Friday, 14 July 2017

Postmodernism & Me

“Postmodernism is a shortcut to mass audience.”


Postmodernism is when something considered old, vintage, etc. is brought back for the current day. This is a phase we’ve seen throughout many different forms of media, i.e. music and film, and other topics of interest like fashion.


Derrida suggested in his book Grammarology that there is a critical analysis of texts that are considered classic and of a cult status. This would ring true for many music videos, as lots have been known to reference thing that have a cult status. A good example is Marilyn Monroe’s Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend from the film Gentlemen prefer Blondes (1953). It was later referenced by Madonna in the music video Material Girl. By referring to something that is considered to have a cult status, an audience is gained due to interest of how it portrays the original.


It is often that genres go through a cycle of: experimental, cannon and post modern. Experimental often establishes the genre, Cannon works with the trend to be culturally and widely understood, and postmodernism is there to add humor once the genre has been exhausted. This development can be seen throughout music videos through this cycle:


Silent films -> Full length talkies -> Music video


Postmodernism can bond with intertextuality heavily. Music videos can pay homage (a form of flattery), pastiche (imagery of one text to comment on another) and a parody (just to make fun of). A music video that pays homage would be a music video like It’s raining men by Geri Halliwell, with its heavy reference to Flashdance. Another music video that could be considered to reference Flashdance is Paula Abdul’s Cold


A music video that would play pastiche to another is Shania Twain’s Man! I feel like a woman, referencing Addicted to Love by Robert Palmer. As Robert’s song features all female “models” who are pretty motionless throughout the video, Shania Twain used men as the models with her in front, showing that if women can be objectified, men can be as well.

Finally, a music video that parodies another is the Backstreet Boy’s Everybody. There are many references to horror films, such as Casper (1995). As typical horror such as werewolves, vampires and such had almost been exhausted by this point with Hammer horror being overtaken by slashers and thrillers, typical horror was only something to be laughed at. This now gains an audience through the humour, as a postmodern society can now laugh together at what is considered uncool put through a slightly more trendy way.

I feel it is important that I have some sort of intertextual reference within my music video. Not only will it give me extra content, but my audience will constantly re-watch to find this 'easter egg' again within my video. Especially if they have an analytical mind and I had a lot of content which is cleverly referenced, watching my music video again and again will be an enjoyable experience to find all this content.

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