K.H. - Goodwin Analysis: Gorillaz - Doncamatic

·         Andrew Goodwin, Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992) carried out research into mainstream music videos and identified typical conventions.  Applying his critical framework to music videos such as Doncamatic by Gorillaz, directed by Gorillaz, 2010 determines to what extent the text is conventional.

·         The song is part of the synthpop genre, and is conventional as there is a loose narrative, Daley, who serves as the video’s protagonist and who co-wrote the song, is travelling in the submarine with the goal to reach the elusive plastic beach that is present in many music videos to songs from the Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach album.

·         There is an emphasis on performance, much of the video is focused on Daley interacting with the submarine set, and as such there are few instances where Daley breaks the fourth wall and looks directly at the viewer through the camera lens, despite there being numerous close-ups.

·         In terms of iconography, there are a number of recognisable motifs that feature in other Gorillaz music videos, the submarine and underwater setting ties in particularly to the video of On Melancholy Hill.

·         The emphasis on post-production is also evident, with the animated character of “2D” being visible and the CG sea life.

·         It has mainly a disjunctive relationship with the lyrics, although can be considered amplified at some points, particularly the lines “Down lowly” and “Just down, low down” and the character “2D”, who is trying to contact the Daley as the protagonist using a screen on the submarine with the lines “Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me”.

·         The relationship between music and the video is fairly tight; the upbeat and fast paced nature of the track is reflected by the colourful flashing lights in the submarine. Similarly, when the track increases in volume, Daley turns up several dials in the submarine.

·         Goodwin’s concept of the notion of looking is present here, Daley being shown from numerous angles in the submarine, and can be considered somewhat voyeuristic because of this, but it cannot be considered fetishistic as it does not objectify him in any way.

·         There is atypically little intertextuality for a Gorillaz music video. The titular Donca Matic DA-20 on the wall of the submarine, and there are references to other Gorillaz’s videos, the superfast jellyfish is from On Melancholy Hill’s music video is visible and the plastic beach is visible at the end.

·         Therefore the video can be considered reasonably conventional of music videos in the genre, utilising close-ups, the notion of looking and an amplified to disjunctive relationship with the lyrics.