WEIRD AL ANALYSIS

1. Music Video Analysis
WHITE & NERDY – “ W E I R D A L ” YANKOVIC

2. Genre
The genre of parody aims to make fun of the song they are parodying. This video is especially great
because it relates to my last post about Ridin' as this is the parody of it: White & Nerdy (parody of
the lyric Ridin' Dirty). Parodies are special because they can apply to any genre of music, making it
a genre of music on its own. This parody is loosely based on the original video in order to be
unique, and not to cause any legal issues for plagiarism. For example, Al is seen in a similar
backdrop wearing a similar costume, tracksuit that says "White & Nerdy on it and with red lights in
the background, creating Pac-Man (in Ridin' the lights create a lizard, Chamillionaire's symbol).

3. Target Audience
The target audience, for parodies in general, is anyone who wants to have a laugh at the mockery by an artist
of another song. Parodies are usually made to mock iconic pop songs/iconic songs (in general), therefore
most people have heard these songs and will understand the mockery of it. This song in particular, however,
has four different target audiences. Firstly the parody audience that I just described, along with Yankovic’s
fanbase as predominately these are the people he’s most interested in pleasing. Then there are the audiences
that are being parodied in this video, the Hip Hop and “nerdy” audience. The Hip Hop audience seem to be
attracted to this because Al has followed the conventions of a Hip Hop video and has parodied rap culture in
order to make it more appealing in humour. The nerdy audience are most definitely attracted because through
lyrics and visuals, Al has made regular and intertextual references to “nerdy things” (e.g. Star Wars, Star
Trek, Klingon, Segways, Seth Green and Donny Osmond cameos etc.) which will form a humourous
attraction also.

4. Other Conventions
A key similarity between White & Nerdy and Ridin’ is that they are both fast paced songs and share fast
paced videos. Al has matched the convention of this very well, especially since he has the ability to rap so
fast. The beauty of the fast pace song/video is that it allows Yankovic to include as many references as
possible, lyrically and visually. One huge theme throughout the video is that the nerd wants to hang out
with the gangster. According to Yankovic himself, the message is that those who try to be who they’re not,
or try to fit in with other groups where they aren’t themselves, shouldn’t do so. In this video, the nerd
(Yankovic) is confronted with the gangsters whilst he is doing several activities (mowing the lawn, riding
his Segway and bowling) and tries his hard to impress them, yet all the gangsters do is dismiss him. The
mockery of rap culture is very prevalent as it makes fun of the bad promotion that some parts of this
culture may give (e.g. Al is drinking tea instead of alcohol, and being dealt a bootleg video tape instead of
drugs).

5. Star Image
The idea of star image is mocked in this video as Yankovic aims to parody what was
Chamillionaire’s star image in the original video, and has instead taken a different approach. In his
video, Al plays the desperate nerd and therefore this video in particular will focus on the nerd and
“his story”. However, Yankovic’s songs are not all similar and he will change the way he conveys
star image to the appropriate artist and genre. For example he has parodied Michael Jackson on a
number of occasions and has shifted the star image idea to loosely base it on the original videos
(Fat – parody of Bad, Eat it – parody of Beat It). A parody artist needs to have understanding of all
types of star images, synthetic or organic, in order to make their videos effective to the audience.

6. Organic/Synthetic Audience
Parody artists tend to be synthetic as they aim to parody popular songs/videos in order to gain
popularity. However with “Weird Al” Yankovic, it’s quite different. Over the years Al has
established himself as a legitimate artist parodying over 150 songs, and has created original songs
too. As of 2007, he has sold over 12 million albums. At the start of his career he was considered a
typical parody artist until he showed uniqueness in his lyrics and videos. He has a considerably
large fan base and has therefore formed into an “organic” artist. On the other hand, one would say
he appeals to a synthetic audience because that type of audience will enjoy his parodies, but may
not appreciate him as an artist.