Music video analysis

1. Estelle Naughton Tuesday 23rd September 2014
Due on Thursday 2nd October 2014
Media Homework – Music Video Analysis
Analyse a music video in terms of genre theorist Lacey and his idea repertoire
of elements, including characters, narrative events, iconography, setting and
technical/audio scores.
Lacey, a genre theorist, devised a concept called repertoire of elements where there
are multiple sections in which can be analysed in regards to music videos, films and
TV shows. I am going to analyse a music video called ‘Fancy’ by Iggy Azalea
featuring Charlie XCX in the style of Lacey’s repertoire of elements. This song is very
popular and is known universally for the video, as it parodies and has some
elements of pastiche to a classic 90’s film. Iggy Azalea is a female songwriter/rapper
from Australia and her most recent album is entitled ‘The New Classic’ which
indicates that by parodying a well known film she will become ‘The New Classic’ of
this generation as the music video to ‘Fancy’ is a replica of the film ‘Clueless’ which
is a classic 90’s film, this could a coincidence but all evidence points to how she’s
trying to up the previous classic things.
In regards to Lacey and the genre elements, the characters are a clear cut copy or
parody of those demonstrated in the film as Iggy Azalea is dressed and has the
same mannerisms as the main character from ‘Clueless’ called Cher. This is
apparent by Iggy having long blonde hair which Cher flicks in the film and Iggy does
the same throughout the music video, wearing similar clothes worn in the 90’s with
tartan creating a sense of bricolage due to the crossover of eras, with the 90’ s
clothing, style and props with the upbeat music of today’s generation. One
stereotype which is broken throughout both the film and the video is that Cher and
Iggy is both blonde, stereotypically blondes are meant to be dumb and ditsy whereas
in film Cher is having an intelligent debate with another character called Amber and
this is recreated and parodied in ‘Fancy’. This scene is clearly mimicked as shown
throughout the mise en scene and the copying of the original characters, it could also
indicate that despite being blonde, both women are strong, independent women and
don’t conform to stereotypes. The secondary artist of the song, Charlie XCX is
parodying a character from the film called Tai, who originally is an outcast and stays
close to Cher during the film which is then mirrored in the music video as Iggy and
Charlie XCX are seen to be together throughout the music video or not far from each
other. Other characters are duplicated from the film and are present in the music
video, such as Amber in the debating scene, Dee who is Cher’s best friend, and
Murray who is Dee’s boyfriend and these characters are used in corresponding
scenes in the music video. The characters parody and copy the actions of the actors
from the film such as walking down the corridor confidently, on the phone to Dee
even though they’re not far from each other and the iconic car scene where Dee is
overpowered by a truck on the motorway.
The events of the music video unfold in a way in which is similar to those in the film,
all iconic scenes and events from the film are featured in the music video, again
making the music video a parody of the film. The music video cuts down the script of
‘Clueless’ to around 3 minutes, including memorable and symbolic scenes from the
film and replaced the original actors with Iggy Azalea, Charlie XCX and extras,

2. therefore producing the music video for ‘Fancy’. The events of the film are displayed
in a same, if not similar arrangement of those in the music video making the events
indistinguishable. Additionally, someone off the internet played the song ‘Fancy’ over
the order of the events of the film and it is almost identical to the video to ‘Fancy’.
Iconography is used to create the sense of the 90’s, which as mentioned before
creates an element bricolage as everything apart from the music and
actors/actresses connote the 90’s era. The opening scene of the music video is in
the same manner as the opening scene to the film ‘Clueless’, this iconic to the 90’s
and the film due to the bright, vibrant colours and the font used for the text as it is
comparable to the one used for the text in the opening scene of the film. Additionally,
iconic 90’s props are used to suggest the era and the strong influence of ‘Clueless’
such as the dress sense with the tartan skirts, high waisted items of clothing and the
90’s style of phone which is used to call Dee.
To get a real feel for the 90’s and the film, the music video school scenes were
filmed at the same school as the film which could be seen as paying homage to the
film and its success. Every scene within the music video has been made to look
exactly like the scenes in the film even when outside of the school setting, such as at
the beginning where Iggy is in a teenage girl’s bedroom picking out her outfit, this
happens in the film. The driving scene has been made to look the same as it is a
memorable scene within the film, despite having different actors and actresses the
mise en scene looks identical and not just in the particular scene but in every scene
represented in the music video. One scene that doesn’t look twin like to the film
would have to be the party scene, for obvious reasons it looks different due to the
era, characters and the ‘rolling with the homies’ scene isn’t featured. This scene is
different as the mise en scene is different, characters are wearing clothing that isn’t
too similar to the characters in the film and there’s evidently dancing; it could suggest
how Iggy is influenced from popular things in the past and then adds her input to
make them her own, such as the different party scene which doesn’t entirely make
the video idea her own but is demonstrated in another scene. Another scene in
which this is demonstrated is the debating scene, although most elements are
copied from the original scene the words on the board behind Iggy are different as it
is names of rappers and artists which in turn, could inspire Iggy due to their past or
present fame, fortune and popularity.
High key lighting is used to get the youthful look which is achieved within the original
film, as Iggy Azalea is older than the original character Cher and she wants to
replicate the look of Cher. Tracking shots are used more or less throughout the
whole video to follow the main characters represented in the video, for example
when Iggy is walking down the corridor and the similar camera technique is used in
the original film. Additionally, she walks down the corridor to the beat of the music
which is within the non diagetic sound, following the camera down the corridor, low
angle and medium shots are used to suggest Iggy is of importance within the video
and in music.
Overall, I believe that by using Lacey’s repertoire of elements it has allowed me to
gain insight on the ideas behind my chosen music video and has given me some
inspiration for my music video. I believe the music video for ‘Fancy’ is a performance
and narrative video as it narrates the story of ‘Clueless’ and is a performance video

3. due to the performance given by Iggy Azalea and Charlie XCX. The music video
features various post modern features, one being intertextuality with clear references
to the classic 90’s film ‘Clueless’. This video can also be labelled a parody or
pastiche; it can be labelled a parody due to the comedic value of how strongly
‘Clueless’ has influenced the video but a pastiche to the characters, the success of
the film and to the 90’s era.