Theorists

Question 1

Goodwins theory

Answer 1

Features of a music video:
Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, disjuncture).

There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, disjuncture).

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc.) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos, etc.).

Question 2

illustration
amplification
disjunction

Friths theory

Answer 2

Frith’s theory (1988)

illustration music video’s narrative describes and illustrates the lyrical content or plot of the song.

amplification the director/artist takes one theme from the lyrics of a song, or a line, and expands on that theme for the music video.

disjunction narrative themes that are not at all related to the lyrics of the song

Question 3

semiotics Roland barthes

Answer 3

the idea that texts communicate their meanings through a process of signification
the idea that signs can function at the level of denotation, which involves the ‘literal’ or common-sense meaning of the sign, and at the level of connotation, which involves the meanings associated with or suggested by the sign.

Question 4

Neales theory

Answer 4

genres are instances of repetition and difference

Question 5

The Russian Structuralist, Todorov, also argued that all narratives follow the same structure:
Todorovs theory

Answer 5

A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be.)
A disruption of that order by an event.
A recognition that the disorder has occurred.
An attempt to repairthe damage of the disruption.
A return or restoration of a new equilibrium.

Question 6

Levi Strauss theory

Answer 6

Binary oppositions
The problems in a narrative stem from the conflict between one force and another and it is these conflicts which move a narrative forward.

Question 7

Laura Mulvey: the male gaze

Answer 7

Because filmmakers are predominantly male, the presence of women is for the purpose of display rather than narrative
This presumes a ‘male gaze’ regardless of the gender of the spectator.
The spectator feel powerful or controlling over the female on display who is objectified and passive.

Question 8

Female Gaze

Answer 8

The idea becomes more complex when we see the male body on display – the post-feminist ‘female gaze’ where women may exercise power by looking at men as sex objects too.

Question 9

bell hooks theory

Answer 9

inequality is not just related to one’s gender, and an intersectional approach must be taken to fully understand inequality

Question 10

Ethnicity and Postcolonial Theory – Paul Gilroy

Answer 10

Civilisationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.

Question 11

Theory of Identity – David Gauntlett

Answer 11

Audiences like to be able to identify with people in the media

Question 12

Gauntlets theory of plurality:

Answer 12

As society changes, develops and grows, there are multiple notions of femininity, disability etc.

Question 13

Hall theory:

Answer 13

Media simplifies signs to deliver quick simple messages
Tends to rely on stereotypes, deliver messages quickly