Hall vs. Cohen
Inception vs. consumption
Katy Perry is a popular culture act. In her music videos, she tends to create meaning at consumption. In California girls, she appears on a cloud seaming to be un-reachable, and like a sexual goddess. The sweet world implies childlike, in a Disney theme world, like she’s living in a Disney, fairytale world. She uses nudity to conform to the stereotype of what a male wants, using male gaze theory to be a masculine fantasy. The semiotics preferred reading would be that she is freeing herself from the bonds of men, however the reading that is also clear would be that man is controlling her. Snoop Dogg is demonstrated to be in control, evoked through a thrown and crown, He is gambling suggesting that he has money, power and has a risky edge and demonstrated as an omniscient god, all-seeing and in control, in control of her world. By being naked she is exposing herself and coming across as unprotected and ‘easy’. The nudity represents sex as well as the sexual connotations from snakes and cream coming from her bra. This video is allowing freedom to create meaning at consumption. It uses semiotics to establish a preferred reading, viewing her as a perfect women, in control of herself, and freeing herself from men’s control. The video implies she is in the fairytale world, but male gaze theory would read this in a different way, that she is being naïve to think it would be read innocently, and that she is clearly representing herself as a sexual object.
The fray, however present ‘how to save a life.’ This is a music video, which creates the meaning at inception. This video starts with a white background, and a man playing the piano. The singer is blurred and so shows his confusion and when he comes into focus. The lip sinking isn’t in time. The use of semiotics of a butterfly, the shot of children, braces and the word ‘listen’ braces suggest infancy and innocence. The connotations of the white background show that its pure and he has been revealed and exposed as what he is, and is only left with his music to convey his emotions. In the shot of the band, they appear quite segregated and distant to show how they have been ripped apart. The red guitar demonstrates love and pain in this shot and the following shots demonstrate ache and throbbing pain. These shots only seam to have one meaning, and the meaning has been created at inception, with a clear idea of what they want to achieve and establish. The choice of shots, demonstrate the pain and loss of the fight of losing a parent. The butterfly demonstrates something growing from a tiny insignificant object into something beautiful. The ontrast between the white backing and strong use of filler lights, and the coloured writing and words that appear on the screen, these draw attention to them and show their power. It also demonstrates how there’s a battle between conquering the words and its not easy or painless.
The Adorno’s musical theory (1950s) studied high and low culture. He suggested that the pop culture creates meaningless and thoughtless texts. He said there’s no need to engage with the texts, as they have no cultural, academic or moral value. He suggested that the audience become passive and voyeuristic and just let the meaning wash over them. He said for music such as Mozart or Beethoven, we create a meaning and by listening to high culture music, we become an active audience. He also sad that pop music is standardized to a point that we have heard it before, it’s ‘predigested’ and that the audience have already heard it, so there is no intellectual level needed to process it. The music is simply accepted exactly as it is and the passive audience allow it to just wash over them. It also reassures the listener that everything is okay, and so shops and the pop music relaxes the shoppers, therefore they are more likely to buy something, therefore serving a part in the economy. He once said, “would there be any difference between buying a CD and buying a toaster”
The Adorno’s musical theory (1950s) studied high and low culture. He suggested that the pop culture creates meaningless and thoughtless texts. He said there’s no need to engage with the texts, as they have no cultural, academic or moral value. He suggested that the audience become passive and voyeuristic and just let the meaning wash over them. He said for music such as Mozart or Beethoven, we create a meaning and by listening to high culture music, we become an active audience. He also sad that pop music is standardized to a point that we have heard it before, it’s ‘predigested’ and that the audience have already heard it, so there is no intellectual level needed to process it. The music is simply accepted exactly as it is and the passive audience allow it to just wash over them. It also reassures the listener that everything is okay, and so shops and the pop music relaxes the shoppers, therefore they are more likely to buy something, therefore serving a part in the economy. He once said, “would there be any difference between buying a CD and buying a toaster”
This contrasts with classical music, which Ardono said that classical music, every detail has a concrete meaning, and that every relationship between the music and audience is ‘living’ and alive. Against this view, he was criticized for being racist. It was said that where he pointed out that jazz music didn't match up to classical, that he was being racist. opposing views said that he didn't have grounding and just didn't understand the basis of jazz music and the foreign culture.
Because of the current economic climate, and how music has developed over the last few decades, artists have changed the way that they make money, release new songs and get audience attention. For example, fewer and fewer artists are releasing whole albums an release individual commodities often online for downloads. This however results in each song having a download rate and so the artists can see what has been really popular and create more music similar to this, resulting in all the music sounding increasingly similar.
In our music video, we are hoping to create meaning at inception. This involves intense planning and so we are thinking about the meaning we want to convey. We are doing narrative imagery that is parallel to the music, and so we have come up with a story-line that reflects the mood of the song. The performance side of the hybrid video, allows us to represent the metanarrative of the band. This creates the preferred meaning that we hope to be interpreted by the audience.
In our music video, we are hoping to create meaning at inception. This involves intense planning and so we are thinking about the meaning we want to convey. We are doing narrative imagery that is parallel to the music, and so we have come up with a story-line that reflects the mood of the song. The performance side of the hybrid video, allows us to represent the metanarrative of the band. This creates the preferred meaning that we hope to be interpreted by the audience.
Ellie
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