- Baudrillard's theory of hyper reality where there are dream worlds that look like reality within dreams.
- Disrupts linear structure - the beginning is the end and flips between layers of dreams
- Mixes up time and space reality - as time is different in the different layers of the dream
- Self-referencing - plot within plots and always referencing back to original "reality"
- Rejects Jameson's theory that Postmodernism is "depthless", characters are complex and develop throughout the film. The plot develops and raises the question what is reality? The ending adds to the philosophical questioning by not clearly establishing whether Cobb was dreaming about returning to his children or not, the top is left spinning on the table however screen goes to the credits so the audience don't see it fall. Postmodernism is usually against interpretation but the ending is enigmatic which leaves the audience questioning; the reality portrayed in the film with Cobb returning home, the reality portrayed in the film - is the director hinting to the audience that it is fictional, hyper real story, or whether life itself is "real" in the sense is life actually just a dream and we wake up when we die, like Mal believed.
- Christopher Nolan (director) plays Inception on the audience through the soundtrack of Edith Piaf "Non, je ne regrette rien" being mutated, slowed down the deeper the characters are in the dream levels. The music feels distant in the 3rd level as if the audience are in the levels of dreams too - that the film is in fact a dream, playing on the fact that when the audience stop watching a film they almost feel disorientated having been drawn into the story and world that is portrayed in the film.
- It requires an engaged audience who are able to intellectually understand the plot. So in some ways it can be seen as elitist. However it has grossed $825 million which shows that it does appeal to a mass audience. It is able to mix mass culture of Blockbuster effects with a deep, complex plot.
Showing posts with label postmodernism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label postmodernism. Show all posts
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
What is postmodern about Inception?
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Intertextual references in Inglourious Basterds.
The beginning of the first chapter exterior shots are similar to The Sound of Music.
The second chapter, Inglourious Basterds references the 1960s American war film, The Dirty Dozen both in the plot and the scenary.
It is also similar in plot with recruits being given a mission to assassinate Nazis. In Inglourious Basterds Jewish soldiers are being recruited rather than convicted murderers like in The Dirty Dozen. The setting for the introduction of the assassins is in a similar looking courtyard.
The simulacrum and hyper-reality of the group is represented in the fake sounding Tennessee accent of Brad Pitt and the extreme characters with excessive violence from the Basterds and the angry, sulky character representing Hitler. The characters are exaggerated to make it obvious to the audience that it is not a true representation of what happened. Most period drama films will try to be as historically accurate as possible ensuring that everything from uniform, props, cars and location are close to the correct date and context that the film is set because they want the audience to be convinced that it is a real portrayal of events especially if they state that it is based on true events. Tarantino however does everything to ignore this typical convention, made obvious to the audience that it is fictional by stating the different Chapters at the start of every scene.
Throughout the film the majority of the time the characters' speak their native language. This might be to point out the ridiculousness of typical "realistic" war films which often have German soldiers of all ranks speaking fluent English with a heavy accent throughout the film saying the odd phrases in German (Valkyrie for example which is entirely German characters speaking English for the whole) However it could be an attempt to portray some realism in the hyper-real story. Large blockbusters are not expected it be in any other language than English because it requires more attention from the audience - reading the subtitles and watching the action - which some people don't like doing which is why foreign language films have a smaller audience. Inglourious Basterds though is not totally in one language so can not be classed as a foreign language film. The first scene where Colonel Landa and Monsieur LaPedite switch from French to English contradicts the realism of having the characters' speak their own language as it doesn't flow which points out the audience the ridiculousness of typical war films that are entirely in English.
In the 3rd scene there is a self-referencing aspect where the action cuts to a voice-over explaining the character of Hugo Stiglitz. The font is a Tarantino style drop shadow in yellow and black like other of his works e.g. Jackie Brown title. The voice-over is explained by Samuel L Jackson who starred in Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. This is an example of hyper-reality within the film because the narrator who has nothing to do with the action is explaining more about the story - like in a book where the author sets the scene, introduces the characters then develops the action. As well as being self-referencing it is another example of how Tarantino is aware that is not "real" and is letting the audience know.
Another self-referencing aspect is the way Tarantino uses his trademark camera angles in the movie - the point of view shot looking up at the victim's attackers which is used in Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill and Deathproof.
Third Reich propaganda films are referenced through Frederick's storyline who has starred in a film "Nation's Pride" a film made by Goebbels, propaganda minister during the Nazi regime. Although there was no actual film made at the time called Nation's Pride it is similar to Third Reich films which focused on how the Nazis were winning the war. Tarantino also made a 6 minute film called "Nation's Pride" that can be seen on in full DVD extras and is premiered in Shoshanna's cinema in the last chapter. It was made to look like a Nazi propaganda film which is another example of creating hyper-reality.
Georg Pabst is again referenced in the scene where Lt Hicox is briefed with Operation Kino. The Lt. was a film critic before the war having written books on Germany cinema of the 20's and Georg Pabst. Bridget Von Hammersmark was a German film star of the 30s and is a character in Operation Kino as a spy. There is a reference to G.W. Pabst again in the card game at the pub as she is seen with his name on her card. Also the cover story of Hicox's bad German accent is linked to Pabst's film Piz Palu as he says that he is from a German-speaking area of Switzerland and that some of his family was in the film.
In the final chapter where Shoshanna stands at the window before the premier there is a poster in the background for the film "Fraulein Doktor" starring Bridget Von Hammersmarck.
There is a Cinderella reference, as Colonel Landa finds out that she was at the tavern because she left her shoe which he then identifies as hers by making her try it on. Twisting the romantic take from the fairytale into a sinister way of discovering her identity.
There is a huge level of detail and interlinking the same references in the various scenes which aren't necessarily picked up on the first time around. This level of detail of references to old filmmakers and film stars suggests Tarantino wants to appeal to a more niche audience of film buffs as well as a mainstream audience. The majority might not recognise specific references to certain filmmakers and films however could easily identify German cinema and references to Nazi propaganda that is more universally known. This is an example of flattening high and low culture by bringing in niche references along with pop culture such as spaghetti Westerns and his own work. Tarantino does this to create his own version of history, changing the end of the war by having Hitler and the rest of the high command killed in a cinema. As he is a director and big film buff interested in a wide range of film genres, he creates a film inspired film with a plot based around a film premier. The final action scene is set in a cinema where the audience are trapped and killed. This might be another hint at the hyper-reality of films in general - the audience "experience" films in the cinema but they do not actually experience the action which they do in at the end of this film - where the screen is set on fire and theatre blown up burning down the cinema. Tarantino also rejects typical conventions and expectations in the narrative by having Shoshanna and Frederick die by each other's hand, which is unexpected as Shoshanna is seen as the main heroine of the story. This is an example of Lyotard's micro-narrative theory which says narratives can be unpredictable and go anyway.
The film ends with another "boot" shot from Landa's point of view with Raine's last line "This might just be my masterpiece" a self-satisfied line which makes it clear that Tarantino is pleased with the film which took about 10 years to develop.
Some critics hate Tarantino's style of self-referencing and niche references because it requires the audience to know the references in order to understand it, also Tarantino's style of self-referencing throughout his work could link to Jameson's criticism of postmodernism being trapped in circular references. Some critics also didn't like the structure of the film which cuts from scenes, making flashbacks within flash-forwards, and although cut into Chapters, does not link together till the end. An example of how he ignores boundaries of past and present and a linear narrative structure. Other's who feel the need to have and keep to genre structure argued that the mashing together of genres and styles was not successful. Peter Bradshaw for The Guardian in this review complained that scenes were over-stretched, and that it "failed as a conventional war film, as genre spoof, as trash and as pulp... and can not be classed as kosher revenge porn because it's not seriousness enough. David Cox calls it "a comedy but not one that provokes many laughs."
Sonority of Inglourious Basterds soundtrack.
Sonority is destroyed in the soundtrack as it takes clips from a variety of sources:
From 1973 action film, White Lightning
David Bowie Cat People (Putting out Fire)
From 1973 Italian film Revolver
Tiger Tank originally from Kelly's Heroes a 1970 American war film
Originally from 1968 American war film, Dark of the Sun
Ich Wollt Ich Waer Ein Huhn a 1936 German film
The main film theme incorporates the spaghetti western style of music played in the credits.
- Spaghetti western sound clips - The Green Leaves of Summer from The Alamo &
- Classical music clips from Beethoven's Fur Elise
- David Bowie
From 1973 action film, White Lightning
David Bowie Cat People (Putting out Fire)
From 1973 Italian film Revolver
Tiger Tank originally from Kelly's Heroes a 1970 American war film
Originally from 1968 American war film, Dark of the Sun
Ich Wollt Ich Waer Ein Huhn a 1936 German film
The main film theme incorporates the spaghetti western style of music played in the credits.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Edited Summer Camp and Queen essay.
Summer Camp and Queen can be seen as postmodern because they fit into several of the criteria that make them postmodern. They reject the idea of categorised genres, and take influence from the past and present to create something new.
Postmodernism originated from a rejection of modernism which is always looking for new ways to improve, looking to the future and forget the mistakes of the past. In terms of music it allows unpopular genres and the past generations music to be changed and introduced and made popular in current music. This can be done through remixes where a certain sound is taken and changed or simply through bricolage sampling which often gives the sample a new meaning when put into a different context. Brian Eno’s theory on the “Death of Uncool” suggests that blurring the boundaries between genres means that no one listens to one type of music similarly artists do not fit into one genre. The remix culture of today’s music has lead to mixing of genres, sampling and creating several versions of the same song. However there is a fine line between being postmodern by taking previous music to create something new and just copying another artists’ work. An example of this difference would be Weezer and Led Zeppelin. Weezer use sampling in their song The Greatest Man That Ever Lived as a pastiche to the music that is sampled which is seen as postmodern because they do not try to cover up the sources of their sample. Whereas Led Zeppelin took lyrics and musical styles and passed them off as their own, by not crediting their source or changing the copy enough it is not seen as a postmodern cover but as a rip off of other artists’ work for their own ends.
Summer Camp are a current band who are relatively unknown and are not likely to appeal to a large audience because they can be seen as quite niche in their approach to their music. They have a hyper-real approach to their music, for example their website and blog are set in the fictitious town Condale which the band say is the setting for their songs and music videos. The idea being the audience is brought into a different alternative reality to listen to the music which is backed up by the fake nostalgia created by the band through the use of old photographs. The structure of their website with the short samples of songs playing on loops and repeating footage almost makes the audience feel trapped in this hyper real world without much understanding of why or what purpose there is to it. This relates to Kramer’s theory of a postmodern artist impressing meaning onto its audience and leaving it open interpretation. They also create a hyper reality by not showing the audience what they actually look like on their album artwork. Although this would be acceptable to an audience who are familiar with alter-egos and stage names in pop culture, for example David Bowie who took on the persona of Ziggy Stardust and changed his image, it does not quite work for Summer Camp as the audience are left wandering why they don’t chose to make themselves identifiable. This effects their impact on the audience, if they made it clearer to the audience who they were and what they were trying to achieve it would allow the audience to interact and enjoy the music without negative opinions on the point of Condale. In terms of using bricolage and changing the meaning of something, Summer Camp use all found footage in their music videos Ghost Train and Round The Moon, which was uncopyrighted footage from a Swedish film “En Karlekshistoria”. They changed the context of the footage and made it fit with the rest of their concept of two people from the 80’s. This is an example of simulacrum because they are almost suggesting that the characters are them as children, however the footage is not “real” in the sense that it is a film narrative rather than home-footage. A large majority of the audience would not know where the footage was from, which leaves them confused when watching the video. The heavy influence from the 80’s shows that they do not respect boundaries of the past and present, which is also seen as postmodern. Also they attempt to make what was cool for a teenager in the 80’s appeal to a modern audience through the feeling of nostalgia. Despite Eno’s “Death of Uncool” theory, Summer Camp are unlikely to appeal to a wider audience than they already have because there is not obvious point to the self-referencing nostalgia which would not appeal to a younger audience who have not grown up in the 80’s and might miss the references. Their attempt to make something that was cool in the 80’s cool now can be seen as quite niche which means it appeals to an audience who specifically like artists who are not seen as mainstream cool. A niche audience will like them because they are influenced by the “uncool” 80’s both in their music and artistic concept, and because they reference fairly unknown subject, “En Karlekshistoria” for example. Katy Perry made reference to the “uncool” of the 80’s in her music video Last Friday Night with bright neon clothing and disco style karaoke, she managed to make it cool because it was portrayed in the style of a modern music video and has the star image behind it to anchor it, without Katy Perry’s star image it might just be labelled as cheesy. Even though Summer Camp are postmodern in their approach it does not make them successful as they are not able to pull it off in a way that would appeal to a larger audience. The 80’s content and unfamiliar references are seen as too niche and would put people off especially when the hyper-real town and image of the band confuses and alienates the audience. Their approach is too different from “normal” structure of bands and artists that the nostalgia that they try to create seems pointless. Frederic Jameson’s criticism of post-modernists self-reference has no purpose and in the context of Summer Camp I agree with him.
Queen are a rock band that had their high point the 70’s and 80’s and can be seen as postmodern because they rejected sonority, now being labelled as glam rock they helped to create a new direction for rock, incorporating opera and theatrics into the shape of a traditional rock band. The rejection of sonority is seen as a positive aspect of postmodernism in music because it allows diversity and can make an artist appeal to a wider audience if it is done in the right way. For example Queen in their early albums took opera, which can be seen as quite elitist and inaccessible to a mass audience, and made it massively popular by mixing it with hard rock which was very big in 70’s. This links to Kirby Ferguson’s theory that everything is a remix because they took influence from British operatic style, influenced by the likes of Gilbert and Sullivan and Noel Coward’s satires, which doesn’t make it original but by putting it with rock they created their own original sound. By putting Victorian opera, which would be seen as very archaic, into the 70’s rock scene it shows they rejected the boundaries of past and present and of elitist and popularist values that in Kramer’s theory make a band postmodern. I think Queen are more successful in this aspect than Summer Camp, as the blurring of boundaries of past and present make more sense. To addition, they ignore structural unity by changing and adapting their sound from album to album which in time contradicts their initial ideology which Kramer also states is postmodern. For example on several of their early albums; Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races, they explicitly state they did not use synthesizers not wanting to be mistaken as a soft disco band. They go back on this later in their discography when they use synths in their music which is heavily used in Hot Space. However this contradiction may not have been intended to make an ironic statement but to keep up to date with the movement of the music industry at the time. They changed styles and used a wide range of influences with the singles Another One Bites The Dust and Under Pressure with David Bowie being funk inspired with a heavy bass beat, which sounds very different to Crazy Little Thing Called Love which is almost a homage to 50’s rock n’ roll. Like Summer Camp, for some of their music videos they take found footage and put it into a new context. For example Radio Ga Ga uses scenes from the sci-fi film Metropolis and mix it with footage from previous Queen videos. As a lot of their later work was sci-fi inspired this explains why they used the footage, by referencing Metropolis and their previous work they can be called postmodern as they are making intertextual references to pop culture which includes themselves as they had become quite popular at this point. They also use intertextual references in their I Want To Break Free music video which begins with a parody of Coronation Street with the band dressed as housewives. To some extent Queen can be called postmodern because they used a wide range of genres in their music including genres that can be seen as elitist like opera and unfamiliar to the UK mainstream audience at the time like funk. They also used intertextual references in their work and rejected structural unity within songs and albums.
I think that postmodernism in music is unlikely to disappear in the near future because it is a very easy way of producing music, in the sense that sampling, remixing, covering and mashing up songs is quicker and simpler than creating a whole album from scratch. Some believe this will lead to prosumer dominance in music where people like DJ Audacity, who is a 16 year old boy who takes current songs and mixes them together on his laptop. He has received become very popular and millions of views on YouTube. Although this is an example of someone who does not need the technology and label behind him, mash-ups like this are unlikely to dominate because audiences want the band/ artist star image to go with it. However through Brian Eno’s Death of Uncool, nothing can be classed as uncool because everything is a mixture of genres, through mash-ups, sampling and remixing. Frederic Jameson’s criticises postmodernism and says that it just traps the media in endless circular references, in terms of music, there is a concern the use of sampling and covers will wear away the quality and validity of bands. For example 5ive’s cover of We Will Rock You takes a very popular song, tries to make it fit in 00’s music by incorporating hip-hop and rap but fail in making it good as it feels too much like a rip off rather than a fresh take on the song.
In conclusion, Summer Camp and Queen can be called postmodern as they reject modernist rules for structure and genres, by taking sounds from the past and putting it into the present. They both also use found footage in their work which gives the footage a new meaning in a different context. Summer Camp can be seen as postmodern in the way they interact with their audience through the use of hyper reality. However, I think their emphasis on the hyper-real world of Condale is what prevents them from being more successful because they are too detachment from a real “normal” band structure that the audience do not understand who and what the band are about. There rejection of a band image status has a negative effect on their approach because audiences are used to an image of “real” people to go with the music. This is why Queen are more successful in incorporating postmodern aspects in their work because they follow structure enough for the audience to understand and stay interested as they changed and incorporated different genres. Both can be used as examples of postmodernism in music as sampling in their work shows the state of modern day music industry where a majority of music and influence has been borrowed from a previous artist.
Simulacrum - Advertising.
Simulacrum is a copy of a copy without an original
Nikon, Emirates and Smirnoff adverts
These 3 adverts try to sell a product by selling a romanticised experience through music that the product can give you, specifically. They try to create an authentic experience however they are only simulacrums - fake experiences that are had by fake people as the characters are portrayed by actors. They are staged to look authentic but are not authentic however the audience are not always able to identify them as false.
The Ikea lamp ad is postmodern because it is cynical of the fake romantisiced experience that other adverts use to sell the product, it sets up a situation that makes the audience sorry for the lamp then points out its silly to be connected to a product which they then want to by. However as its advertsing the audience will then go and buy the new lamp anyway.
Nikon, Emirates and Smirnoff adverts
These 3 adverts try to sell a product by selling a romanticised experience through music that the product can give you, specifically. They try to create an authentic experience however they are only simulacrums - fake experiences that are had by fake people as the characters are portrayed by actors. They are staged to look authentic but are not authentic however the audience are not always able to identify them as false.
The Ikea lamp ad is postmodern because it is cynical of the fake romantisiced experience that other adverts use to sell the product, it sets up a situation that makes the audience sorry for the lamp then points out its silly to be connected to a product which they then want to by. However as its advertsing the audience will then go and buy the new lamp anyway.
What is modernism & postmodernism.
Modernism was a cultural movement that has now changed and separated into different areas; literature, architecture, art, music or applied arts. Modernists identified a crisis in economics, politics, society and culture. They believed that not one could answer questions. This was caused by industrialistation (Fordism) which forces humans to abide to "clock time". This led to alienation, the further we get away from our essential nature, the more alienated we are from ourselves and each other (Marx)
Some modernist rebelled against tradition and questioned why it had to be the same, why we couldn't progress.
19th Century Romanticism art emphasied on the emotional, individual subjective experience. The onlooker would be emotionally manipulated by what they saw.
From this came Realsim which focused on the objective truth. Reality was portrayed and was more dominant over subjective impression. The onlooker would have a balanced opinion with no personal attachment being expressed by the artist.
Moral Crisis
At the end of the 19th Century under the influence Darwinism, Marxism and Fordism, some artists & writers began to respond differently to modernity. After WWI people started to question truth and objectivity - due to the production on machines and men to fight under orders.
Modernity is always a response to modernity which is constant - everything is being updated and "improved".
Postmodernism can be seen as a rejection of modernism or a return to earlier forms. Some people stopped believing in anything - religion, truth of politics etc.
Is it a retro fad or just a bit of fun?
I don't think postmodernism will wear out because if it is done right it can be very successful, clever, fun and more interesting to the audience who are used to being a passive mass rather than individual interaction. Play is something that society says you should grow out off by the time you become an adult however most people will want a destraction from everyday life - postmodernism allows the audience to interact and become active in the music video, art, film etc which is becoming more and more available through things like iPads & Smart Phone apps.
Simulacrum is a copy of a copy without an original it is the ulitmate captailist artefact which is completely divorced from nature and reality.
Some modernist rebelled against tradition and questioned why it had to be the same, why we couldn't progress.
19th Century Romanticism art emphasied on the emotional, individual subjective experience. The onlooker would be emotionally manipulated by what they saw.
From this came Realsim which focused on the objective truth. Reality was portrayed and was more dominant over subjective impression. The onlooker would have a balanced opinion with no personal attachment being expressed by the artist.
Moral Crisis
At the end of the 19th Century under the influence Darwinism, Marxism and Fordism, some artists & writers began to respond differently to modernity. After WWI people started to question truth and objectivity - due to the production on machines and men to fight under orders.
Modernity is always a response to modernity which is constant - everything is being updated and "improved".
Postmodernism can be seen as a rejection of modernism or a return to earlier forms. Some people stopped believing in anything - religion, truth of politics etc.
Is it a retro fad or just a bit of fun?
I don't think postmodernism will wear out because if it is done right it can be very successful, clever, fun and more interesting to the audience who are used to being a passive mass rather than individual interaction. Play is something that society says you should grow out off by the time you become an adult however most people will want a destraction from everyday life - postmodernism allows the audience to interact and become active in the music video, art, film etc which is becoming more and more available through things like iPads & Smart Phone apps.
Simulacrum is a copy of a copy without an original it is the ulitmate captailist artefact which is completely divorced from nature and reality.
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Zane Lowe - Insider Tour Mix
An example of destroying sonority by sampling and mashing together a wide variety of music genres:
- Drum & Bass
- The Beatles
- Chase & Status
- Nero
- Labyrinth
- Kanye West
- Rage Against the Machine
- A quote from the film Blades of Glory
- Benny Benassi
- Sex Pistols
- Swedish House Mafia
Saturday, 14 April 2012
The Arcade Fire - Sprawl II
The videos by The Arcade Fire can be considered postmodern because they blur the boundaries between producer and consumer. The viewer is no longer passively watching a structured video they are interacting and creating the action within the video. Traditional music videos are usually one of three styles; illustrative, amplified or disjunction which are viewed passively by the audience. For example, Mountains Beyond Mountains traditional version follows the conventions of a typical music video using a "narrative" in the form of disjuncture while performing the song by lip syncing. The audience's role is to watch and listen rather than participate in the film. However the interactive version, although set in the same setting with the same characters, is completely different and depends on the audience to participate and interact with the video for anything to happen. The audience controls the speed and movement which is possible through web 2.0. http://www.sprawl2.com/
The Wilderness Downtown uses hyper-reality where the viewer is taken into a simulation of their home town mixing the reality of the town from bird's eye and street views from Google Maps with animation scenes. There is no apparent purpose to the video except entertainment for the viewer which is made more personal with the fact it can be set in their home town. In the video the viewer can create their own postcard which encourages the audience to participate rather than just sit back and watch. http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/
http://www.beonlineb.com/ Neon Bible also requires audience interaction, with the audience able to control what they see happen throughout the song which leaves it totally up to the individual viewer. All of these interact videos are examples of anti-narrative because there is no obvious story or narrative structure. In The Wilderness Downtown the audience may interpret different meanings for the film as the viewer is portrayed in hyper-reality by the character who is either running around, to or from the town depending on how it is individual interpreted. Neon Bible and Mountains Beyond Mountains also have no narrative structure or apparent representation of the lyrics or music which make them look incomplete as the audience have to make up the rest of the action in the video.
http://blabla.nfb.ca/
The chapters show stages of communication: learning a language, making small talk, expressing emotions. It uses a mixture of techniques both traditional and hi-tech, this is a Postmodern aspect because it mixes the use of hand-made art with graphic animations.
"BLA BLA uses xerogrpahy, drawing on paper, ActionScript generated animations, puppet stop-motion combined with real-time 3D mapping... I am inspired by projects that feel free aesthetically. I wanted BLA BLA to feel hand-made, imperfect, fragile so we forget about the technology."
The music and the visuals are used to create a mood for the viewer who is essential to the performance because without the audience interaction nothing happens. There is some structure to the website as it follows chapters and a lose narrative around the stages of communication.
Although I liked the style of the graphics and the audience interaction I didn't really understand the purpose of it because it wasn't exactly entertaining or follow any conventions to make it a game. However I can see the possible development for the future - if this kind of interactive software could be used for children's books for example which would give the website and this type of audience interaction more purpose.
Vincent Morisset the director for these videos and the website: (possible quotes on Creativity for Section A) www.hypebot.com/
"Ideas always drive my projects, and I use the tools that are around me to achieve them. I think it's important that we understand the possibilities and the limitations of those tools, but for me, it's important that the projects are driven by ideas so that they don't become technology demos."
"I like to play with different mediums and to blur the lines and the codes of each of them. Using lo-fi and hand-made content to make you forget the technology in an interactive experience is another trick."
"One of my mottos is "The web is fun." I love this medium but the way we connect with images on our laptop is really different from the way we relate to images on a TV screen. Since I want to trigger emotions through my projects, I work hard so that we kind of forget we're in front of a computer."
The Wilderness Downtown uses hyper-reality where the viewer is taken into a simulation of their home town mixing the reality of the town from bird's eye and street views from Google Maps with animation scenes. There is no apparent purpose to the video except entertainment for the viewer which is made more personal with the fact it can be set in their home town. In the video the viewer can create their own postcard which encourages the audience to participate rather than just sit back and watch. http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/
http://www.beonlineb.com/ Neon Bible also requires audience interaction, with the audience able to control what they see happen throughout the song which leaves it totally up to the individual viewer. All of these interact videos are examples of anti-narrative because there is no obvious story or narrative structure. In The Wilderness Downtown the audience may interpret different meanings for the film as the viewer is portrayed in hyper-reality by the character who is either running around, to or from the town depending on how it is individual interpreted. Neon Bible and Mountains Beyond Mountains also have no narrative structure or apparent representation of the lyrics or music which make them look incomplete as the audience have to make up the rest of the action in the video.
http://blabla.nfb.ca/
The chapters show stages of communication: learning a language, making small talk, expressing emotions. It uses a mixture of techniques both traditional and hi-tech, this is a Postmodern aspect because it mixes the use of hand-made art with graphic animations.
"BLA BLA uses xerogrpahy, drawing on paper, ActionScript generated animations, puppet stop-motion combined with real-time 3D mapping... I am inspired by projects that feel free aesthetically. I wanted BLA BLA to feel hand-made, imperfect, fragile so we forget about the technology."
The music and the visuals are used to create a mood for the viewer who is essential to the performance because without the audience interaction nothing happens. There is some structure to the website as it follows chapters and a lose narrative around the stages of communication.
Although I liked the style of the graphics and the audience interaction I didn't really understand the purpose of it because it wasn't exactly entertaining or follow any conventions to make it a game. However I can see the possible development for the future - if this kind of interactive software could be used for children's books for example which would give the website and this type of audience interaction more purpose.
Vincent Morisset the director for these videos and the website: (possible quotes on Creativity for Section A) www.hypebot.com/
"Ideas always drive my projects, and I use the tools that are around me to achieve them. I think it's important that we understand the possibilities and the limitations of those tools, but for me, it's important that the projects are driven by ideas so that they don't become technology demos."
"I like to play with different mediums and to blur the lines and the codes of each of them. Using lo-fi and hand-made content to make you forget the technology in an interactive experience is another trick."
"One of my mottos is "The web is fun." I love this medium but the way we connect with images on our laptop is really different from the way we relate to images on a TV screen. Since I want to trigger emotions through my projects, I work hard so that we kind of forget we're in front of a computer."
Thursday, 12 April 2012
In what ways can Scott Pilgrim be considered as Postmodern?
Scott Pilgrim can be considered a Postmodern film because it rejects typical modern film structure by mixing genres and its heavy use of intertextual references. Modernists believe that everything should be original, ignoring past work, which in terms of films mean the audience should not question the reliability and supposed “reality” that is represented in the narrative. This often does not leave much room for audience interpretation and has a set structure following conventions of genre, making the overview of the plot predictable to the audience who enjoy watching something where they know what is going to happen because human nature likes comfort and familiarity. However, in terms of films this can become dull which is why Postmodern directors, like Quentin Tarantino, have become so popular as their work is unpredictable and challenges typical Hollywood filmmaking. In Scott Pilgrim, Edgar Wright has make clear references to other genres not only of film but other media, TV programs, comic books and largely video games. The use of intertextual references makes it Postmodern because it encourages active audience participation with the audience looking for the references.
Scott Pilgrim can be considered Postmodern because it is a bricolage of different genres taking intertextual references from what can be considered popular and elitist “geek” culture. Reference from recent and old action computers like the original Super Mario Bros, Pokemon and Zelda mixed with pop culture films with references to Kill Bill in the end fighting scene and a reference to Seinfeld, an American TV sitcom in Scott and Wallace’s flat, creates the potential to appeal to an audience from both the mass and niche audience groups. References to popular geek culture like the parody of Superman, Brandon Routh who played Superman in the recent remake playing a character with Super Vegan powers who then gets killed by green lazers which is a reference to kryptonite which is fatal to Superman. This is aimed to appeal to a mass audience because it is well known, this is mixed with more niche “geek” culture like the reference to the rare early 90’s NES game “Clash at Demonhead” is aimed to appeal to a niche audience. This links to the theory of normative pluralism as the film makers are showing that all “geek” culture is equal, popular mass culture like Superman is not considered lower because everybody knows about it and equally unknown niche “geek” culture is not elitist just because very few people have heard of it. The rejection of boundaries between genre, and popular and elitist culture can be seen as a good tactic to draw in a wide audience because references to Superman and Tarantino’s Kill Bill attracts more attention and brings something different to the film, making it stand out from other recent comic book adaptations, like Thor and Captain America for example. However it is not always successful because it relies on the audience to know the original source to get the joke and large part of the audience might not recognise the more niche references. For example, not being an avid gamer I did not recognise some of the references to Zelda and older NES games, however missing the references did not matter too much as a lot of the gaming references where universal to most games, the level bars and power ups for example. The good thing about Postmodern films is that they do not require the audience to recognise every reference and detail which is something only a niche group will be able to do. This is why some criticise postmodernism for being exclusive to those people who get the in-jokes. This leads some critics like Frederic Jameson to believe that postmodern society, films in particular, can not progress any further than they already are because they are made up of “nothing more than continuous self-referential jokes which have no deeper meaning or purpose” which if used constantly in media will eventually wear out. In terms of intertextual references working in Scott Pilgrim, it could be successful if the narrative of the film had a wider appeal as well. The film failed at the box office for several reasons; the movie was marketed in accurate representation of the film - the trailer included gaming references and text signifying the sound in action scenes which would have put off solely mainstream audiences off as it seems “hipster”. In some ways this film is hipster because it goes out of its way to depict the characters, especially Scott and the Sex Bob-ombs, as geeks with the niche gaming references however to a niche “geek” audience they do not classify as geeks because they are in a band making “cool” indie music. It also missed out the older group of the 4 quadrant because it is essentially about a group of early twenties slackers which is not likely to appeal to a large audience of over 30’s. This becomes a problem when the references involved are more likely to be recognised by this group because they might remember the original NES game and Seinfeld references and could easily identify the 8-bit Universal introduction at the beginning of the film which the average teenage audience would not. Josh Tyler, a film critic, stated that “it is a broad movie built on a lot of different niche elements and as much as we’d like to believe moviegoers are open-minded enough to step outside their comfort zone, most of the time they won’t.” I think this shows how aspects of Postmodernism can be seen as a negative in film making especially if it is deterring an audience.
The large emphasis on intertextual references to geek culture in the film, which fits with the genre as the story is taken from a comic book series called “Scott Pilgrim” suggests that style is more important than content in the film which applies to George Ritzer’s theory. The intertextual references is the most dominant aspect of the film and is considered more important than the plot in attracting the audiences’ attention because without the intertextual references the narrative is fairly typical of action films - the hero of the story fighting evil for a girl. The narrative structure follows a modernist structure in terms of containing typical narrative aspects like Claude Levi-Strauss’ binary opposites with Good vs. Evil, Good triumphing over Evil, the hero getting the girl which is quite predictable to the audience who are used to seeing these themes in narratives throughout media backed up by typical Hollywood movies. There is also a self-referencing aspect with the graphic novel scenes that explains Ramona’s past which is drawn in the same style as the original comic books and the use of words to explain and enhance the action is self-referencing to the comic books. This can also be seen as an example of hyper-reality. Most modern films will go to great length to make action scenes look as real as possible with the use of “realistic” visual and sound effects. Dominic Strinati’s theory of Fetishised Hyper reality can be applied to Scott Pilgrim and the use of text within the action. By including comic book text the action no longer looks “real” creating a hyper-real situation within the narrative. For example, the first fight with Matthew Patel almost stops the “reality” in the film and blocks out the crowd at the concert in the style of comic book fighting with the words appearing on the screen to explain the sound. In addition to this the mixture of very different genres creates a hyper real situation, for example the Bollywood dance performed by Matthew Patel cutting in between the comic book fight scene. This is done for comic effect, and could be seen as a Bollywood parody, which is totally unpredicted by the audience who laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. However within the parody the director references this ridiculousness by having a shot of Scott’s sister looking confused at the situation. This is considered postmodern because within the film it is being self-referential and self-critical this is to cue to the audience that the film-makers do not take it seriously so the audience should not either. The purpose of the film is for fun rather than to hide a deeper meaning. Furthermore this blurring of the boundaries between representation and reality is postmodern because it is not trying to hide the origin of the story, being self-referencing to show the audience that Edgar Wright knows that it is a film not reflecting reality. Another example of self-referencing is the fight scene with Ramona’s ex-girlfriend in the alley, in the scene Edgar Wright references the postmodernism within his own film by having Scott question the originality of Roxie’s words; “I’d love to postpone darling but I just cashed my last rain check” to which Scott says “Where is that from?” This shows that the film makers know that the audience will be participating in the film in this way, questioning the references and sources throughout the film. Although some may see this as clever comic effect by acknowledging the audience in this way, some critics, like Roseau, dislike how postmodernist contradict themselves by relinquishing the truth of their own work and see self-referencing as meaningless. However as well as acknowledging the postmodernism of his own work, Edgar Wright acknowledges modernist Hollywood films with the character of Lucas Lee who is a big film star making a non-existent film within the narrative, which is another example of hyper reality. This is an example of how modernism and post-modernism can overlap because this is a postmodern film that reference pop culture, including mainstream culture that has modernist values. Frederic Jameson would argue that this mix however “encourages superficiality rather than substance” and will lead to the media becoming meaningless.
In conclusion, Scott Pilgrim can be considered Postmodern in many aspects as it is a bricolage of genres and different media with a large amount of intertextual references from popular and what could be argued elitist culture. I think the use of intertextual references are clever and make the plot, which is quite typical, more interesting. However I can see why it was not very successful in the box office because some of the references where too niche and aimed at an older audience who did not find it appealing because of the narrative. Postmodernism can work very successfully in a film if it is not seen as being too niche or referencing elitist media however to some extent the fact it does not have mass mainstream appeal does appeal to some people. In Scott Pilgrim’s case it was labelled as a hipster film because of the niche references to the “uncool” gaming culture which is why many did not go to watch it. Since then it could be argued that it has become a “hipster” film because it is branded uncool by the mainstream it has gained following from people who find the uncool cool.
Scott Pilgrim can be considered Postmodern because it is a bricolage of different genres taking intertextual references from what can be considered popular and elitist “geek” culture. Reference from recent and old action computers like the original Super Mario Bros, Pokemon and Zelda mixed with pop culture films with references to Kill Bill in the end fighting scene and a reference to Seinfeld, an American TV sitcom in Scott and Wallace’s flat, creates the potential to appeal to an audience from both the mass and niche audience groups. References to popular geek culture like the parody of Superman, Brandon Routh who played Superman in the recent remake playing a character with Super Vegan powers who then gets killed by green lazers which is a reference to kryptonite which is fatal to Superman. This is aimed to appeal to a mass audience because it is well known, this is mixed with more niche “geek” culture like the reference to the rare early 90’s NES game “Clash at Demonhead” is aimed to appeal to a niche audience. This links to the theory of normative pluralism as the film makers are showing that all “geek” culture is equal, popular mass culture like Superman is not considered lower because everybody knows about it and equally unknown niche “geek” culture is not elitist just because very few people have heard of it. The rejection of boundaries between genre, and popular and elitist culture can be seen as a good tactic to draw in a wide audience because references to Superman and Tarantino’s Kill Bill attracts more attention and brings something different to the film, making it stand out from other recent comic book adaptations, like Thor and Captain America for example. However it is not always successful because it relies on the audience to know the original source to get the joke and large part of the audience might not recognise the more niche references. For example, not being an avid gamer I did not recognise some of the references to Zelda and older NES games, however missing the references did not matter too much as a lot of the gaming references where universal to most games, the level bars and power ups for example. The good thing about Postmodern films is that they do not require the audience to recognise every reference and detail which is something only a niche group will be able to do. This is why some criticise postmodernism for being exclusive to those people who get the in-jokes. This leads some critics like Frederic Jameson to believe that postmodern society, films in particular, can not progress any further than they already are because they are made up of “nothing more than continuous self-referential jokes which have no deeper meaning or purpose” which if used constantly in media will eventually wear out. In terms of intertextual references working in Scott Pilgrim, it could be successful if the narrative of the film had a wider appeal as well. The film failed at the box office for several reasons; the movie was marketed in accurate representation of the film - the trailer included gaming references and text signifying the sound in action scenes which would have put off solely mainstream audiences off as it seems “hipster”. In some ways this film is hipster because it goes out of its way to depict the characters, especially Scott and the Sex Bob-ombs, as geeks with the niche gaming references however to a niche “geek” audience they do not classify as geeks because they are in a band making “cool” indie music. It also missed out the older group of the 4 quadrant because it is essentially about a group of early twenties slackers which is not likely to appeal to a large audience of over 30’s. This becomes a problem when the references involved are more likely to be recognised by this group because they might remember the original NES game and Seinfeld references and could easily identify the 8-bit Universal introduction at the beginning of the film which the average teenage audience would not. Josh Tyler, a film critic, stated that “it is a broad movie built on a lot of different niche elements and as much as we’d like to believe moviegoers are open-minded enough to step outside their comfort zone, most of the time they won’t.” I think this shows how aspects of Postmodernism can be seen as a negative in film making especially if it is deterring an audience.
The large emphasis on intertextual references to geek culture in the film, which fits with the genre as the story is taken from a comic book series called “Scott Pilgrim” suggests that style is more important than content in the film which applies to George Ritzer’s theory. The intertextual references is the most dominant aspect of the film and is considered more important than the plot in attracting the audiences’ attention because without the intertextual references the narrative is fairly typical of action films - the hero of the story fighting evil for a girl. The narrative structure follows a modernist structure in terms of containing typical narrative aspects like Claude Levi-Strauss’ binary opposites with Good vs. Evil, Good triumphing over Evil, the hero getting the girl which is quite predictable to the audience who are used to seeing these themes in narratives throughout media backed up by typical Hollywood movies. There is also a self-referencing aspect with the graphic novel scenes that explains Ramona’s past which is drawn in the same style as the original comic books and the use of words to explain and enhance the action is self-referencing to the comic books. This can also be seen as an example of hyper-reality. Most modern films will go to great length to make action scenes look as real as possible with the use of “realistic” visual and sound effects. Dominic Strinati’s theory of Fetishised Hyper reality can be applied to Scott Pilgrim and the use of text within the action. By including comic book text the action no longer looks “real” creating a hyper-real situation within the narrative. For example, the first fight with Matthew Patel almost stops the “reality” in the film and blocks out the crowd at the concert in the style of comic book fighting with the words appearing on the screen to explain the sound. In addition to this the mixture of very different genres creates a hyper real situation, for example the Bollywood dance performed by Matthew Patel cutting in between the comic book fight scene. This is done for comic effect, and could be seen as a Bollywood parody, which is totally unpredicted by the audience who laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. However within the parody the director references this ridiculousness by having a shot of Scott’s sister looking confused at the situation. This is considered postmodern because within the film it is being self-referential and self-critical this is to cue to the audience that the film-makers do not take it seriously so the audience should not either. The purpose of the film is for fun rather than to hide a deeper meaning. Furthermore this blurring of the boundaries between representation and reality is postmodern because it is not trying to hide the origin of the story, being self-referencing to show the audience that Edgar Wright knows that it is a film not reflecting reality. Another example of self-referencing is the fight scene with Ramona’s ex-girlfriend in the alley, in the scene Edgar Wright references the postmodernism within his own film by having Scott question the originality of Roxie’s words; “I’d love to postpone darling but I just cashed my last rain check” to which Scott says “Where is that from?” This shows that the film makers know that the audience will be participating in the film in this way, questioning the references and sources throughout the film. Although some may see this as clever comic effect by acknowledging the audience in this way, some critics, like Roseau, dislike how postmodernist contradict themselves by relinquishing the truth of their own work and see self-referencing as meaningless. However as well as acknowledging the postmodernism of his own work, Edgar Wright acknowledges modernist Hollywood films with the character of Lucas Lee who is a big film star making a non-existent film within the narrative, which is another example of hyper reality. This is an example of how modernism and post-modernism can overlap because this is a postmodern film that reference pop culture, including mainstream culture that has modernist values. Frederic Jameson would argue that this mix however “encourages superficiality rather than substance” and will lead to the media becoming meaningless.
In conclusion, Scott Pilgrim can be considered Postmodern in many aspects as it is a bricolage of genres and different media with a large amount of intertextual references from popular and what could be argued elitist culture. I think the use of intertextual references are clever and make the plot, which is quite typical, more interesting. However I can see why it was not very successful in the box office because some of the references where too niche and aimed at an older audience who did not find it appealing because of the narrative. Postmodernism can work very successfully in a film if it is not seen as being too niche or referencing elitist media however to some extent the fact it does not have mass mainstream appeal does appeal to some people. In Scott Pilgrim’s case it was labelled as a hipster film because of the niche references to the “uncool” gaming culture which is why many did not go to watch it. Since then it could be argued that it has become a “hipster” film because it is branded uncool by the mainstream it has gained following from people who find the uncool cool.
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Criticism of Postmodernism
Dominic Strinati - "Fetishised Hyperreality" where the simulation has lost all connection or objective with reality.
"Postmodernism tries to come to terms with and understand a media-saturated society. The mass media, for example, were once thought of as holding up a mirror to, and thereby reflecting, a wider social reality. Now that reality is only definable in terms of surface reflection of the mirror." - meaning society has become subsumed within the mass media, the term implies that there is a reality outside the surface simulation of the media which can be distored. This is the issue that postmodernist point out - how can we tell what is right if we no longer know what is real?
"Postmodernism is sceptical of any absolute, universal and all-embracing claim to knowledge and argues that theories or doctrines which make such claims are increasingly open to criticism, contestation and doubt." (Strinati) This links to Jean-Francois Lyotard's theory of Micro-Narratives where narratives are unpredictable which can often leave the audience open to interpret the reasoning or purpose of the text.
"Media images encourage superficiality rather than substance, cynicism rather than belief, the thirst for constant change rather than security of stable traditions, the desires of the moment rather than the truths of history." - meaning postmodern TV & film have become dominated by surface style and imagery rather than deeper underlying themes, which might relate to the "realities" of society.
Carla Kaplan (1987) identifies that music videos abandon narrative structure, they make no attempt to tell a story instead the power of a music video lies in the collage of images mixed with music - there is no deeper meaning or purpose it.
Frederic Jameson agrees with this calling it "Depthlessness" of contemporary cultural production - sees it as superficial cutting & pasting of ready-made images and styles which are abstracted from their true origins and reused in meaningless new combinations in the trivial commercialized space created by mass culture which will wear out with time. "The writers and artists of the present day will no longer be able to invent new styles and worlds... only a limited number of combinations are possible, the most unique ones have been thought of already."
"Postmodernism tries to come to terms with and understand a media-saturated society. The mass media, for example, were once thought of as holding up a mirror to, and thereby reflecting, a wider social reality. Now that reality is only definable in terms of surface reflection of the mirror." - meaning society has become subsumed within the mass media, the term implies that there is a reality outside the surface simulation of the media which can be distored. This is the issue that postmodernist point out - how can we tell what is right if we no longer know what is real?
"Postmodernism is sceptical of any absolute, universal and all-embracing claim to knowledge and argues that theories or doctrines which make such claims are increasingly open to criticism, contestation and doubt." (Strinati) This links to Jean-Francois Lyotard's theory of Micro-Narratives where narratives are unpredictable which can often leave the audience open to interpret the reasoning or purpose of the text.
"Media images encourage superficiality rather than substance, cynicism rather than belief, the thirst for constant change rather than security of stable traditions, the desires of the moment rather than the truths of history." - meaning postmodern TV & film have become dominated by surface style and imagery rather than deeper underlying themes, which might relate to the "realities" of society.
Carla Kaplan (1987) identifies that music videos abandon narrative structure, they make no attempt to tell a story instead the power of a music video lies in the collage of images mixed with music - there is no deeper meaning or purpose it.
Frederic Jameson agrees with this calling it "Depthlessness" of contemporary cultural production - sees it as superficial cutting & pasting of ready-made images and styles which are abstracted from their true origins and reused in meaningless new combinations in the trivial commercialized space created by mass culture which will wear out with time. "The writers and artists of the present day will no longer be able to invent new styles and worlds... only a limited number of combinations are possible, the most unique ones have been thought of already."
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Post-modernism in Scott Pilgrim.
George Ritzer suggested that PM culture is signified by:
- Breakdown of the distinction between high and mass culture: in Scott Pilgrim this is the mixture of niche "geek" culture with reference to relatively unknown games like Clash at Demonhead for NES with more mainstream "geek" culture with references to Superman with Todd's character - played by Brandon Routh who played Superman in the recent remake.
- Breakdown of barriers between genres and styles: Mixing a wide range of intertextual references - from action games (ninja, Zelda, Super Mario Bros, pokemon, Tony Hawk) comic book characters, Harry Potter reference with "She who shall not be named", Bollywood, Seinfield an American sitcom, major Hollywood films - (the action movie being shot within the movie, Lucas Lee a famous movie star played by a famous movie star and reference to Universal tune)
- Mixing up of time, space and narrative: The narrative structure doesn't flow completely with dream scenes occurring randomly in between action and will cut suddenly back to reality in a different location with either Scott waking up or opening a door.
- Emphasis on style rather than content: The content of the plot is fairly typical of most action films with hero fighting for a girl, its the intertextual references and little details of pop culture that make it different and more interesting to the audience which gives it a different look to other films that have been adapted from comic books.
- Blurring of the distinction between representation and reality: The text enhancing the action which is typical of comic books but not usually used in film as the director wants to make it as believable and as "realistic" as possible by enhancing action with visual and sound effects rather than text which does not happen in reality. (Hyper-reality)
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Using Summer Camp + a band of your choice explain how some artists can be called postmodern.
Summer Camp and Queen can be seen as postmodern because they fit into several of the criteria that make them postmodern. They reject the idea of categorised genres, and take influence from the past and present to create something new.
Postmodernism originated from a rejection of modernism which states we should always look to the future and forget the mistakes of the past. Postmodernists argue that you can not improve and move forward without looking at the past. Beniton’s phrase, “If you look to the future and keep one eye on the past you are blind in one eye but if you keep both eyes on the future and no eyes on the past you are blind in both eyes.” Which backed up by Desiderius Erasmus, who said “In the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is King”, goes some way to explaining why postmodernism is such a large part of popular culture in today’s society. In terms of music it allows unpopular genres and the past generations music to be changed and introduced and made popular in current music. This can be done through remixes where a certain sound is taken and changed or simply through bricolage sampling which often gives the sample a new meaning when put into a different context. However there is a fine line between being postmodern by taking previous music to create something new and just copying another artists work. An example of this difference would be Weezer and Led Zeppelin. Weezer use sampling in their song The Greatest Man That Ever Lived as a pastiche to the music that is sampled which is seen as postmodern because they do not try to cover up the sources of their sample. Whereas Led Zeppelin took lyrics and musical styles and passed them off as their own, by not crediting their source or changing the copy enough it is not seen as a postmodern cover but as a rip off of other artists’ work.
Summer Camp are a current band who are relatively unknown and are not likely to appeal to a large audience because they can be seen as quite niche in their approach to their music. They have a hyper-real approach to their music, for example their website and blog are set in the fictitious town Condale which the band say is the setting for their songs and music videos. The idea being the audience are brought into a different alternative reality to listen to the music which is backed up by the fake nostalgia created by the band through the use of old photographs. The structure of their website with the short samples of songs playing on loops and repeating footage almost makes the audience feel trapped in this hyper real world without much understanding of why this relates to Kramer’s theory of a postmodern artist impressing meaning onto its audience and leaving it open interpretation. They also create a hyper reality by showing the audience what they actually look like on their album artwork. Although this would be acceptable to an audience who are familiar with alter-egos and stage names in pop culture, for example David Bowie who took on the persona of Ziggy Stardust and changed his image, it does not quite work for Summer Camp as the audience are left wandering why they don’t chose to make themselves identifiable. In terms of using bricolage and changing the meaning of something, Summer Camp use all found footage in their music videos Ghost Train and Round The Moon, which was uncopyrighted footage from a Swedish film “En Karlekshistoria”. They changed the context of the footage and made it fit with the rest of their concept of two people from the 80’s. Their heavy influence from the 80’s shows that they do not respect boundaries of the past and present which is seen as postmodern. Also they attempt to make what was cool for a teenager in the 80’s appeal to a modern audience through the feeling of nostalgia. However to a mainstream audience Summer Camp will never be seen as cool because the 80’s are seen as ancient history to a young audience today and even though mainstream pop artists make reference to the 80’s, for example Katy Perry in her music video for Last Friday Night, it is used by a mainstream artist once, they don’t rely entirely on this concept and will be seen as cool for a short period of time then they have to find something new to keep the audience interested. Even so, it can be argued that Summer Camp are “cool” solely based on the fact they do not appeal to a wide audience. A niche audience will like them because they are influenced by the “uncool” 80’s both in their music and artistic concept, and because they reference fairly unknown subject, “En Karlekshistoria” for example. However some would argue that although this Summer Camp can be called postmodern is approach to music, with heavy influence on the 80’s and nostalgia, is pointless because it is so niche and unfamiliar that it can never appeal to a wider audience. For example the hyper real town of Condale has no meaning because it is a fictitious place which links to Frederic Jameson theory that self-reference has no purpose.
Queen are a rock band that had their high point the 70’s and 80’s and can be seen as postmodern because they rejected sonority, now being labelled as glam rock they helped to create a new direction for rock, incorporating opera and theatrics into the shape of a traditional rock band. The rejection of sonority is seen as a positive aspect of postmodernism in music because it allows diversity and can make an artist appeal to a wider audience than it would if bands stuck within one genre. For example Queen in their early albums took opera, which can be seen as quite elitist and inaccessible to a mass audience, and made it massively popular by mixing it with hard rock which was very big in 70’s. This links to Kirby Ferguson’s theory that everything is a remix because they took influence from British operatic style, influenced by the likes of Gilbert and Sullivan and Noel Coward’s satires, which doesn’t make it original but by putting it with rock they created their own original sound. By putting Victorian opera, which would be seen as very archaic, into the 70’s rock scene it shows they rejected the boundaries of past and present and of elitist and popularist values that in Kramer’s theory make a band postmodern. To add to this they ignore structural unity by changing and adapting their sound from album to album which in time contradicts their initial ideology which Kramer also states is postmodern. For example on several of their early albums; Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races, they explicitly state they did not use synthesizers not wanting to be mistaken as a soft disco band. They go back on this later in their discography when they use synths in their music which is heavily used in Hot Space. However this contradiction may not have been intended to make an ironic statement but to keep up to date with the movement of the music industry at the time. They changed styles and used a wide range of influences with the singles Another One Bites The Dust and Under Pressure with David Bowie being funk inspired with a heavy bass beat, which sounds very different to Crazy Little Thing Called Love which is almost a homage to 50’s rock n’ roll. Like Summer Camp, for some of their music videos they take found footage and put it into a new context. For example Radio Ga Ga uses scenes from the sci-fi film Metropolis and mix it with footage from previous Queen videos. As a lot of their later work was sci-fi inspired this explains why they used the footage, by referencing Metropolis and their previous work they can be called postmodern as they are making intertextual references to pop culture which includes themselves as they had become quite popular at this point. They also use intertextual references in their I Want To Break Free music video which begins with a parody of Coronation Street with the band dressed as housewives. To some extent Queen can be called postmodern because they used a wide range of genres in their music including genres that can be seen as elitist like opera, and unfamiliar to the UK mainstream audience at the time like funk. They also used intertextual references in their work and rejected structural unity within songs and albums.
I think that postmodernism in music is unlikely to ever really stop because it is a very easy way of producing music, in the sense that sampling, remixing, covering and mashing up songs is quicker and simpler than creating a whole album from scratch. Some believe this will lead to a prosumer dominance in music where people like DJ Audacity, who is a 16 year old boy who takes current songs and mixes them together on his laptop. He has received become very popular and millions of views on YouTube. Although this is an example of someone who does not need the technology and label behind him, mash-ups like this are unlikely to dominate because audiences want the band/ artist star image to go with it. However through Brian Eno’s theory of the Death of Uncool, nothing is seen as outcast through the mixing of genres, through mash-ups and sampling. Frederic Jameson’s criticises postmodernism and says that it just traps the media in endless circular references, in terms of music, there is a concern the use of sampling and covers will wear away the quality and validity of bands. For example 5ive’s cover of We Will Rock You takes a very popular song, tries to make it fit in 00’s music by incorporating hip-hop and rap but fail in making it good as the original is seen as being a lot better.
In conclusion, Summer Camp and Queen can be called postmodern as they reject modernist rules for structure and genres, by taking sounds from the past and putting it into the present. They both also use found footage in their work which gives the footage a new meaning in a different context. Summer Camp can be seen as postmodern in the way the interact with their audience through the use of hyper reality. Both can be used as examples of postmodernism in music as sampling in their work shows the state of modern day music industry where a majority of music and influence has been borrowed from a previous artist.
Postmodernism originated from a rejection of modernism which states we should always look to the future and forget the mistakes of the past. Postmodernists argue that you can not improve and move forward without looking at the past. Beniton’s phrase, “If you look to the future and keep one eye on the past you are blind in one eye but if you keep both eyes on the future and no eyes on the past you are blind in both eyes.” Which backed up by Desiderius Erasmus, who said “In the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is King”, goes some way to explaining why postmodernism is such a large part of popular culture in today’s society. In terms of music it allows unpopular genres and the past generations music to be changed and introduced and made popular in current music. This can be done through remixes where a certain sound is taken and changed or simply through bricolage sampling which often gives the sample a new meaning when put into a different context. However there is a fine line between being postmodern by taking previous music to create something new and just copying another artists work. An example of this difference would be Weezer and Led Zeppelin. Weezer use sampling in their song The Greatest Man That Ever Lived as a pastiche to the music that is sampled which is seen as postmodern because they do not try to cover up the sources of their sample. Whereas Led Zeppelin took lyrics and musical styles and passed them off as their own, by not crediting their source or changing the copy enough it is not seen as a postmodern cover but as a rip off of other artists’ work.
Summer Camp are a current band who are relatively unknown and are not likely to appeal to a large audience because they can be seen as quite niche in their approach to their music. They have a hyper-real approach to their music, for example their website and blog are set in the fictitious town Condale which the band say is the setting for their songs and music videos. The idea being the audience are brought into a different alternative reality to listen to the music which is backed up by the fake nostalgia created by the band through the use of old photographs. The structure of their website with the short samples of songs playing on loops and repeating footage almost makes the audience feel trapped in this hyper real world without much understanding of why this relates to Kramer’s theory of a postmodern artist impressing meaning onto its audience and leaving it open interpretation. They also create a hyper reality by showing the audience what they actually look like on their album artwork. Although this would be acceptable to an audience who are familiar with alter-egos and stage names in pop culture, for example David Bowie who took on the persona of Ziggy Stardust and changed his image, it does not quite work for Summer Camp as the audience are left wandering why they don’t chose to make themselves identifiable. In terms of using bricolage and changing the meaning of something, Summer Camp use all found footage in their music videos Ghost Train and Round The Moon, which was uncopyrighted footage from a Swedish film “En Karlekshistoria”. They changed the context of the footage and made it fit with the rest of their concept of two people from the 80’s. Their heavy influence from the 80’s shows that they do not respect boundaries of the past and present which is seen as postmodern. Also they attempt to make what was cool for a teenager in the 80’s appeal to a modern audience through the feeling of nostalgia. However to a mainstream audience Summer Camp will never be seen as cool because the 80’s are seen as ancient history to a young audience today and even though mainstream pop artists make reference to the 80’s, for example Katy Perry in her music video for Last Friday Night, it is used by a mainstream artist once, they don’t rely entirely on this concept and will be seen as cool for a short period of time then they have to find something new to keep the audience interested. Even so, it can be argued that Summer Camp are “cool” solely based on the fact they do not appeal to a wide audience. A niche audience will like them because they are influenced by the “uncool” 80’s both in their music and artistic concept, and because they reference fairly unknown subject, “En Karlekshistoria” for example. However some would argue that although this Summer Camp can be called postmodern is approach to music, with heavy influence on the 80’s and nostalgia, is pointless because it is so niche and unfamiliar that it can never appeal to a wider audience. For example the hyper real town of Condale has no meaning because it is a fictitious place which links to Frederic Jameson theory that self-reference has no purpose.
Queen are a rock band that had their high point the 70’s and 80’s and can be seen as postmodern because they rejected sonority, now being labelled as glam rock they helped to create a new direction for rock, incorporating opera and theatrics into the shape of a traditional rock band. The rejection of sonority is seen as a positive aspect of postmodernism in music because it allows diversity and can make an artist appeal to a wider audience than it would if bands stuck within one genre. For example Queen in their early albums took opera, which can be seen as quite elitist and inaccessible to a mass audience, and made it massively popular by mixing it with hard rock which was very big in 70’s. This links to Kirby Ferguson’s theory that everything is a remix because they took influence from British operatic style, influenced by the likes of Gilbert and Sullivan and Noel Coward’s satires, which doesn’t make it original but by putting it with rock they created their own original sound. By putting Victorian opera, which would be seen as very archaic, into the 70’s rock scene it shows they rejected the boundaries of past and present and of elitist and popularist values that in Kramer’s theory make a band postmodern. To add to this they ignore structural unity by changing and adapting their sound from album to album which in time contradicts their initial ideology which Kramer also states is postmodern. For example on several of their early albums; Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races, they explicitly state they did not use synthesizers not wanting to be mistaken as a soft disco band. They go back on this later in their discography when they use synths in their music which is heavily used in Hot Space. However this contradiction may not have been intended to make an ironic statement but to keep up to date with the movement of the music industry at the time. They changed styles and used a wide range of influences with the singles Another One Bites The Dust and Under Pressure with David Bowie being funk inspired with a heavy bass beat, which sounds very different to Crazy Little Thing Called Love which is almost a homage to 50’s rock n’ roll. Like Summer Camp, for some of their music videos they take found footage and put it into a new context. For example Radio Ga Ga uses scenes from the sci-fi film Metropolis and mix it with footage from previous Queen videos. As a lot of their later work was sci-fi inspired this explains why they used the footage, by referencing Metropolis and their previous work they can be called postmodern as they are making intertextual references to pop culture which includes themselves as they had become quite popular at this point. They also use intertextual references in their I Want To Break Free music video which begins with a parody of Coronation Street with the band dressed as housewives. To some extent Queen can be called postmodern because they used a wide range of genres in their music including genres that can be seen as elitist like opera, and unfamiliar to the UK mainstream audience at the time like funk. They also used intertextual references in their work and rejected structural unity within songs and albums.
I think that postmodernism in music is unlikely to ever really stop because it is a very easy way of producing music, in the sense that sampling, remixing, covering and mashing up songs is quicker and simpler than creating a whole album from scratch. Some believe this will lead to a prosumer dominance in music where people like DJ Audacity, who is a 16 year old boy who takes current songs and mixes them together on his laptop. He has received become very popular and millions of views on YouTube. Although this is an example of someone who does not need the technology and label behind him, mash-ups like this are unlikely to dominate because audiences want the band/ artist star image to go with it. However through Brian Eno’s theory of the Death of Uncool, nothing is seen as outcast through the mixing of genres, through mash-ups and sampling. Frederic Jameson’s criticises postmodernism and says that it just traps the media in endless circular references, in terms of music, there is a concern the use of sampling and covers will wear away the quality and validity of bands. For example 5ive’s cover of We Will Rock You takes a very popular song, tries to make it fit in 00’s music by incorporating hip-hop and rap but fail in making it good as the original is seen as being a lot better.
In conclusion, Summer Camp and Queen can be called postmodern as they reject modernist rules for structure and genres, by taking sounds from the past and putting it into the present. They both also use found footage in their work which gives the footage a new meaning in a different context. Summer Camp can be seen as postmodern in the way the interact with their audience through the use of hyper reality. Both can be used as examples of postmodernism in music as sampling in their work shows the state of modern day music industry where a majority of music and influence has been borrowed from a previous artist.
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Music and Postmodernism.
Postmodernism in music allows an artist to:
- blend genres & destroy sonority to create something new e.g. Kanye West baroque pop & hip-hop
- Use bricolage - take something old and give it a new meaning e.g. Telephone the song is about not wanting to answer the phone in a club but with the music video it is given a new meaning - becomes dark & sinister
- Bad examples of this 5ive cover of We Will Rock You cheesy pop too low end culture brings down the quality of the better high end original
- Radio 1 Live Lounge getting artists to cover other contemporary artists work often from a different genre to create something new
- Hyper reality - stage names and alter-egos allow an artist the freedom to change genres and change their image.
- Lady Gaga controls her image
- Summercamp a negative side as the band don't look like the image so unrecognizable to audience
- Gorillaz animated characters can make production of shows and music videos very expensive - Sampling - take old songs and create something new
Monday, 19 March 2012
Post-modernism of David Bowie.
Hyper-reality created character Ziggy Stardust to experiment with different genres.
Very influential with music due to wide variety of genres and sounds.
Rejects structure within albums and changes style in every album:
Future Legend:
Love You Til Tuesday:
A good example of his very different styles, apart from his recognizable voice these two songs sound nothing alike.
Very influential with music due to wide variety of genres and sounds.
Rejects structure within albums and changes style in every album:
- David Bowie - folk & rock/pop
- Space Odditiy - psychedelic folk/ progressive rock
- The Man Who Sold The World - birth of glam rock
- The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust - rock
- Young Americans - soul/ funk/ rock
- Black Tie White Noise - soul & electronic
Future Legend:
Love You Til Tuesday:
A good example of his very different styles, apart from his recognizable voice these two songs sound nothing alike.
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Post-modernism of Lady Gaga.
Hyper-reality:
Lady Gaga is a stage name which allows her to get away with controversial & shocking outfits and stunts e.g. wearing the meat dress.
Mixing genres:
Incorporates a variety of genres in her work. The Fame/Fame Monster influenced by 70's disco but made modern by using faders and heavy beats which makes it possible to be played in a club. An example of making 70's disco popular to a present day mainstream audience.
Unconventional popstar:
She doesn't mime and plays instruments in her performances as well as dances and putting on a show.
Intertextual references:
In her music video for Telephone she uses a lot of intertextual references from various sources:
Lady Gaga is a stage name which allows her to get away with controversial & shocking outfits and stunts e.g. wearing the meat dress.
Mixing genres:
Incorporates a variety of genres in her work. The Fame/Fame Monster influenced by 70's disco but made modern by using faders and heavy beats which makes it possible to be played in a club. An example of making 70's disco popular to a present day mainstream audience.
Unconventional popstar:
She doesn't mime and plays instruments in her performances as well as dances and putting on a show.
Intertextual references:
In her music video for Telephone she uses a lot of intertextual references from various sources:
- References to Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill by using the exact same truck - the Pussy Wagon borrowed from Tarantino
- Title of the video is a reference to Tarantino's Jackie Brown film title
- Diet coke cans as curlers are a reference to Andy Warhol's work including famous Marilyn Monroe picture with blond curls and coke can prints.
- There is a Michael Jackson reference when she leaves the prison she makes a dance move similar to MJ in his video for
- She makes reference to herself with her Monster-beats headphones, the comment by prison guards about rumors of her being a hermaphrodite and her song Paper Gangsta being played on the radio in the prison
- The kitchen scene is a bricolage of the typical 50's housewife, taking the typical role of a woman in the kitchen and turning it into something sinister by adding poison to the food
- The crime in the diner scene is a reference to Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Post-modernism in music.
Mumford & Sons:
Homage to traditional folk music. Started on indie folk scene - a niche audience. Now has wide appeal to mainstream and niche audiences.
Intertexutality: Quotes from Shakespeare, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath. Makes what is seen as high end, elitist culture accessible and is sung by teenagers who might not necessary know the reference.
Other PM folk music:
Gogol Bordello - gypsy punk band who mix punk and folk music together two things that you wouldn't expect to work together.
The Pogues:
Founded celtic punk. Mixed traditional folk music using tin whistle, violins, banjos and accordion with punk rock with guitar, bass and drums. They covered traditional Irish folk songs e,g, Paddy on the Railway and Irish Rover as well as writing original songs.
2 Many DJ's:
Levi-Strauss' theory of addition, subtraction, substitution and transposition. They take two songs from completely different genres and eras and mix them together.
Push It - hip hop & No Fun - punk
It appeals to a niche audience as people want to test their own knowledge of the what the two songs are and how it has been mixed together but also to a more mainstream audience for people who just like the beat of the remixes.
Hurts:
Synth pop duo. Pay homage to 80's synth pop music -
DJ Danger Mouse:
Mixed Jay-Z's Black Album and The Beatles' White Album to create a Grey album. Bricolage of 60's pop and 2000's hip-hop.
Eminem:
Pastiche in his songs. "The Real Slim Shady" mocking celebrities
Without Me:
Though I'm not the first king of controversy
I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley
To do black music so selfishly
And use it to get myself wealthy
"Hey" there's a concept that works
Twenty million other white rappers emerge
But no matter how many fish in the sea
It will be so empty without me
Points out copycat culture of music and addresses his critics.
Gorillaz:
Hyper-reality the band are shown as their animated characters which allows them freedom and can not be pinned down to one specific genre. They have used rock, dub, hip-hop, electronic and pop within their music.
Feel Good Inc is a bricolage with sampling of different sounds, laughter and older material with the crackling symbolising analogue sound.
In terms of live performance the actual band are not seen by the audience they use visuals to show the animated characters mime while the real band play live out of sight. This reverses the idea of the high culture because mainstream pop artists are expected to mime while a band who play instruments and singing live are not expected to mime.
Devo:
80's synth group. Incorporate genres: punk, art rock, post-punk, new wave
http://youtu.be/Xbt30UnzRWw Whip It video is a pastiche of traditional old American west. Also in the video they pay homage to Kraftwerk, influencial synth group with the hats.
Tenacious D:
A parody mock rock band who have become a real band due to popularity who play shows & festivals. Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny film is a comedy parody of rock and roll lifestyle of the band - take the mick out of themselves and metal bands at the same time.
Kanye West:
Mixes a wide range of genres and creates different sounding albums. Soul, RnB, baroque pop, trip-hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronic, synth pop & classical. Avoids totalising form.
Uses sampling in his work - Woods by Bon Iver used in Lost in the World / Harder, Bettter, Faster, Stronger used in Stronger.
His collaboration with Jay-Z for Otis uses sampling from Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness
On his debut album The College Dropout 14/21 tracks contain sampling from a wide variety of artists e.g. Aretha Franklin, 2Pac, Chaka Khan, Lauryn Hill & Marvin Gaye
Uses intertextual references in his work:
References Evel Knievel in one of his music videos which lead to a lawsuit against him.
Makes political and social statements in his work:
In Breathe In, Breathe Out he talks about the materialistic nature of society and this link with the hip-hop genre. In Jesus Walks he talks about the lack of religion in hip-hop "They say you can rap about anything except Jesus, that means guns, sex, lies, video tapes. But if I talk about God my record won't get played." this can be seen as ironic because in other work the topics are just about sex and drugs and religion is scarce in his work.
Homage to traditional folk music. Started on indie folk scene - a niche audience. Now has wide appeal to mainstream and niche audiences.
Intertexutality: Quotes from Shakespeare, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath. Makes what is seen as high end, elitist culture accessible and is sung by teenagers who might not necessary know the reference.
Other PM folk music:
Gogol Bordello - gypsy punk band who mix punk and folk music together two things that you wouldn't expect to work together.
The Pogues:
Founded celtic punk. Mixed traditional folk music using tin whistle, violins, banjos and accordion with punk rock with guitar, bass and drums. They covered traditional Irish folk songs e,g, Paddy on the Railway and Irish Rover as well as writing original songs.
2 Many DJ's:
Levi-Strauss' theory of addition, subtraction, substitution and transposition. They take two songs from completely different genres and eras and mix them together.
Push It - hip hop & No Fun - punk
It appeals to a niche audience as people want to test their own knowledge of the what the two songs are and how it has been mixed together but also to a more mainstream audience for people who just like the beat of the remixes.
Hurts:
Synth pop duo. Pay homage to 80's synth pop music -
DJ Danger Mouse:
Mixed Jay-Z's Black Album and The Beatles' White Album to create a Grey album. Bricolage of 60's pop and 2000's hip-hop.
Eminem:
Pastiche in his songs. "The Real Slim Shady" mocking celebrities
Without Me:
Though I'm not the first king of controversy
I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley
To do black music so selfishly
And use it to get myself wealthy
"Hey" there's a concept that works
Twenty million other white rappers emerge
But no matter how many fish in the sea
It will be so empty without me
Points out copycat culture of music and addresses his critics.
Gorillaz:
Hyper-reality the band are shown as their animated characters which allows them freedom and can not be pinned down to one specific genre. They have used rock, dub, hip-hop, electronic and pop within their music.
Feel Good Inc is a bricolage with sampling of different sounds, laughter and older material with the crackling symbolising analogue sound.
In terms of live performance the actual band are not seen by the audience they use visuals to show the animated characters mime while the real band play live out of sight. This reverses the idea of the high culture because mainstream pop artists are expected to mime while a band who play instruments and singing live are not expected to mime.
Devo:
80's synth group. Incorporate genres: punk, art rock, post-punk, new wave
http://youtu.be/Xbt30UnzRWw Whip It video is a pastiche of traditional old American west. Also in the video they pay homage to Kraftwerk, influencial synth group with the hats.
Tenacious D:
A parody mock rock band who have become a real band due to popularity who play shows & festivals. Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny film is a comedy parody of rock and roll lifestyle of the band - take the mick out of themselves and metal bands at the same time.
Kanye West:
Mixes a wide range of genres and creates different sounding albums. Soul, RnB, baroque pop, trip-hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronic, synth pop & classical. Avoids totalising form.
Uses sampling in his work - Woods by Bon Iver used in Lost in the World / Harder, Bettter, Faster, Stronger used in Stronger.
His collaboration with Jay-Z for Otis uses sampling from Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness
On his debut album The College Dropout 14/21 tracks contain sampling from a wide variety of artists e.g. Aretha Franklin, 2Pac, Chaka Khan, Lauryn Hill & Marvin Gaye
Uses intertextual references in his work:
References Evel Knievel in one of his music videos which lead to a lawsuit against him.
Makes political and social statements in his work:
In Breathe In, Breathe Out he talks about the materialistic nature of society and this link with the hip-hop genre. In Jesus Walks he talks about the lack of religion in hip-hop "They say you can rap about anything except Jesus, that means guns, sex, lies, video tapes. But if I talk about God my record won't get played." this can be seen as ironic because in other work the topics are just about sex and drugs and religion is scarce in his work.
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Post-modernism of Queen.
"My mission is to bring ballet to the masses" - Freddie Mercury
Barcelona with Montserrat Caballe:
Brighton Rock Solo:
The Millionaire Waltz:
Another One Bites The Dust:
Crazy Little Thing Called Love:
Contradiction: Explicitly pointed out that no synths were used on early albums but used them later when their music developed.
Ignoring structure within songs - Bohemian Rhapsody
Three songs combined into one. Taking inspiration from opera structure of composed in continuous act. Vocals layered to sound like choir of voices. Call and response style.
Elitist music made popular - stayed at number 1 for 14 weeks. Top British single of all time.
Ignored "hierarchy" of music press & put messages into song:
I Want To Break Free Music Video:
Parody of Coronation Street
Radio Ga Ga Music Video:
Bricolage of scenes from sci-fi film Metropolis and footage from other Queen videos
Bricolage in songs commissioned for films: Flash from Flash Gordon, A Kind of Magic from Highlander.
Covers since:
We Will Rock You Musical:
Is set in the future where computerized pop has taken over and rebellious kids are outcast.
Brian May, Roger Taylor and Ben Elton wrote the musical which features Queen songs, some lyrics where changed and the meaning changed to fit to the story. It pays homage to the rock n' roll era at the same time is a pastiche taking the mick out of the fashion and culture and also out of Queen themselves making references to Queen songs and characteristics. Also to musicians that came from before and after Queen's time.
Rip off:
Rejection of elitist & popularist division:
- Brian May - astrophysicist & musician
- Classical music, opera - Gilbert & Sullivan style and theatrical influence mixed with hard rock in music and live performances
- Outrageous costume - very theatrical, leotards.
Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon:
Barcelona with Montserrat Caballe:
Brighton Rock Solo:
The Millionaire Waltz:
Another One Bites The Dust:
Crazy Little Thing Called Love:
Contradiction: Explicitly pointed out that no synths were used on early albums but used them later when their music developed.
Ignoring structure within songs - Bohemian Rhapsody
Three songs combined into one. Taking inspiration from opera structure of composed in continuous act. Vocals layered to sound like choir of voices. Call and response style.
Elitist music made popular - stayed at number 1 for 14 weeks. Top British single of all time.
Ignored "hierarchy" of music press & put messages into song:
- Famously didn't give many interviews
- Freddie had been called a prat by NME
- News of the World album - We Will Rock You & We Are The Champions audience participation
- Death on Two Legs - dedicated to ex-manager, Norman Sheffield
I Want To Break Free Music Video:
Parody of Coronation Street
Radio Ga Ga Music Video:
Bricolage of scenes from sci-fi film Metropolis and footage from other Queen videos
Bricolage in songs commissioned for films: Flash from Flash Gordon, A Kind of Magic from Highlander.
Covers since:
- Another One Bites the Dust with Wyclef Jean:
- We Will Rock You with Five:
We Will Rock You Musical:
Is set in the future where computerized pop has taken over and rebellious kids are outcast.
Rip off:
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