ADVANCED PORTFOLIO
Music Video Project - A2 Media Studies - Alana, Lauren & Maddie
Intertextuality "The shaping of texts' meaning by other texts".
Intertextuality was first introduced by Julia Kristeva, she argued against the concept of a text as an isolated entity which operates in a self contained manner and states that- 'any text is the absorption and transformation of another'.
John Stuart's description of a music video is 'Incorporating, raiding and reconstructing is essentially the essence of intertextuality'. He believed music video's was the most obvious form of intertextuality in media, as using something familiar to the audience may produce both potentially nostalgic associations and new meanings.
"Love Story- Taylor Swift"
Taylor swift released the song 'Love Story' in September 2008, which featured on her album 'Fearless'. The music video makes intertextual references to Romeo and Juliet in both the lyrics and the video. The music video tells the story between two teenagers- this links to the love story of Romeo and Juliet as it tells the story of the forbidden love between two teenagers. An intertextual reference is made in the lyrics when Taylor sings "I see the lights, see the party, the ball gowns, i see you make your way through the crowd', in the story of Romeo and Juliet they originally meet at a ball- which is what Taylor is referring to in her lyrics. Another example is when Taylor sings 'And daddy said stay away from Juliet' this makes an intertextual reference to Romeo and Juliet as in the story the Montagues and Capulets were enemies and once both sides of the families found out about their relationship they were made to stay apart from each other, as their love was forbidden- hence in the lyrics Romeo gets told to stay away from Juliet. Furthermore it makes intertextual references through similar mise en scene, some examples of this are similar costumes, camera angles and setting. The costumes are similar as they are both presented in a sumptuous and lavish attire- much like how the wealthy population would've dressed in 1594, which is when Romeo and Juliet is set. Teens appeal to love stories and Taylor's audience is teens, so the intertextuality of Romeo and Juliet appeals directly to her target audience.
Black Widow-
Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora
Love Story-
Taylor Swift
"Black Widow- Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora"
Iggy Azalea released the song "Black Widow", featuring Rita Ora on the 8th July 2014, this features on her album "The New Classic". The music video shows intertextual references as it is purely based around the film "Kill Bill: Vol. 1", it displays this through the variety of costumes, settings, camera angles, props and scenes.
The images to the right represent the different features from the film, the first example is through similar costumes (see pictures to the right, top). Both Iggy and Uma (the actor that plays the leading role) wear a tight, leather jumpsuit- although they are different colours they both have the same desgin. This shows an intertextual reference as it is supposed to show Iggy imitating the character that Uma plays. Another feature that makes intertextual references are the props used, they both show the famous samurai sword that is used in the film. This insinuates that the music video is going to involve action or violence, much like the film Kill Bill. Additionally they use similar settings and camera angles (see pictures to the right below costumes) which in the image it shows Iggy and Uma on motorbikes. This represents the same idea of action featuring in the music video and makes intertextual references to the film by using the same themes and camera angles. Finally it shows intertextual references through simialr scenes (see pictures to the right, bottom two). An example of this is in the picture where both Iggy and Uma are surrounded by masked men, armed with samurai swords.
I believe that Iggy has chosen to make intertextual references to the film Kill Bill in order to show a powerful female. Iggy's main audience is females between the age of 18-25, therefore she has aimed her video at them to express the idea of being independent and strong. This is because stereotypically males are seen to be more powerful and strong and that females rely on them. Iggy has smartly made intertextual references to Kill Bill as Uma is portrayed as a strong and independent character- which shows Uma sucessfully battling a number of males and winning the fights. This therefore infers that women can be equal to if not more powerful than men, encouraging her audience to believe that we are just as independent and strong as men.
