It is a brilliant satire (parody / pastiche) on stand up comedy, musicals, social media, children’s TV, music videos, the audience, lockdown. (Jameson)
He even takes a swipe at the monetisation of children’s attention by tech giants. (Ecology)
It draws attention it it’s own constructed and contrived nature as ‘content’. Hugely self reflexive (Jameson)
Burnham also challenges and questions many grand narratives directly, through parody and quotation. (Lyotard)
Finally, he is even hinting at the internet as a hyperreality and that the audience are lost in the consumption simulation. (Baudrillard)
Watch the whole thing on Netflix and then watch some selected clips below…or just the clips below, but you won’t quite get it!
A parody of Instagram profiles, posts, ideologies and audience narcissism.
A pastiche of music video performances and edits.
A self reflexive parody of a reaction video.
The Internet, The Audience and Consumption…and club singer performances.
That sense of disconnected in a world of more and more images and less and less meaning. Also known as The Postmodern Condition
There are two Lizzo videos that you could choose from.
Special
About Damn Time
All Music Videos in a sense are postmodern as they are a media form that has only been in existence in postmodern times (post 2nd World War).
Music Videos are often examples of postmodern media, not only because their place as a recognised art form has come about in the postmodern era but mainly because they evidence a range of ideas about what makes a text postmodern.
Andrew Goodwin, a renowned media theorist sums up the postmodernism of music videos:
Blurs high art and low art – it is media for everyone with no boundaries.
Abandons/challenges grand narratives – incomplete narratives, no sense of resolution, rejection of the overarching ideologies of society/history – love conquers all, men are the breadwinners, god is the answer etc.
Intertextuality – borrows from other texts; deliberately, unknowingly, alludes to, knowing nod to – all of which fits with Jameson’s ideas on ‘nothing new, a flatness’ or as he puts it ‘blank parody’.
Loss of Historical reality – pastiche and intertextuality blur history and chronology so that conventional notions of past, present and future are lost in a melange of images, all of which appear to be contemporary.
Audience/Text relationship – Breaking the 4th Wall and lip syncing
Intertextuality
Pastiche – use of a previous text as the basis for the whole music video.
Mixture of styles – cartoons, animations, dance, drama, acting, documentary, other footage.
Self-referential
Draws attention to its own construction – breaking the 4th wall, lip syncing.
GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE relating to Music Videos and Postmodernism
They manipulate time and space – flashbacks, incomplete narratives usually present and they often challenge the grand narratives – there is not always a happy ending, a dominant male, success after working hard for a living.
Play with the relationship between audience and text – breaking the 4th wall and there is often a presumption they are culturally competent, deliberately playing with their expectations. Expected to understand the media language for the intertextual references.
Play with the distinction between reality and representation.
They blur the lines between high art and what is considered low art.
This is a little old now but it shows a self-referentiality (this is a music video that we have constructed) but it also points the finger at a wider postmodern scope i.e. the idea that people are lost in their hypereal worlds, unaware of their real lives and surroundings.
Plays with time and space – HOW? (historical eras blurred, references Ghost, parody of Pride and Prejudice/hip hop dancing/anachronic narrative/key quotation – Garlic Bread) – Jameson
Challenges the usual ‘audience/text’ relationship – HOW? (comedian playing himself playing a character/see the cameramen/catch him out of character/ad libs/consumer culture is dressed up as entertainment), expected to recognise the media language and be culturally competent- Jameson and Baudrillard
Tinkers with the conventions of representation – HOW? (comedy representation of a serious period drama) – Lyotard
Learning Intention: To explore how (media) language and representations are changing in the evolving media ecology as a consequence of changing ideologies and communication technology.
Exam Questions:
Are media language and representations changing? You should refer to at least two media forms in your answer. (30)
To what extent have new technologies influenced the style and form of traditional media? [30]
Some definitions:
Media Language is:
Signifiers in media texts which signify ideas & stimulate emotional responses.
A signifier = a unit of meaning: a man, a low brimmed hat, low-key lighting, a wide shot, eerie whistling, cut to a cat rubbing against the man’s leg. Individually separately mean very little, but combine the codes you have…meaning and representation.
Representation is:
The ideas and values about a person, place, event… encoded in a media text, which communicates an ideology, whether that be mainstream, counter cultural or personal.
Just look at how one ‘right wing’ paper has consistently represented the Conservative prime ministers over time…
Task 1 (Discussion)
Why do representations change over time?
What tools do you now possess in order to represent yourself and your lifestyle?
Think about your own representation – you ‘brand’ yourself. Let’s get personal.
How is your identity online different from your identity in school? (Negotiated Identity – Gauntlett)
How did old media represent society?
Then… Baby Boomers and Gen X all received similar message because their choices were so narrow. You might suggest that these generations had & have much greater sense of traditional community and local identity.
In the UK we had 3 TV Channels until 1982 when Channel 4 was launched. So 4 channels.
So, how does new media represent society and its ideologies?
Now… Millennials and Gen Z exist within a technologically converged and democratised media ecology, including influencers and pundits, and literally thousands up thousands of competing representations. You might argue that representation is now a contested space (culture wars) and that competing (media) language and representations are more diverse and fragmented than ever!
Aside
Baudrillard, one of our postmodern theorist, argued that:
“…we live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning”.
With the advent of fandom, tribes and converged technology representation is as broad as it is wide. A multitude of representations, interpretations and ideas.
We have created factions and fractions but also brought people together.
Some examples of new media language:
Twitter language – restricted characters
Hashtag#
Emojis (Peaches & Eggplants) – Text LOL etc
Tribe language / jargon:
“Hi Guys, I just though I would jump on here, Grafting, My type on paper, No Carbs before Marbs”
Graphics/Colours
User Experience and User Interface all designed to guide our consumption.
Photoshop & all editing software
Advertising Slogans – Just do It – Because you’re worth it
Spam, Clickbait & Pop ups
Recommendations
Avatars
Memes – often require cultural competence
A Universal Language
There is a universality to the image and the meaning encoded. Perhaps the hieroglyph / emoji / meme is the new ‘language.’
Participation, Ritual and Cross Media Convergence
EVERYONE REGARDLESS OF AGE, SEX, RELIGION TAKE PART IN THESE RITUALS – THE DANCING CRAZES…EVEN TV ADVERTISING WE BUY ANY CAR.COM RECENT ADVERT HAS ONE OF THE TIK TOK DANCE CRAZES ON IT – it means so much more to those who are culturally competent and ‘get’ the intertextual reference.
Which representations have changed?
All of them…including gender, race, age, social class, power & status, nationality, ability and disability, ethnicity… see Gauntlett & Lynx ads
More on Gauntlett & the Fluidity of Identity
REPRESENTATION & REALITY TV
A new media text, a popular and profitable format which dominates TV schedules (Hesmondhalgh) = Reality TV.
Masquerades as Reality – but it is all a RE-PRESENTATION of reality – mediated through a producer and an editor and then our own audience cultural situation & competence to decode it accordingly.
Add to this list of representations
Hypersexualised
Romantic ideation
Relationships
Filtered lives
Charlie Brooker on Editing & the Artifice of Reality TV
Stuart Hall (once again) on the roll of Media Studies in questioning ideologies and identities shared by mainstream media.
Key Learning: ‘In what ways is the media an extension of ourselves?’
`We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.’ McLuhan
Possible questions that might ask for a comparison of traditional media and new media and its impact on societies and also how technologies have always impacted on society.
‘New media will eventually replace traditional media.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement? You should refer to at least two media forms in your answer. [30]
‘We talk about print, film, TV and radio as separate media, but these are all converging and will be impossible to tell apart in the future.’ Evaluate the evidence which supports this view. [30]
To what extent have new technologies influenced the style and form of traditional media? [30]
Analyse the significance of a particular technological development in the media. [30]
To understand this, is to understand much of Media Ecology!
A Recap and an New Concept
The Lenses of Media Studies (we have used during the course)
Traditional Media – definition
Media that originated prior to the internet, including newspapers, radio, and broadcast television
New Media – definition
Mass communication using digital technologies such as the internet.
A brief history of media throughout time
And there are huge differences between the impacts of traditional media v new media.
Task 1 – in pairs
Explore the evolution of media and the impact (superpowers) these new media tools have offered humankind.
Using the printed copies annotate the images.
Add callouts at each stage of the evolution of humankind and describe what new powers and abilities each stage has given to society, culture and the individual.
In essence, ‘How has each stage of new media technology acted as an, ‘Extension of humanity?’ To coin a phrase from Marshall McLuhan.
Task 2
Then help your teacher to create a list on the board for as many advantages and disadvantages for society pre 1990 and post 1990 (the advent of the internet) in terms of what and how media operated. You may have to interrogate your teacher. For example, how did they organise their social life? How did they listen to music?
Some suggestions are in classroom.
And the future – AI and the Metaverse?
We already come across AI on a daily basis:
ALGORITHMS
CHAT BOTS
PREDICTIVE TEXT
But what is the metaverse? We have gone from Web 1.0 (a digital screen that you read but couldn’t interact with) to Web 2.0 that became participatory through a screen and Web 3.0 will take us through to the Metaverse – instead of interacting through the screen, we will be inside the screen.
Don’t think that will ever happen? Well, only a few years ago, we would never have believed we could have spoken face to face, to Aunty Beryl in New Zealand whilst on a bus in Bognor. But the magic is ongoing.
The real problems arising are: security, addiction, safety and of course – how reality will be impacted – what indeed, will be reality? Will the representation of reality, become more real than other interactions and experiences?
Next week you will be writing an answer to this question:
‛The media control how we understand and connect with the world.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement? [30]
Incidentally the same topic as the assembly we are giving on Thursday morning next week (2.2.23).
I use the adverb ‘we’ advisedly. However, Mr G certainly will be presenting.
First off. A call for volunteers.
Would you like to say something interesting, surprising, shocking, scandalous, concerning…about the current state of the media ecology and the impact on audiences – us?
TASK
‘5 things you have found interesting or significant about the media ecology.’
You should work in groups of five. Each of you must explain, in one sentence, the thing that has struck you as interesting / important so far. Each of you must choose a different idea from the others in your group and you submit…as a group.
Please clarify your ideas first to each other and then individually write your different idea.
Help each other.
You should use the copy in classroom allocated to your group – choose one slide and add in your ideas into that slide.
‛The media control how we understand and connect with the world.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement? [30]
An essay is designed to test your thinking. so…
…some ‘thinking’ technique.
First off.
Don’t let the question intimidate you!
Without even thinking about what we’ve studied...what do you think?
Err …you’ve got to be thinking, “Yep, it ‘controls’ a heck of a lot about what ‘we understand’ and how ‘we connect’ with the world.”
Then the answer is, “explain why you think that… and if you can use some key concepts, terms, contexts, examples & theorists we’ve taught you even better!” (Answers below…)
Now…read the question again!!! Write it down!
Read it again!
Then…read the last sentence again really carefully:
“To what extent do you agree with this statement?”
So…’to what extent,’ means it’s about a thoughtful balanced argument on both sides, but feel free to have a strong opinion one way or the other.
Some arguments / ideas / points / paragraph headings.
…take your pick. Warning, you can’t do all of them…
Pick three or four and do them well and in detail (give examples).
