K.H. - Comparing the metanarrative of industrial and independent artists

·         Michael Jackson is a pop singer and performer who is widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20^th century

·         Andrew Goodwin is a theorist who has written extensively about the conventions of pop music videos, and in accordance with his quantifiers, Michael Jackson’s music videos can be considered mostly conventional

·         Primarily Jackson’s videos are performance and concept based, with particular emphasis on dance choreography, for example “Bad” (1987, directed by Martin Scorsese) hinges entirely around the star and his group’s dance routine, their synchronicity and the spectacle that comes with it

·         His songs generally have an amplified relationship with the lyrics. “Thriller” (1982, directed by John Landis) makes reference to how “the dead starts to walk in masquerade” which are a significant part of the video along with the “thriller night”, which ties into the film night the video takes place on. However, there are references to other elements that are not shown such as “the jaws of the alien”

·         His videos generally rely more on mid shots than close ups, and while they service his performance, they typically do not act as meat shots as the first person mode of address is rarely used, and on the occasions when he does break the fourth wall and address the viewer, it is not sustained, this being most evident in “They Don’t Care About Us” (1996, directed by Spike Lee.  “Black or White” (1991, directed by John Landis) is less reliant on dance choreography and as such features more midshots than most of Jackson’s other videos

·         Jackson’s dancing skill can almost be considered part of recogniseable visual motifs in themselves, particularly some of his signature, iconic dance moves. This is why close ups In his videos are essentially replaced with midshots, because his dancing ability is invariably the focus, and the latter shot size accomodates his dancing talent and facial performance.

·         On the whole his videos are strongly voyeuristic, he is present in almost every shot and is typically the focus, but they are not fetishistic as Jackson is not particualrly sexualised

·         Although some of Jackson’s videos do feature intertextual references, such as the werewolf transformation in “Thriller”, which is a reference to “An American Werewolf in London” and Macaulay Culkin starring in the intro to “Black or White” in an obvious “Home Alone” reference, these are not the focus of the video

·         Richard Dyer is another theorist who has studied pop music videos and written extensively the creation of the star image in his books “Stars” (1979) and “Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society” (1986)

·         One of the main star qualities Jackson is shown to possess is youthfulness, especially in his early career, for example in “Thriller” where he wears a boyish red jacket, but more generally he is characterised by a unique and original fashion sense, for example the knee pads he wears in “Black or White”, and this novel fashion sense can be considered a star quality in and of itself

·         Jackson’s facial appearance is another important facet of his star image, in “Thriller” the prosthetic work used on his face isn’t as extreme as that used on the other zombies so that he is still recognisable

·         Much emphasis is placed on the illusion that Jackson is both ordinary and extraordinary, in that typically the basic premises for his videos both normalise him, “Bad” is simply Jackson and his group dancing around an empty parking lot, but it’s his dancing talent and the synchronicity between him and his group that make him seem extraordinary. In this sense his extraordinary qualities do not seem artificial created through some kind of hypothetical scenario, Michael Jackson is performing the dances himself and manifests his extraordinary qualities

·         In terms of creating an incoherent star image, Jackson’s is primarily formed through the diversity in his videos that essentially means there is never a complete consistency in his image. Thriller sees him transforming into a werewolf and zombie respectively, Bad shows him at his most rebellious, Black or White sees him dancing with people from a variety of cultures across the world, and They Don’t Care About Us presents him as a kind of liberator

·         Thriller is the video in which Jackson is most evidently present and absent, his “absence” being created by the mystery surrounding his transformations into a werewolf and a zombie – he is and isn’t the recognisable star

·         In regards to the star image of the artist has changed, Michael Jackson has consistently been presented as opposing authority, preventing the effect of “second album syndrome”, but a sense of evolution is created from how his persona has shifted from outright rebellion in “Bad” to fighting injustice, in both “Black or White”, and “They Don’t Care About Us”

·         Many of Jackson’s songs don’t have little focus on narrative, and Thriller is noteworthy as being reasonably conventional according to Todorov’s narrative theory and especially typical of horror narratives

·         The first stage is relatively clear (if the mock horror film opening is excluded), the stable equilibrium being Jackson walking home with his girlfriend, presumably towards safety

·         Disequilibrium is created as part of stage two by the zombies awakening from the graveyard and pursuing the pair

·         Most conventional of horror narratives is that in stage three of Todorov’s structure the recognition of the disruption does not happen until it is too late for proper action to be taken against it - the couple are already encircled and trapped by the undead

·         As such very little can be done in stage four after Jackson is transformed. All that can be considered action to prevent the disruption is Jackson’s girlfriend fleeing the scene, which in a sense prevents the disruption from spreading

·         The twist in the fifth stage is that the events of the narrative were only imagined by Jackson’s girlfriend as part of her paranoia, but the equilibrium has clearly changed as the viewer is shown Jackson’s menacing cat eyes at the end, implying he is more than he seems, and that further sinister things may happen in the future

·         Talking Heads are an alternative funk rock band and generally have unconventional music videos according to Goodwin’s theory

·         Their videos typically have a disjunctive relationship between visuals and lyrics, opting for a bizarre surrealist style that relies on imagery that is often partly or entirely divorced from what the lyrics represent. The star can be seen singing the lyrics, so in this sense they are not completely removed on a visual level, but the dance choreography is generally disconnected from the meaning of the lyrics. There are some exceptions to this rule, for example “Burning Down the House” has a shot of animated fire being projected onto a house, while “And She Was” (1985, directed by Jim Blashfield) can be considered overall amplified, with the constant camera movement representing how “The world was moving” and how the enigmatic “she” was “floating above it” represented by a pair of feminine legs moving across the frame

·         By contrast, there is typically a tight relationship between the lyrics and visuals, the funk rock styling of the band lending itself very well to absurdist and surreal imagery of their videos and the editing is very much dictated by the rhythm of the song

·         Close ups do feature fairly frequently in the group’s videos, although they are typically delivered in much more abstract means then would typically be expected from a more mainstream artist. “Once in a Lifetime” sees the artist kneel and lower his head to the floor, before twisting it towards the camera as it zooms in, bringing him into a unusual close up. This is also compounded by a first person mode of address with the character breaking the fourth wall by looking down the lens of the camera which makes the videos surprisingly conventional in this sense

·         There is little in the way of recogniseable visual motifs that extend throughout the band’s music videos. The most that could considered consistent is the lead singer’s costume, in that he typically dresses in a suit or some kind of formal attire, but the colour and specific clothing items frequently change. In “Once in a Lifetime” (1981, directed by Toni Basil) he wears a black tuxedo and a black bow tie, in “Burning Down the House” (1982, directed by David Byrne) he wears a white suit and a white bow tie, and in “Flowers” (1988, directed by David Byrne) he wears a grey shirt.

·         The notion of looking is often present, but because there is not often an established look for the lead singer and his appearance is almost rarely the focus, it is hard to argue it makes the video more conventional

·         Some of the band’s music videos are voyeuristic, particularly “Once in a Lifetime” where the performance is the focus of the video, but it is never fetishistic. Videos like “And she was” on the other hand are not voyeuristic at all and focus on the concept of the video

·         Being more alternative as a group, Talking Heads are far less concerned with star image music videos for an icon such as Michael Jackson

·         The primary conventional star quality the Talking Heads exhibit is their originality, and this is very clearly reflected in the diversity in the styles of their music videos and the content therein. “Once in a Lifetime” has a distorted post production effect added to make it look faintly like the video is corrupted, along with backgrounds saturated with peculiar psychedelic patterns. “And She Was” has a hand crafted look to it, as if it were animated using stop-motion and as if each component has been cut out of paper

·         However, there is little adherence to the rule that a star must be both ordinary and extraordinary. There is little that audiences can connect to within their videos due the band’s reliance on a surrealist style, making it difficult to see them as ordinary. For example it is not consistent throughout their videos whether the focus is on the lead singer, or several members of the band. “Once in a Lifetime” focuses committedly on the lead singer while “Flowers” shows a number of the bands members

·         There is a considerable level of incoherence to the Talking Heads’ image, but it is so inconsistent and enigmatic that it lacks the sense that it is can be completed at all, unlike Michael Jackson. They do change styles in a similar way to Jackson, but there is little continuity between their videos. Generally their image is fairly sporadic and there is little sense of evolution, unlike Jackson

·         While Talking Heads do possess some qualities related to the creation of a star image, as an alternative band it does not need to be as much of a focus as it does for Jackson, who as a  mainstream act, needs to be commodified

·         It is difficult to approach the Talking Heads’ videos from a narrative perspective because typically there is little continuity between the visuals used. One of the few videos they have that does have a vague narrative is “And She Was”

·         The narrative is very abstract but it uses a variety of signifiers to allude to some form of plot taking place and is best analysed in relation to the theories of Bordwell and Thompson, particularly Bordwell’s ideas of semantics of narrative

·         The fabula is essentially described in the lyrics, telling the story of a female character-“She”-who has an existential experience while lying on the grass, starting with the object around her (shown through a vertical pan across the ground) before going on to broader ideas as the camera drifts into the sky. Research suggests the song refers to a girl the band once knew who used to take LSD behind a factory

·         In relation to the syuzhet, the out of body experience “She” is having is shown through abstract images that function somewhat like props and represent components of her drug trip. For example the spatula being waved over the picture of her at the start could be seen to symbolise her first taking the drug

·         In comparison with Jackson’s “Thriller” which follows a far more conventional narrative, it is incredibly difficult to break the Talking Heads’ video down to Todorov’s theory in relation to any kind of equilibrium because the premise is so unique and plot relatively simplistic

·         The Talking Heads, as an alternative band, are able to utilise more questionable premises for their videos and have a far more abstract syuzhet because they can risk alienating certain viewers who may not understand what is going on, unlike Jackson, who needs as wide appeal as possible