the ideological perspectives of society, which in turn form our individual subject identity.

ISA = constrain and keep individuals where they are, groups/ stereotype though schools, friends, family, sexuality.

Gramsci – Hegemony – A struggle for what is right and wrong (tug of war). Though as you are an individual you can reject ideas or opinions. ‘A chance to reclaim’

Frantz Fanon – In terms of postcolonialism, we can look at The Wretched of the Earth (1961), by Frantz Fanon, which for many (Barry, 2017, McLeod 2000 etc) is a key text in the development and ancestry of postcolonial criticism.  reclaim their own past by finding a voice and an identity.

1. Assimilation of colonial culture corresponding to the ‘mother country’ Chinua Achebe talks of the colonial writer as a ‘somewhat unfinished European who with patience guidance will grow up one day and write like every other European.’ (1988:46)
2. Immersion into an ‘authentic’ culture ‘brought up out of the depths of his memory; old legends will be reinterpreted’
3. Fighting, revolutionary, national literature, ‘the mouthpiece of a new reality in action’.

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.

Narrative theory is useful in analysing music videos to gain an idea about the storyline, message and plot that the media is trying to portray. Todorov’s narrative theory consists of a three part structure, an equilibrium, disruption and new equilibrium (beginning, middle and end).

These can be used to analyse the letter to the free music video which focuses on the black community and the multi-media Netflix documentary about American prisons being filled by black people. The letter to the free video shows a symbolic square box which common explains that it represents blackness not being defined in time or space. This box appears throughout the video structure as a satellite, which in Seymour Chatman’s theory means it is not essential to the narrative but are helpful and in this instance, it is helpful to provide the meaning behind the video. While the black box is shown at points throughout the video, it is shown before the song starts and then at the end of the video it is the last thing you see. This relates to Todrov’s theory as the video is structured in a way that leaves a significant beginning, middle and ending that highlights the main message of the video.

The Claude-Levi Strauss theory about binary opposites could apply to the narrative of letter to the free, assuming the audiences ideological stances are agreeing with the dominant ideology, being that racism is still prominant in modern day. These opposites could be good vs bad or black vs white. For example in the lyrics ‘Shot me with your ray-gun And now you want to trump me Prison is a business, America’s the company’. This is common directly speaking to the opposing side. This helps us understand the narrative as these binary opposites act as codes for us to identify and decode.

In the Ghost Town music video, the narrative shows the band travelling in a car through empty roads, highlighting a time in the uk where there were riots, deindustrialization and unemployment which caused the feel of a ‘ghost town’. Throughout the video, the band are together in the car which represents them being isolated. This relates to the narrative theory as the beginning shows shots of urban buildings which introduces a theme of industrialisation, it then shows a point of view from the car driving and the view of the empty roads. These beginning shots are useful to identify the setting and the theme of the music video right at the beginning, which then sets the mood for the rest of it. The ending shows a contrast to the disruption, which is chaos with the camera spinning. Whereas, the last shot is still which shows the group throwing rocks into water. This contrast is useful as it shows a clear structure of narrative.  

There are a use of satellites and kernels in the video too. The wide shots of the location and empty roads portray the message of an isolated, gloomy ‘ghost town’ and therefore have an important role of conveying the meaning to the audience. Satellites in this video could something less essential like the make of the car the band is driving.

Narrative can be an important idea and relevant when thinking about music videos, narrative is about having a clear beginning, middle and end not necessarily having to follow a chronological order much like the film Momento which didn’t have a chronological order but instead consisted of colour and back and white flashbacks. It’s structural approach may suggest music videos should be in a certain order or sequence, for example the music videos “ghost town” and “letter to the free” include a structural approach along with Todorov’s theory. 

Todorov’s narrative theory basically states that most story’s or plot lines follow the same pattern or path. His theory states that all story’s start with a beginning equilibrium followed by a disruption in the middle and then lastly the end having a new equilibrium. ‘Ghost town’ does not traditionally follow Todorov’s theory of a clear start, middle and end. However Ghost town does include kernels which are the essential parts of a story, which cannot be changed without the identity of the  story being changed as well. Satellites are also used and included through the Ghost town, without them the music video would still make sense as they are not essential in it to make sense. The kernels are seen in the music video when the setting is being shown, this is a very important part to the music video because it sets the overall scene of it and without it could change the whole tone and perception of the video. 

Vladimir Propp was a folklorist researcher interested in the relationship between characters and narrative . Propp argued that stories are character driven and that plots develop from the decisions and actions of characters and how they function in a story. He suggested there was 8 character types villain, hero etc. In the video “Letter to the free” Propps theory’s of character types can be seen. The man singing is seen as the victim in the story because of his race aswell as other minorities playing the victim. However unlike Ghost town there are very few narrative structures shown but it has a clear point that they are trying to get across of racial injustice towards the black minorities who are seen in letter to the free to be treated unfairly. 

In conclusion narrative is an important part of a music video because it gives a clear way to analyse and understand the context of the video. In Propps theory it helps the viewer to understand character types and what role they play. And in Todorov’s theory it helps us understand the importance of equilibrium in the beginning the distraction in the middle and a new equilibrium in the end and helps overall in understanding the sequence of a music video. Narrative can also give a better insight to the audience of the context of each music videos as they will understand a bit more about what the video is actually aimed around. 

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. (9 marks)

The ideas of narrative are better at analysing Ghost town over Letter to the Free but both contain prominent Narrative theories. Ghost town use a sequential narrative structure which holds up Todorov’s Tripartite theory. On the other hand Letter to the free use very few narrative elements in the music video and relies on the audio portion to present the message but it does use kernels and satellites to aid the prominent points that need to be presented.

In Ghost Town the car is used as the main driving force for the video with equalibrium being constructed with close up shots of the band in the car and then using wider and wider angle shots as the song reaches its climax and then the band leaves the car and the industrial city to escape and resolve the video . This sequential “escape” shows the videos aim of he need escape society in the 1980’s and possibly even comment on Margret Thatcher as Prime Minister at the time. By using Todorov’s tripartite narrative structure it forces the viewer into a certain preferred reading that the band wants to portray. Furthermore on Freytags’s Pyramid the climax is near/at the end inciting a incident and by delaying it it allows the viewer to craft their own prediction, of the climax, for longer. This creates contrast with the ending that the band intend making the viewer reconsider and think about the issue that is offered.

Common’s Letter to the Free is a juxtaposition compared to the weight the narrative structure holds in Ghost Town. It uses very few major narrative structures or theories but relies on the more subtle theories like Seymour Chatman’s Kernels and Satellites and Roland Barthes Proairetic and Hermenuetic codes. Both these theories can only aid a narrative but struggle to create one on their own. This means that the narrative of the video has to be in the music therefore showing that sometimes narrative ideas can struggle to analyse music videos. Common use a jail as his setting for the video which forms the main kernel of the video aiding Commons message of the mass incarceration of black people as a new form of slavery. He uses his band members as satellites throughout the video within the prison , these don’t aid the narrative but give context to the message. The inclusion of a predominantly black cast gives the video the view that they are the people Common sings about and are trying to fight from inside the system. He does this with few proairetic codes and almost all hermenuetic giving the viewer an easier time to link what is being said in the music to the narrative of the video without over stimulating them with action. This furthermore agrees with the suggestion that it is the song carrying the narrative.

Overall there are always narrative structures and theories in music videos but some are more prominent then others as not all theories are used Therefore narrative is always useful when analysing music videos but is limited to how much of the message it can carry. Although it will always either drive or aid the message of the video.