case study

1. FAIRYTALE OF NEW
YORK
The Pogues

2. Background Info
• Released on the 23rd of November 1987
• The genre of this song falls under Celtic rock, Celtic punk and
Christmas music
• The video is directed by Peter Dougherty
• The song made No 2 in the charts in the UK in 1987 and No 3
in 2005
• The sales from the song grossed £386,270
• Celtic rock is a genre of folk rock, as well as a form
of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic
music, instrumentation and themes into a
rock music context.
• Celtic punk is punk rock mixed with
traditional celtic music. The genre was
popularised in the 1980’s by the Pogues

3. Intertextuality and Generic Conventions
Katie Wales Theory Of Genre
• Her theory references that ‘genre is an intertextual
concept’ which is similar to John Hartley’s theory which
suggests that ‘we need to understand genre as a property
of the relation between texts’. This shows how genre is
built using intertextual references. This can be seen
clearly in the ‘Fairytale Of New York’ video as it is full of
intertextual references.

4. Intertextuality and Generic Conventions
• the first intertextual reference is the Noir lighting style
used in the video, this references noir films such as ‘Once
Upon A Time In America’. This suggests characters being
involved in crime, which is a generic convention of
thrillers. This is highlighted by the man being in prison at
the beginning of the video
• During the performance section of this video, the location
is in a smoky and dark room, this intertextually references
‘Blade runner’.

5. Intertextuality and Generic Conventions
• The locations used in the video contribute to the genre
and intertextuality. The location of New York is a
convention within the genre of Christmas, this can be
seen in ‘Miracle On 34th Street’, ‘Home Alone 2’ and
‘Scrooged’ this shows how prominent New York is in all
Christmas films and other media.
• Another generic location is the prison, this is generic
within the genre of Celtic Rock.

6. Intertextuality and Generic Conventions
Jaques Derrida
‘a text cannot belong to no genre, it cannot be without genre.
Every text participates in one or several genres’
• Low angle shots are used frequently in celtic rock/punk music
videos. They are used to make the characters feel small. This
type of cinematography is popular within the genre. Tall
buildings and low angle shots create a feeling of insignificance
for the characters who feel over powered by their surroundings.
• The Pogues other music videos ‘King of the Faries’ and
‘Whiskey in the Jar’ are predominantly performance based,
whereas ‘Fairytale of New York’ uses a combination of concept
and performance. This creates an open text narrative.

7. Intertextuality and Generic Conventions
• Frequently in Celtic Rock/Punk videos the location of a prison
is used, this shows the rebelliousness of this culture and shows
how this genre is not in the mainstream. Prisons represent the
feeling of being trapped within their lives. The main character
feels trapped within his relationship.
• The music video fits into the genre of Christmas songs, it uses
visual clues and mise en scene (snow, Christmas lights and
Christmas trees). The video challenges the generic
conventions of the Christmas genre. This can be seen as the
video uses aspects that we wouldn’t normally associate with
Christmas which should be a happy time. These aspects are
broken relationships, failing ambitions and alcohol. The location
of a prison also challenges the convention. The prison could
represent how the main character feels trapped within his
relationship.

8. Gunther Kress – Narrative Theory
• Defines genre as ‘a kind of text that derives from the
structure of a (frequently used) social occasions, with its
characteristic participants and their purposes’ this shows
that often with media texts, they are based upon other
texts from the same genre.
• In the video for ‘Good Morning Da’ a video of the same
genre as ‘Fairytale of New York’, the performance, with
the son on the phone, is cut between the
concept/narrative aspect of the video portraying his dad
reacting to the news that he’s in jail. This is similar to
‘Fairytale of New York’ where the performance is cut
between shots of the couple. This allows the audience to
establish a narrative and connection between characters.

9. Gunther Kress – Narrative Theory
• The vide uses performance based narrative, with
flashbacks cut into the performance. This creates
opposites between the lights, flashbacks and dark, this
shows the opposition within the relationship.
• The music video ends unclearly, this is because it leaves
the audience with many questions unanswered and many
gaps for them to fill, which is a good way of keeping the
audience interested as they are allowed to interpret the
video in any way that they want.

10. Zeitgeist
• The zeitgeist (spirit of the age or spirit of the time) is the
intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought that
typifies and influences the culture of a particular time
period.
• The time of the release of this video (1987) many people
were moving to new york in the hop of achieving their
dreams of a better life, however this was not to be due to
the wall street crash. Many of these people were worse off
than before they moved, this would have left people un
happy and depressed much like the character is in the
‘Fairytale of New York’ video, they have been influenced
by the culture around them.