2. Goodwins Theory
S Goodwins theory consists of 8 main principles:
1) Links between lyrics and visuals
2) Links between music and visuals
3) Genre characteristics
4) Intertextual Reference
5) Notions of looking
6) Voyeurism
7) Demands of the record label
8) Performance based, Narrative Based or Concept Based.
3. The Smiths - Panic
S http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AlH2oYedfk
S <iframe width="420" height="315"
src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9AlH2oYedfk"
frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
4. Comparison to Goodwins
Theory
S Links Between Lyrics and Visuals:
S In the opening lyrics of this song it says “Panic on the streets of
London” as the car is driving and shows you London. You notice the
camera is moving rapidly as it has a first person view of a persons
hand. This shows that this individual is panicking and shaky, this has
relation to both the title of the song and the chorus. It also says in the
lyrics “So you run down, to the safety of the town,” this is visible
through the course of the music video as the individual in the first
person view is constantly running to find safety. It is also important to
notice the streets are empty, this emphasizes the idea of panic and to
make the idea more dull the video is in black and white. The lyrics also
say “burn down the disco” and you can see a photograph of a building
being burned.
S In this music video the lyrics and visuals follow the conventions of
5. S Links Between Music and Visuals:
S The speed of the music is matched by the visuals in all aspects. Initially the camera
moves rapidly in sync with the beat and rotates around the artist similarly. This is
shown regularly with the exception of other scenes.
S There is also a case where the artist is standing in front of a river, the waves of the
river move in sync with melody yet again.
S In another scene the photograph when burnt, the flames move in sync with the song
and there is an image which is transparent in the background which becomes visible
every time the bass drops in the track again.
S The children that are the background singers “and the Deejay” are shown in the
video and when they dance, they dance jumping up and down. There timing is yet
again also in sync with the beat.
S This is another case where the conventions are also followed from the start to finish.
6. S Genre Characteristics:
S The genre is visible in the style of clothing. They are simple
retro clothes as compared to pop music where a person may
stand out more and have fancy jewelry and designers.
S The main artist is also smoking, this also shows the genre in
some form
S The song in general shows genre conventions of indie with the
use of guitar and drums, these are two of the most used
instruments in this genre
8. S Notions of Looking:
S This is portrayed consistently. You can see the individual
casted panicking from a first person view, so you grasp
the idea of the camera shaking better.
S This is also used when viewing the different places he
mentions such as London and Leeds.
10. Demands of the Record label.
S In the music industry when you are considered to be in independent
music, this is often also referred to as indie music or "indie” for short.
This is a term used to describe independence from major commercial
record labels or their subsidiaries, this allows the artists to do all the work
themselves however the benefit of this is they are able to approach it in
there own way.
S Based on the music video, it looks quite low budget. The reason for this
could be the Independent Music idea which restricted there funds.
S This could be vital in the reason for why this video does not follow all of
Goodwins principles such as voyeurism and intertextual reference. These
are normally tactics used by record labels to boost popularity of there
music. Voyeurism attracts males and gives an idea of what women want to
look like. Intertextual references are normally used to raise controversy or
raise debate.
S In this case “The Smiths” are of an Indie label so this allows them to make
these decisions for themselves and if they feel it is not necessary to
include these factors, they have that choice. This goes against the
11. S Performance based, Narrative Based or Concept Based.
S This music video is not
12. Conclusion
S What I noticed from studying Goodwin’s Thoery based on
this music video is that the principles are important in a
music videos but not all necessarily have to be used. It is
possible that the lyrics don’t match the visuals or the
music but this is still possible in music videos, depending
on what the artist is trying to share with there audience.
