Ghost Town CSP

 

Background and historical contexts

Read this excellent analysis from The Conversation website of the impact Ghost Town had both musically and visually. Answer the following questions

1) Why does the writer link the song to cinematic soundtracks and music hall tradition?

it is not part of any one social movement for change. 

2) What subcultures did 2 Tone emerge from in the late 1970s?

Mod and Punk subcultures and Ska and Jamaican rock steady.

3) What social contexts are discussed regarding the UK in 1981?

There was a recession and Riots in urban areas.

4) Cultural critic Mark Fisher describes the video as ‘eerie’. What do you think is 'eerie' about the Ghost Town video?

A definition of eerie is strange and frighting. The music video shows these aspects through its monochrome colour scheme and low-key lighting through out the video to show abandonment and loneliness.

5) Look at the final section (‘Not a dance track’). What does the writer suggest might be the meanings created in the video? Do you agree?

The writer is suggesting that the song wasn't made for partying or 'club' music and neither for love but to represent the current economic and social struggles in the world and how people feel and reacting towards it so that listeners relate or embody that feel as well.

Now read this BBC website feature on the 30th anniversary of Ghost Town’s release. 

1) How does the article describe the song?

It starts with a siren and those woozy, lurching organ chords. 

2) What does the article say about the social context of the time – what was happening in Britain in 1981?

 Against a backdrop of rising unemployment, its blend of melancholy, unease and menace took on an entirely new meaning when Britain's streets erupted into rioting almost three weeks later

3) How did The Specials reflect an increasingly multicultural Britain?

With a mix of black and white members, The Specials, too, encapsulated Britain's burgeoning multiculturalism

4) How can we link Paul Gilroy’s theories to The Specials and Ghost Town?

• Visual representation of the liquidity or culture
• Reflects the black diasporic identity (west indian, american, working class british)

5) The article discusses how the song sounds like a John Barry composition. Why was John Barry a famous composer and what films did he work on?
He is famous for composing evocative and emotionally rich soundtracks and he did James Bond films.


Ghost Town - Media Factsheet

Watch the video several times before reading Factsheet #211 - Ghost Town. You'll need your GHS Google login to access the factsheet. Once you have analysed the video several times and read the whole factsheet, answer the following questions: 

1) Focus on the Media Language section. What does the factsheet suggest regarding the mise-en-scene in the video? 

The video’s low-budget shoot, the social and political nature of the subject-matter of both video and song all reflect the codes and conventions of this film genre. The bleakness of the final shot where the band throw stones into the Thames is very powerful and nihilistic. This example gives you an idea of the look of these films for comparison.

2) How does the lighting create intertextual references? What else is notable about the lighting?

In the car, the band are lit eerily by a limited interior light source and what looks like a handheld torch to light the faces of those in the back from a low angle. This is a highly effective low budget filmmaking technique suited to the aesthetic.

3) What non-verbal codes help to communicate meanings in the video?

The singing of the song with expressionless faces and direct mode-of-address with zombie-like, stiff body movements are suddenly relaxed in the manic middle section.

4) What does the factsheet suggest regarding the editing and camerawork? Pick out three key points that are highlighted here.

• One scene is cut like an action sequence of a car chase.
• The band are generally shot as a group, emphasising the relationship between them.
• The video ends with uperimposition of a long cross-dissolve of the tunnel lights to the stone-throwing shot, to unsettling effect.

5) What narrative theories can be applied to the video? Give details from the video for each one.

• Todorov: Considering the context, the entire music video could be seen as the disequilibrium and the band are the protagonists  searching for a new equilibrium which would be peace and no recession or riots.

6) How can we apply genre theory to the video?

Neale, repetition and difference is shown through their outfits and blank facial expressions which is the repetition of the subcultures MODS, rude boys and skin heads.

7) Now look at the Representations section. What are the different people, places and groups that are represented in the Ghost Town video? Look for the list on page 4 of the factsheet.

• The city
• the urban youth
• masculinity
• race

8) How can Gauntlett's work on collective identity be applied to the video?

The media offers us a sense of identity, the band's genre and diversity brings together many people and creates a new idntity.

9) How can gender theorists such as Judith Butler be applied to Ghost Town?

She referred to these as a ‘performance’. These musicians seem to be ‘performing’ the structures of patriarchy which include brotherhood, camaraderie and male solidarity.

10) Postcolonial theorists like Paul Gilroy can help us to understand the meanings in the Ghost Town music video. What does the factsheet suggest regarding this?

Black musicians, as part of a music industry in the UK which was controlled by the white majority, had limited control in terms of self-representation and were often side-lined in bands which were multi-ethnic.

Bonus content! Ghost Town - Media Magazine feature

There is an interesting article on the Ghost Town music video in Media Magazine MM79. It includes an interview with one of the founding members of the group plus an analysis of the video itself.   

A/A* Extension reading: Music video and Ghost Town

There is so much excellent reading on The Specials and Ghost Town in particular. This Guardian feature by Alexis Petridis describes the social context and the band’s relationship superbly. 

Along similar lines, this is an excellent piece on music reflecting the mood of a country – written during the 2011 London Riots but linking back to Ghost Town in 1981.

Enjoy this phenomenal long read by GQ editor Dylan Jones who links the history of London since 1981, music, race relations and riots to Ghost Town and the Specials.

The career of the director of the Ghost Town video, Barney Bubbles, and his influence over graphic design in the 1970s is laid out in this website article that will appeal to any arts students.

This Rolling Stone article offers some industry context regarding how artists can make money from music videos.

Finally, here are some extracts from an academic research paper on Rock Against Racism at the time Ghost Town was released. It refers to Gilroy and other theorists and gives you a superb introduction to university-level reading. You'll need to login using your Greenford Google login to read it.