Music videos: Postmodernism

 

Create a new blog post called 'Postmodernism in music video: blog tasks'. Read ‘The Theory Drop: Postmodernism’ in MM66  (p26). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need your Greenford Google login to access. Answer the following questions:

1) How does the article define postmodernism in the first page of the article?

Postmodernism is an era with no beliefs that make fun of all meta/ grand narratives.

‘postmodernism is a cultural movement that distrusts all established philosophies and frequently

experiments with the medium it is presented in’.

2) What did media theorist and Semiotician Roland Barthes suggest in his essay 'The Death of the Author'?

In it, he challenged tradition when he said that a writer’s opinions, intentions or interpretation of their own work are no more valid than anyone else’s.

3) What is metatextuality?

Where a text draws, attention to the fact that it is a text. It points to the process of its own creation.

4) What is the repeated phrase on the cartoon on postmodernism on page 28?

‘postmodernism is a cultural movement that distrusts all established philosophies and frequently

experiments with the medium it is presented in’.

5) How does postmodernism link to media representations and reality?

Postmodernism is basically making a parody out of everything remotely serious. This is shown in media representation through the hyper reality and genres such a comedy.

Music video CSPs and postmodernism

Now apply postmodern ideas to our music video CSPs by answering the following questions:

1) How does the music video for Ghost Town incorporate elements of postmodernism?

• Style over substance: mimicking genres and art house cinema's purely for the look rather than deeper effect
• Time and space confusion: Not knowing where they're driving to, or for how long only know it's for a long time due to change of day light. Unrealistic use of car space- fitting that many people in the car doesn't make since.
• Pastiche: copying subcultures
• intertextualities: hammer horror, film noir, neo expressionism

2) What film genres are alluded to in the music video for Ghost Town? Which scenes in particular created these links?

Horror: The low-key lighting and "ghost" metaphor repeated throughout the music video is a high indicator and convention of horror films.

3) How does Old Town Road use postmodern elements in its music video?

• Time and space confusion: Travelling through time from 20th century to 21st century
• Bricolage: Mix of old time ere with a modern/ postmodern era
• Intertextuality: Hoe Down like Billy Cyrus' daughter Miley Cyrus' scene in her movie hannah montana
• Parody: The horse race and conversation after is humorous. Chris Rock's scenes.

4) How does the Old Town Road music video reflect technological convergence and modern digital culture?  

The difference in ways or transport, it showed the transition of using a horse to using a car instead to 'get away'

5) What do YOU think Lil Nas X was trying to say about reality and American culture in the music video for Old Town Road?

Perhaps, he was trying to show that people are more united than it is presented on the media - as an example of cultural conviviality - also that as years' era's go back people become more accepting meaning that music is more global and anyone can enjoy it and that that is American culture.