MUSIC VIDEO NARRATIVE sequels and mini-series

The article that inspires this post isn't great, but is useful for highlighting a number of examples of music video sequels, including Gaga, Madonna and Zayn Malik.

I find it quite preposterous to write on this notion and not mention the infamous Guns n' Roses trilogy, but that's the caliber of much journalism these days.

The main takeaway point: a further challenge to Vernallis' strongly argued point that music video is too elliptical (and lacking in diegetic sound and dialogue) to be considered to have what can be accurately termed a narrative.

Telephone part two! Dusk Till Dawn, again! Why video sequels aren’t worth the wait https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/13/telephone-part-two-dusk-till-dawn-again-why-video-sequels-arent-worth-the-wait?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Mulvey's male gaze - Guns'n Roses Avicii Miley Cyrus

Lets take a fresh look at the male gaze...

To help refresh our semiotic skills, and as a very practical help for the Y11s, we looked at and wrote in feedback on several rough cuts of Y11 music videos, viewable from the playlist below (you can also comment directly on YT and I can pass this on). I'm awaiting updated cuts at the time of writing.



Along the way, we discussed Stuart Hall's argument, plus the male gaze theory and how to formally discuss this - avoiding the trap of writing 'I applied the male gaze theory...' - by looking at two commercial examples:

1: GUNS'N ROSES' Welcome to the Jungle (1987) [video wiki]


With this video we broke down the media language behind the apparent sexism: our protagonist is clearly signified by following him and his gaze, even if the typical rule of thirds is conspicuously NOT applied in the opening shots (the huge space in the left 2/3 of the frame connoting his alienation from this 'jungle' - although he does begin more centrally framed within this fairly long take). His outsider status is neatly anchored not just by emerging from a Greyhound bus, but also by the simple, subtle small detail in the mise-en-scene of him chewing a straw - the hick stereotype!

He is given agency through cutting from extreme long shot with that uncomfortable framing to a more centrally framed medium close-up/medium tracking shot, and the very literal male gaze when we cut from his leering look at the passing woman's legs and behind to a point-of-view shot positioning the audience to empathise with him. The woman is not a full character, or person, simply legs and bum wrapped in a short, tight skirt with high heels; she is thus objectified.