Letter To The Free Flashcards
1
Q
What Are The Key Parts Of The Music Video’s Mise-en-scene?
A
- x1 dominant location (jail cells)
- Black & White
- Casual clothing (Black)
- Natural lighting
- Floor fan (reference to South America-hot)
- Slavery references
2
Q
What Is The Significance Of The Black Plynth?
A
- Out of context
- Anatharistic (out of time/ place)
- At start/ end
- Reference to film ‘2001’ - designed to raise question and acts as a wake-call of evolution from slavery
3
Q
What Are The Key Editing Methods Involved In The Music Video?
A
- Slow motion
- Slow tracking
- Wide Shoot of prison sports hall
- Sunlight casts long beams on people
- X2 drum beats (beat at the start/end tracks back to slave trade)
4
Q
What Is The Lyrical Significance Of The Music Video?
A
- ‘pride of the pilgrims’ - started slave trade
- ‘institution ain’t just a building’ - prison system like slave trade, mainly blacks
- ‘will the US ever be us’
- ‘Jim Crow’
- Traditional Black gospel singers
- ‘caged bird’
- ‘pastoral scene’ - exterior beauty/interior misery
- ‘criminal’
- ‘dehumanised’
5
Q
What Are The Links To The Slave Trade?
A
- Wind chimes hanging from trees instead of bodies
- Jim Crow
- ‘They know this knot is undone’ - reference to rope knots
- Piano like ‘strange fruit’ slavery song
6
Q
How Does The Music Video Appeal To It’s Target Audience?
A
- Repetition of ‘us’ (Black community)
- Reassurance that it ‘won’t be long’
- Positions audience as the victim
- Reveals hope, identity and freedom coming
- Creates guilt for white community
7
Q
How Are Music Video Conventions Used?
A
- Confrontational and edgy
- Lead vocalist and backing singers
- Instruments
- Explores themes
8
Q
How Are The Music Video Conventions Challenged?
A
- No direct mode or address
- Musicians isolated from each other
- Long duration
- Location is simple and unexpected
9
Q
How Is Stephen Neale’s Genre Theory Applied?
A
- Hybridisation of music genre (jazz and rap)
- Variation and Change of music Video conventions
- Hybridisation between historic events and post-modern representation
10
Q
How Is Stuart Hall’s Representation Theory Relevant?
A
- He would approve as it challenges mainstream ideology
- Preferred Reading: Black community
- Negotiated Reading: White community who’s heads have been slightly turned
- Oppositional Reading: American cops, older generation
11
Q
How Is Judith Butler’s Theory of Gender Performativity Relevant?
A
- Masculinity is the dominant gender
- Few lyrics on female characters
- Backing singers are dolled up for ‘decoration’ not purpose
- Counter argument - female flutist
12
Q
How Is Paul Gilroy’s Theory Of Post-Colonialism Relevant?
A
- Approve to the video as it addresses black American diaspora and it’s call for change
- Post colonialism has lead to racial minority and groups suffering from diaspora
