For my old music video I analysed the (1985 version) Pop music video for "Take On Me" by 'A-ha'
From analyzing this video I would say that the band is hyperconscious of their image and appearance. My reason for thinking this is their choice of clothing, by my guess, would have been seen as stylish when this video came out in 1985, and so the band is trying to keep up with fashion to appeal to audience members more. I would not say the band is parodying anything with their music video, although I would agree their is pastiche occurring here. Through the main character's outfit (the leather jacket, etc.), it seems almost like an homage to the popular character 'Fonzie' from popular American sitcom "Happy Days". The outfit may just be what is stylish at the time although to me it really looks like it is paying tribute to him with the outfit, due to how iconic the leather jacket look was thanks to 'Fonzie', also as "Happy Days" ran right up until 1984, a year before this video came out. There doesn't seem to be any specific intertextuality occurring within the video but it could be perhaps said they are referencing comic books/graphic novels in general through the use of what seems to be a comic book/graphic novel in the video and a heavy amount of edited scenes using pencil as though the girl had been dragged into this drawn world in the video. I would say the band is hyperconscious but not narcissistic, mainly because a moderate amount of the video pays attention to the girl, who isn't part of the band. Of course the video contains shots where it feature just the band, but the video makes the effort to tell as story of love between to people and an adventure, by which it sometimes must not focus directly on the band. The fact they have done this shows the band must not be so narcissistic they feel the camera must be on them at all times, even if they are the selling point, as through this story they have created and the way they created it (the drawing style using pencil), they have created a very iconic music video that is still well recognized in today's society, even by youths who were not around during it's creation, due to it's fame.
The contemporary music video I analysed was the K-Pop music video for "GANGNAM STYLE" by 'PSY'
My analysis of this music video revealed that PSY definitely seems hyperconscious. Throughout his video there is a constant flow of outfits worn by PSY that are quite iconic (brightly coloured suits for example) as well as an element of humor through all of the things he does in the video, for example, having a man thrust his hips over him in an elevator, appearing with his trousers down in a toilet while singing and more. This suggests to me he knows he is watched and therefore wants his appearance to be known as a humourous one, just through the visuals this can be seen, but also since the song is entirely based upon him light heartedly making a joke of a place in South Korea called Gangnam (which is a very wealthy area, although this is extra knowledge that couldn't so much be drawn from the video, especially since I do not speak Korean). PSY throughout the whole video is parodying Gangnam in Korea, however without actually knowing how to speak Korean, you wouldn't know this from face value of the music video. So with further research it does reveal he is parodying Gangnam lifestyle, but on face value there doesn't appear to be any parodies occurring. Though his outfits are unique, as are others throughout the video, the appearances don't seem to be a pastiche of anything. Again though with further research you could say that this was perhaps shot in Gangnam (which is therefore a visual parody, making it a pastiche) however this would require further research to know, unless someone knew where Gangnam was and what it looked like (however even with further research it is still unknown to me whether the video was actually shot in Gangnam, although it is likely, since it is the main focus of the song). This song, from watching it, doesn't seem to contain any intertextuality, although the fact I am English and don't speak Korean does put me at a disadvantage in that I can't actually understand most of the lyrics. But still, from my angle on the video it doesn't seem to contain any intertextual references. Finally the video does seem narcissistic, in that it focuses on PSY in nearly every shot throughout the music video, however my thinking behind this is the fact he knows he is the selling point for the music video, hence why he seems to put on such a humourous image through his character, since he is hyperconscious and knows people pay attention to him.
Comparing and contrasting these two videos I found these differences/similarities. Both "GANGNAM STYLE" and "Take On Me" seem hyperconscious. This can be seen through their use of outfit (which are used in different ways; one being stylish and the other being unique, which actually, due to its popularity has made the outfit stylish (although to some extent it could have been seen as stylish anyway), but this is again outside information that can't be drawn from from the video itself ). 'A-ha' don't seem to parody anything, while the main focus of 'PSY's song is to parody the Gangnam lifestyle, but as stated this is known dues to outside information, so from simply observing both music videos it would be said they both don't seem to parody something (of course this is dependent on whether or not you spoke Korean). "Take On Me" seems to be using pastiche, as the main male's outfit seems to be incredibly similar to that of 'Fonzie' from "Happy Days", and "GANGNAM STYLE" most likely uses pastiche through filming in Gangnam in Korea (although this is unknown), but from face value, unless someone knew Gangnam then they wouldn't be able to tell is was using pastiche (if it is that is). "Take On Me" does not seem to use intertextuality, however I did mention perhaps a broad reference to comic books/graphic novels due to the style in which the video was edited (the pencil style), although nothing definite was said, to avoid being incorrect. "GANGNAM STYLE" doesn't appear to use intertextuality, although as mentioned I do not speak Korean and the song may very well reference something in the lyrics. Finally "Take On Me" doesn't appear narcissistic, as mentioned, due to the number of shots where the band was not involved in any way, as the music videos appears to tell a story and is linear and contains continuity. "GANGNAM STYLE" however can be said to be much more narcissistic, but that is most likely because of the hyperconsciousness 'PSY' has, in that he knows the fans are watching him to see what he will do next, which is why he uses distinct outfits and humourous behavious, since he knows people are watching him and want to see what he does next. Overall these videos are both similar and different in different aspects of Goodwin's theory of music video analysis. "Take One Me" appears hyperconscious, to use pastiche and also perhaps intertextuality."GANGNAM STYLE" appears hyperconscious, to parody something (possibly also through pastiche), perhaps intertextual reference something (though this is unknown), and finally appears narcissistic for the reasons mentioned earlier. So these music videos match up, definitely on hyperconsciousness, and perhaps pastiche/ inertextual referencing, but differ on everything else (which I will include pastiche and intertextual referencing for, since I cannot speak Korean, do not know whether the shots are actually in Gangnam and am not definitely saying whether 'A-ha's video references comic books/graphic novels) meaning these videos are more different than similar as they only have one similarity between them, and four differences.
That's all for now everyone so I'll see you all next time :D OPPA GANGNAM STYLE!!!!!
The following piece of information is an edit, after my original post: I just found out that Gangnam is a district (the Gangnam district) in Seoul in South Korea. I also just found that someone has taken the time recently to translate the lyrics, and while the song "GANGNAM STYLE" does reference a lifestyle associated with the Gangnam district of Seoul with the term "Gangnam style", the song actually sings about a man and a woman and not the Gangnam district of Seoul primarily in any way. I would also like to note these lyrics were not available at the time of my analysis, but I felt that this was useful and interesting information which I thought should be shared on my blog. The link below contains the translated version of the lyrics (I do not know how accurate these lyrics are however).
http://www.kpoplyrics.net/psy-gangnam-style-lyrics-english-romanized.html
So again, that's all for now :D see everyone next time :D OPPA GANGNAM STYLE!!!!!
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