Wednesday, 31 January 2018

Planning - Intertextual References


Intertextual references

A media text can often be embedded with intertextuality for numerous reasons. To pay homage to another text can provide depth for its audiences. This notion was created by Julia Kristeva, who stated that “any text is the absorption and transformation of another”. Kristeva argues that no media construct is original as different concepts/themes have been included before. Every media text is a ‘mosaic’ of references to other texts, genres and constructs.

They are used in TV famously in shows like the Simpsons, or TV adverts, where the audience’s representation is influenced by another text. This offers the audience the pleasurable feeling of recognising something they can relate to from another media text, but also reminds us we are in a meditated reality. John Stuart’s description of the music video as “incorporating, raiding and reconstructing” is essentially the essence of intertextuality. Using something familiar to the audience may generate both potentially nostalgic associations and new meanings. This was a theory extended by Roland Barthes, who opted to put a postmodern label on intertextuality by announcing that this was the ‘death of the author’ and the ‘birth of the audience’. The interpretation of the audience is considered more important than the meaning which is intended by the author/director of the text.

When considering the theoretical side ahead of our video, we are keen to tip our hat to several things in our music video, including Great Expectations, the novel by Charles Dickens. This is evident in our video whereby we include a house which is similar to that owned by Miss Havisham. This is included due to the symbolism it represents the frustrated expectations of the couple who argue in front of the house. This frustrated expectation is due to the fact they have become confined in a relationship which isn’t working.

In the Killing (1956) (https://youtu.be/V5Rzh8XjzHI), chess pieces were introduced to kick-start a relationship between chess and Hollywood which has been extended for decades, this relationship between chess and film is something we want to transfer to music videos. It will help represent the strategic and intricate nature of relationships. The multifaceted relationship represented in our video displays the characteristics mentioned.  By observing the manner in which chess pieces are deployed in films like The Killing and Blade Runner, we can capture the pieces in close up manner which shows relationships are games.

By Connor Southwell

1 comment:

  1. Well done for independently researching the idea of intertextuality - you've explained the technique really well. T: It would be useful to have a more developed exploration of how you plan to use intertextuality. Include annotated screenshots of the videos you've referred to.

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