Showing posts with label intertextuality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label intertextuality. Show all posts

Thursday, 31 October 2013

Intertextuality Part 2

More recent example of intertextuality in music video - 

  • Last Friday Night by Katy Perry (2011)


The music video is said to be inspired by 1980s coming of age films in particular Sixteen Candles. It was also based around teen film of that decade the video is stylised like a short film by the use of a title sequence and end credits. The music video uses typical 80's fashion such as neon colours, big hair styles and pointy heels. As well as the main point of intertextual reference being the 80s and coming of age films, it can also be related to coming of age films in general. It has the typical idea of making the "geeky" girl into something beautiful.

This music video also has sneaky intertextual references:

  • Rebecca Black - The girl who is best known for the song "Friday". The two songs have similar themes in the lyrics about Friday being the day to party. 
  • 80s/90s Star Debbie Gibson and Kenny G


  • Alice By Avril Lavinge (2010)

This was made in collaboration with the film Alice In Wonderland, therefore it holds a lot of intertextual references such as:

- The White Rabbit
- The strange looking Caterpillar
- Larger than Life Mushrooms
- The Mad Hatter

It also includes a scene from the film using the character of the mad hatter and recreating the iconic tea party.








  • Love Story By Taylor Swift (2009)

This video can be seen as a reference to the play - Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare it references not only the theme of love but also the era in which it was written it it seen in the clothing that is seen to be worn by the two in the flashbacks. 


Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Intertextuality Part 1

Intertextuality 

  • The shaping of a text's meaning by other text. 
  • The relationship between two texts

Intertextuality is used in media a lot, it is when one form of media text references another.For the aspect we are focusing on which is music videos. It can be used in a number of different ways, music videos can reference to films, fashion, magazines but more recently they can reference to social media such as youtube videos and websites such as facebook and twitter.

The best way in which to understand intextuality is to look at some examples:

1.  The most famous music video for intertexuality is Madonna's Material Girl - This is referencing the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.





The top three images show Madonna's music video - Material girl and the Bottom shows the film Gentlemen prefer Blonde's starring Marilyn Monroe. 

In this video Madonna is not only referencing the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe in the film Gentlemen prefer Blonde's. But also she is referencing the song Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend and how that is somewhat "materialistic" therefore making Madonna's version slightly like a parody of the original. The underlining intextuality is actually the reference to the way society perceives blonde's. The image of a sexy blonde star and the way she can play men to get what she wants as many young girls who watched this music video back when it was first released wouldn't have been able to see the relationship between the two texts. As the film Gentlemen prefer Blonde's was released in 1953 where as Material Girl was released in 1985. 

2. Another well known music video for intertextuality is Man! I Feel Like A Woman - Shania Twain. It is referencing another music video Addicted To Love by Robert Palmer.





This video is already a form of intertextuality because the idea for the "mannequin" like models came from the fashion prints by Patrick Nagel -  These prints are known for their pale models with heavy black make up and dark hair as well as their provocative nature.
 But Shania Twain is also famous for referencing the music video "Addicted to Love". The music video for Addicted to Love has been parodied a lot due to the mannequin style band it uses. But in Man! I feel like a woman, it has been used as an intertextual reference to the video by making the models in the background male she has copied the format of the original to make it more suited to the song and audience.