Andrew goodwin theology

“Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics”.
Goodwin's theory states that each genre has particular
characteristics that define its genre. Iggy's music video “fancy” is a
pop genre and has a number of factors which contribute to creating
a pop/hip-hop music video.
• A key convention of pop/hip-hop videos is that the music videos
are normally narrative or performance based, so for instance
Iggy's ‘fancy’ video is narrative based although Iggy is playing a
character there are clips of her performing the song throughout
the music video.
• Bright colours schemes are also popular in pop/hip-hop videos
and ‘fancy’ follows through. As it was set in the 90s,a decade of
bright,flourenct and bold colours in terms of fashion, the mise
en scene of ‘fancy’ is very colourful and vibrant. The costumes
were very 80s-90s related for example the use of the white
knee socks and tartan skirts.

“There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals”
Iggy's ‘fancy’ is narrative based, presenting the story line described in the lyrics however its not really a
story but more telling a story of what the high fancy life entails: “I'm so fancy you already know I'm in the
fast last lane" the story goes on to show Iggy and her mates living up to the fullest as high school senior
girls which more than likely come under the ‘daddy's girl’ category.
The lyrics are reflected in the visuals of the music video, as the clips shows the high life of the young teens
driving in exclusive convertible cars, strutting through the halls of the school and partying in mansions.
The video cuts to a hand held long shot, videoing
Iggy and her popular school friend, strutting
through the school halls while the line “who's
that who's that – I G G Y” Is sung referring to the
fact that Iggy is the top hot student within her
school, so a lot of females and jocks will question
who she is quite a number of times as she is the
most exclusive chick everyone needs to know
about.
The video cuts to a long shot which
establishes the high way and Iggy's
friends driving the car as the artist raps
“rooftop like we bringing 88 back” the
rooftop of the car is rolled down which
represents the high life of Iggy and her
friends
Again we have a wide establishing shot,
which shows how big the mansion is whilst
having loads of students entering the party
while the line “Chandelier swinging, we
don't give a f**k” this indicates the
wildness of the party they were having (in
the hotel room they proceeded to trash!),
or possibly the volume of music and level of
activity that was causing the chandelier to
swing.

“There is a relationship between the music and
the visuals”
The narrative is quite straight forward and simple however the beat of the song is very strong
and loud so its quite obvious when the scene of the music video will cut and change according
to the beat which makes it very effective.
There are a range of shots which specifically change to the beat of the song for example the
first shot is Iggy stomping her feet on the ground to the beat and then in the second shot is
Iggy swinging her hips left and right to the beat and lastly is the party scene which has
continuous jump cuts of the party from different angles to show the variety of fun taking
place, so as Iggys hair swishes it jumps into another cut of someone drinking alcohol which
again shows the amount of fun taking place.

“The demands of the record label will include
the need for lots of close-ups of the artist
and the artist may develop motifs which
recur across their work”
There are many close-ups of the artist performing the song throughout ‘fancy’. This brings the
audience closer to the artist and establishing the artists role in the music video. Close-ups are
also to show the facial expressions of the artists and how this reflects the narrative of the music
video.
Iggy motif or style when singing or rapping is mostly a sassy and sexy style so in
most close ups she is either looking fierce whilst flicking her hair . This also
creates her star persona and advertises iggy as a very exclusive chic. She looks
directly in the camera which shows her bold confidence when she is talking
about her lifestyle.

“There are frequent references to the notion
of looking and particularly voyeuristic
treatment of the female body”
Within the music video, there are frequent notions of a male class mate looking at Iggy from
his glasses in a vey intrigued way which then encourages the audience to indulge in similar
behaviour. The character looks and watches the artist in a very flirtatious way and this
sexualises the character making her more appealing.
As you can see Iggy is sitting in a very seductive
way with her thighs on show. This definitely
attracts the male gaze as she also has knee high
socks on which gives her the naughty school girl
look. This popularises her as an artist for male
viewers in particular as she looks sexually
desirable.
Also the way Iggy looks back at the
male admirer shows that she knows
that she is being watched and she is
enjoying it plus she is looking at him
from under her lashes which give her
an innocent sexy look.

“There is often intertextual references”
The main intertextuality reference in the music video is the film clueless, the film acts almost as
the modern remake of the movie and fits well with the 90s look as the costume and scene are
practically identical as Iggy's yellow tartan outfit is a key outfit which identifies the clueless as
it’s a very popular reference. The music video also open up with a title screen that mirrors the
clueless opening as well. This again establishes the theme of the music video. As you can see
from the screen shots there are specific scenes which are identical to the movie .

“Whether the video is primarily performance based, narrative-based or concept
based and how elements of each is used in it”
• ‘fancy’ is primarily narrative based because the footage follows through her narrative
storyline: Iggy plays a popular school girl and throughout the music video all the lyrics relate
to her living the high life and being the new exclusive girl. Throughout the video she
essentially takes you on a tour through her lavish lifestyle .
• However there are specific moments when Iggy has a close up shot of her rapping or singing
the song this essentially relates to being a performance based video as she performing the
song but still maintaining as the character of the narrative.

Lana del reys “national anthem” conforms to genre characteristics of hip-
hop or trip-hop which is a type of dance music, played on electronic
instruments with a slow beat.
Del Rey employs an alternative rapping technique, hip hop beat and
heavy baselines, similar to that of "Off to the Races However even though
this specific song of Lana del reys is a hip hop type song it conforms to
the characteristics of that genre as it talks about money success and
lavish lifestyles like most hip-hop songs however due to the music video
it still gives the song and music video a classy look.

Due to ‘national anthem’ being narrative based the lyrics have a lot of relation to
the visuals. For example the lyric ‘tell me I'm your national anthem’ is said as
they stroll across the beach together and this is vital because in the US the
national anthem is something people are passionate about and are devoted to.
By being his National Anthem, she is everything. So due to this specific visual of
them walking together shows their close bond as she is his all.
Also as she sings ‘He says to be cool, I don’t know how yet’ she sits around the
table with him with lavish goods in front of her trying to be cool like buttering the
bread whilst smoking and since she is new to this lifestyle she is almost like a
child so as he is smoking she is also doing the same like a young child would just
imitate their surrounding as well. Lana isn’t used to his wealth and how to act
around his friends and other socialites. She doesn’t know how to act calm
amongst all the glamour.
Similar to a child, Lana has no idea how to act in this social situation.
‘Ohh yeah baby, bow down, making me wild now ’
Just as people bow down to royalty, Lana bows to him due to his money. This
is a comment on how America is far too centred around the desires of the
super rich – people treat them as if they are royalty. As you can see in the
shot Lana is bowing down to him in a seductive way as she sings that specific
lyric.

• There is a clear relationship between the music and the visuals in national anthem as there
are specific moments of when the beat of the music slows down and then happy memories
slowly fade in when they are having a family picnic. This goes nicely with the music as the
slow tempo compliments the happy moments. There is also a warm effect over these happy
moments which gives a sense of peace and tranquillity. As you can see from the shots below
these are the key moments of when the soft baseline of the song complimented each visual
by fading into them instead of jump cutting .
“There is a relationship between the music and
the visuals”

• Well throughout the music video Lana del reys star persona is maintained, as in
most of her other music videos her record label has made her seem like a classic
modern singer with sometimes a vintage twist or calm setting scene.
“The demands of the record label will include the
need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the
artist may develop motifs which recur across their
work”
As you can see from these two shots Lana del rey still maintains her vintage style
look as the black and white shot is from her video ‘Carmen’ whilst the other one is
‘National anthem’ . These two shots are also close up and as you can see the facial
expressions are the same in both pictures as Lana del rey has a unique singing
style as she always has sorrowful or reserved formal face when singing the
narrative.

• Throughout the music video there are notions of voyeuristic treatment of the female body, as
the camera lingers on her bum whilst A$AP Rocky's hand rests upon it. Even though there
was no skin it still came across in a sexual way however due to the mere fact that it was her
husband touching her it seems more romantic but it just shows how certain parts of the
female body are still desirable with or without clothes.
• Also there are specific shots when the camera zooms up on her body parts where he touches
Lana like her thigh,knee,legs and bum which are the main parts of woman's body which is
normally sexualised and seem appealing to the male gaze .
“There are frequent references to the notion of
looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of
the female body”
• Also from the other shots I gathered you can see how he gazes at her figure in her
swimsuit from the balcony blowing her a kiss as she catches it this makes her more
appealing to the audience as now we will look at what A$AP Rocky's looking at and
understand how much more sexy she looks however she still maintains a conservative
look as she is not wearing the typical g string bikini.
• There are also long shots of her whole body when she lays on A$APS Rocky's chest this
give the viewers the chance to view the whole of her body, this technique is used to
popularise the artists to the audience.
• Appealing and attractive singers will gain following from both fans who appreciate her
sexually and musically however even though there was sexual notions in music video it
was done in a classy and sophisticated way.

“There are frequent references to the notion
of looking and particularly voyeuristic
treatment of the female body”

Del Reys ‘national anthem' narrative is all intertextual as its based around
J.F.Kennedy and His wife Jacqueline Kennedy and Del Rey as Marilyn
Monroe in a re-enactment of Monroe's 1962 performance of "Happy
Birthday, Mr. President". The rest of the video depicts Del Rey as Jacqueline
Kennedy and ASAP Rocky as John F. Kennedy in re-enactments of home
videos. The video ends with a re-enactment of the infamous Zapruder film
showing Kennedy's assassination and Del Rey reading a dialogue as Onassis
concerning her and Kennedy's relationship.

As you can see here the intertextuality is the assassination of J.F.Kennedy and the first lady in
the car By doing this she again markets herself in the image of a first lady but I think this
intertextual reference was made mostly out of respect and to pay homage to the deceased
president. Lana’s no1 album ‘born to die’ has a number of lyrics exploring the glory of America
and what it means to be an American with one track even titled “American” and I think she is
trying to reflect on a tragic piece of American history and bring it to life as a way of
remembering the bad times America has experienced as well as all the good that she sings
about.

The actor playing the president in “National Anthem” is african-american. Interracial
couples have always been a topic of discussion that can bring about controversy, being
a controversial figure can be a positive thing as it gets an artist more publicly. By
choosing to have a black president in her video it also acts as an intertextual reference
to Barak Obama. The majority of her audience will support Obama and therefore will be
grateful to see his presence within the video. Another reason she may have used the
Obama family as a reference could be so that she could tap into the image of Michelle
Obama and declare herself as the ‘first lady’ of the music industry, emulating class and
power throughout the video

• ‘National anthem’ is predominantly narrative based due to the fact that she is telling a story
about the life of J F Kennedy and the first lady's relationship, especially with a few
intertextual clips which represent significant moments within J F Kennedys life like his
assassination or his birthday performance done by Marilyn Monroe however it could be said
that there are hints of performance based styles within the video as there are a few parts
when Lana is singing directly to the camera which is essentially her performing as an artist
directly engaging with the audience as a singer however she goes back into the character
role but whilst she was singing directly to us as the audience she was still in the role of being
the first lady as the outfit was still remained the same.
Narrative Performance Narrative

“He met Marmalade down in old Moulin
Rouge, struttin’ her stuff on the street” as this
is said you see Mya ‘struttin’ down the run as
if it was the street marmalade was walking
down, also as she has met the guy down at
the ‘old’ Moulin Rouge,you then see the big
sign saying ‘ Moulin Rouge’ ,these lyrics link to
the visual as it’s the correct setting and
explains the narrative clearly.
‘He sat in her boudoir while she freshened up, boy
drank all that magnolia wine’ as pink walks
through her boudoir the camera is shot at a POV
angle tracking her steps into the room as if she is
telling the man by the gesture of her hand to come
into her room and wait while she changes into
something comfortable as this is happening the
lyric then explains that he was drinking wine while
she freshened up for him.

“We independent women, some mistake us for whores
I'm sayin'.. "Why spend mine when I can spend yours?“
So as this specific lyric was being said the visual related
totally to that lyric simply because when she explained
how some people mistake them for whores,just by the
clothing and the setting alone, which is the Moulin rouge
is normally for prostitution and stripping you can see
exactly why that mistake would be made . Also Kim also
stated that she can spend men's money instead of her
own which could infer her as being a gold digger
especially due to the industry she is in, plus most
strippers and prostitutes are in it for the money so they
don’t see the logic in spending their own money or since
the men have to spend their money on the strippers at
the Moulin rouge , essentially the strippers are spending
their money that they got from the men from dancing.
This ultimately relates to the visual as you see Kim
throwing the money back at the audeinece,whilst
knowing that she can make that money all again because
the men will come and spend and throw it right back.

The music and the visuals have a relationship at this
particular point due to the fact that when Mya struts
down the stage, each time her foot landed on the
floor the beat would drop as well which shows the
relationship between the visuals and music. As her
actions are in tune with the sound of the music.
“There is a relationship between the music
and the visuals”
As the majority of the song has a guitar base
throughout the song, Kim then pretends she is
playing a guitar shaking her hands in a wild way as
the song gets more intense and up beat with the
music.

“The demands of the record label will include
the need for lots of close-ups of the artist
and the artist may develop motifs which
recur across their work”
This is evident in the music video that the record label
of each singer was trying to uphold their star persona
and maintain their look which represents their record
label as well.
For example Pink out of all the women sustains her
look as many of her close ups show her pink make up
which she is known for including her rock style look
which was still maintained through her outfit and props
however she still managed to look very sexy whilst
doing this, as being feminine is not her style.
Also Lil Kim also kept her star persona as she was
rapping in the video which is what she is famous for
also as an R&B/Hip-Hop rapper her all white outfit with
diamonds on it, suited her well as most songs
associated with that genre have a materialistic
narrative hence why throughout the video she splashes
cash around. Her record label also has similar artists
like her so the music video definitely promoted her
well. She is also known for having a range of hair
colours which is also evident in the music video.

“There are frequent references to the notion of
looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the
female body”Throughout the music video there is frequent voyeuristic treatment of the female body this is
also due to the narrative of the of the song as the ladies are acting as strippers/prostitutes.
Also due to the fact that men are the main audiences for these type of shows most of the
camera work lingers on the main place that will be watched with some POV shots.
Most of the camera angles are from a low angle which gives the illusion that
you as the audience is looking up at the musician also due to the musician
acting as a stripper on stage it also gives a POV shot as we as the audience get
the feeling of how they are being viewed by the men as most stripper clubs
will have high stage which causes the audience to look up at them.

As you can see from the screen shots there are specific shots of
the artists holding their private areas which is supposedly meant
to tease the audience and lure in the men as its meant to be a
private surprise is they get lucky. In some shots the camera
zooms in close at these points which is a voyeuristic treatment of
the body.

• Throughout the music video there are quite a few intertextual references
especially as the song is a modern day remake of ‘lady marmalade- Patti
Labelle’ so many intertextual references were made.
As you can see there are intertextual references as the
costumes in the 1975 version may not be advanced nut
in the modern videos the feathers are shown as a form
of intertextuality as they are still keeping a traditional
touch.

Within this music video there is a variety of genre
characteristics for example ‘Lil Kim’ represents the
genre of rap and the music video demonstrates this
by making her the only rapper of the music video
along with her wearing big sparkly jewellery which is
often related to the rap genre. Her hand gestures
also represent her music genre as she seems to
touch herself in a provocative way and most rap
artist do rap about sexual related topics.
Here is another example of how music
videos demonstrate genre characteristics. As
you can seem ‘pink’ has a gothic yet sexy
outfit on which still shows her in a seductive
way however the costume still represents
her genre characteristics with the black fish
net tights which again represents punk/rock
as these are conventions of that specific
genre as they are often associated with the
colour black.

• Throughout the music video of ‘lady marmalade’ the majority of it was
performance based as they was singing towards the audience looking
directly in the camera where the audience would be positioned however
this can be perceived differently as the setting of the video was in a
Moulin rouge which suggests that it could be narrative based as most
Moulin rouge dancers/strippers perform to the audience so you could
possibly say it was a narrative as it shows the daily life of a stripper and
the way they interacted with camera was like they were seducing an
actual man which then again could be seen as performance as the man is
the audience [us watching] like the male gaze theory or it could possibly
be narrative as they are showing you what happens behind the scene too.

Andrew goodwin theology

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