The document discusses post-modernism and its relationship to music videos. It defines post-modernism as referring to and copying old styles in a humorous or terrifying way to create something new. It argues that music videos can be seen as a post-modern stage in cinema's evolution. The document analyzes how many music videos take inspiration from cult movies through homage, pastiche, and parody. It provides examples of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" paying homage to "The Band Wagon" and Will Young's "Switch It On" creating a pastiche of "Top Gun" through highlighting its homoerotic content. The document suggests post-modernism appeals to mass audiences by remixing familiar styles.

1. Post Modernism
and the
Music Video
(a true love story)

2. On your blogs:
“Postmodernism is a shortcut to mass
audiences. Discuss.
Refer to at least 2 music promos”

3. What is post-modernism?
Quick answer: Nobody really knows- there are so many definitions of it by so
many different academics that it has become a phrase used to describe
anything that looks culturally avante garde in an old school way!
“Oooh that’s so post-modern!”
Further Reading: Derrida, Foucault, Heidegger,
Lyotard, Baudrillard, Jameson.

4. To understand what post-modernism is:
You have to look at what came before...
When we look at genre in Media studies, there is a
theory that suggests that genres go in cycles:
Cannon
Post-Modern
Experimental

5. If the experimental stage of genre attempts to
establish trends...
and the cannon stage works within those trends to
fix them into our cultural understanding...
then post-modernism looks at those trends, laughs
at them, pokes them with a big stick and adds
something new in....
Thereby creating a new experimental stage etc...
How can we apply this theory to the
History of the Music Video?

6. It could be argued...
That the music video is a post-modern stage of
the evolution of cinema....
Short Silent films
Music Videos
Full length talkie films

7. So Postmodernism...
• becomes the ‘new’ by referring to the ‘old’.
• invents by copying.
• Is humorous and/or terrifying
• can be created by anybody

8. Before our brains start to melt!
Can you work out from the next few slides,
which are stills from music videos and which
are stills from films?

9. The Band
Wagon (1953)

10. Will Young- Switch It On!

11. Barbarella (1968)

12. Flashdance (1983)

13. Destiny’s Child- Girl

14. Backstreet Boys- Everybody

15. McFly- Transylvania

16. Many Music Videos take their
inspiration from Cult Movies.
(ironically ‘cult status’ is usually awarded to a movie
due to the fact that it is post modern)

17. There are three types of intertextuality
(In order of cruelty):
Homage- Imitation is the highest form of flattery
Pastiche- Using the imagery of
one text to make a comment
about another.
Parody- Taking the Mickey!!

18. Homage:
http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=RWdGIbZKtmg
Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal pays homage to
Vincente Minelli’s The Band Wagon (1953). This has since
also been referenced in the Beyonce video Naughty Girl.
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=QXvspvfnKBc
http://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=RZuJ_OHBN78

19. Pastiche:
http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=GjhJmVsvzws
http://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=ndMk5chmNho
Pop Idol Will Young creates a pastiche of Tony Scott’s Top Gun
(1983) in his video Switch It On, particularly highlighting some of
the (originally unintentional) homoerotic content.

20. Parody:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M6samPEMpM
(yes, that is the same set as Casper (1995) )
What is being parodied here?

21. Other Videos you might want to find:
• I believe in a thing called love- The Darkness (Barbarella)
• It’s Rainin’ Men- Geri Halliwell (Flashdance)
• Girl- Destiny’s Child (Sex and the City)
• ET- Katy Perry (Wall-E)
• Transylvania- McFly (Nosferatu)
But what kind of intertextuality are these?

22. But where now...
With the invention of YouTube (amen), and the availability of
editing software an amusing trend has followed the
intertextuality of the music video...
Taking parody to a whole new level:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlicWUDf5MM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCmeQaXuFig
Are these still music videos?

23. On your blogs:
“Postmodernism is a shortcut to mass
audiences. Discuss.
Refer to at least 2 music promos”