Intertextuality- Burn The Witch- 03/03

 Intertextuality in Burn the Witch

Radiohead are well known for using intertextuality within their videos. 

  • Trumpton used to create the Village to appear as a perfect English Village. Represents Middle England- white, middle class place. Trumpton was teaching children community values. The creator said that there was no trouble in Trumpton- very unrealistic. Shows a mythical small town with views often shared by the Right Wing party. 
  • The Wickerman 1973- used to show the darker sides to society and reflects the us vs them mindset. During the film the villagers think that they need to make a sacrifice for their crops to grow but the policeman is trying to tell them that it is due to the weather but the villagers won't listen. This reflects the stubbornness of believes in society- politics. 
  • Lord of the Flies- During the film the boys kill a boar with a spear and leave its head on a spear as a trophy. The name of the pub 'The Speared Boar' in the music vid. This reference may be used in the music video to show the country is losing morals and turning into a tribe like country. The boys are driven by fear and kill the boar- suggesting the fear of the unknown may drive us to bad actions. Shows the dark things that humans are capable of. 
  • Reference to the Bible- 'Jobes' are written on the boxes where the fruit pickers are. Job's story in the Bible features him being tested by God as he loses everything yet keeps his faith in God. This may be Radiohead saying that we need to keep our faith in God and in each other.
  • Witch trails- The girl on a chair above the river. Witch trails are famous for their stupidity. Anyone could accuse anyone-this turning on each other mindset. 
  • The dark ages- The red cross on the door- The plague. The blood dripping from the meat- sinister medieval. 
Explain how media language in music videos incorporates viewpoints and ideologies.

- Britain has an Us vs Them mindset- outsiders are not welcome- critical of Brexit. The way that they turn on the Inspector and burn him in the Wickerman.
- The idealistic society is not realistic- The village first appears perfect like Trumpton but as the video goes on strange things start to happen such as the person in the house with the red cross drown on their door.
-People have a darker side to them: The villagers all seem welcoming at first but are really out to get each other- the knives around the girl, person in the house with the red cross- burning the inspector

The media language in Burn The Witch incorporates viewpoints and ideologies of the band as it represents to how Britain has created an Us vs Them mindset, with outsiders not being welcome. This viewpoint is shown in the way that the villager treat the Inspector as they attempt to burn him to death in a giant wickerman- just like the villagers in the 1973 film 'Wickerman'. As the Inspector is in the wickerman and it is alight, the camera pans away from the villagers as they appear to be waving to the camera. This creates a sinister atmosphere as they appear to have achieved their aim of destroying the outsider. The use of the camera panning away creates the effect that the audience are now running away as they are now scared of this community after witnessing what happens to outsiders. This us vs them mindset may be the band reflecting how Britain has responded to Brexit and migrants with many British people being unwelcoming to people from other countries.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jungle Book - End of year question

Explain how changes in production and/or distribution methods have affected the film industry. Refer to Disney’s 1967 and 2016 versions of The Jungle Book to support your answer. In your answer you must consider how historical and economic contexts influence the production and/or distribution of mainstream films. Changes in production and distribution methods have affected the film industry in many ways which have allowed it to develop over the years. Historical and economic contexts have had a big influence on production and distribution as advancements in technology have effected the methods of production and distribution. For example, the film industry has advanced from physical distribution of DVDs and film strips to digital distribution of being able to stream content. Disney is part of the 'Big 5' film companies which means that it has a big budget to use for the production and distribution of films and this allows the company to have access to the newest technologies s...
Read more

Representation Theorists and Stranger Things

Image
Stuart Hall Representation Key Ideas:  Meaning is constructed by representation, by what is present, what is absent and what is different. A representation implicates the audience in creating its meaning but stereotyping tries to fix the meaning of representation in  a 'preferred meaning' A preferred meaning is what the media company wants the audience to decode from the media product and accept the message given. Stuart Hall applies to Stranger Things Throughout Stranger Things, there are many representations used and each have a meaning to be decoded by the audience:  Events and preferred reading Events and preferred reading Individuals and preferred reading Issues and preferred reading Social Groups and preferred reading Scientist is killed Scientist: clever, vulnerable The threat of an alien: powerful, mysterious Group of boys playing a game: intense game Mike: Leader as he is narrating game ...
Read more

The Big Issue - Lesson 3 - 26/01/21

Image
 Representation and The Big Issue Representation: how someone, something or somewhere is presented to someone else. Who/what does The Big Issue represent and why? The Big Issue represents big social issues e.g. poverty, racism. They present issues which mainstream media doesn't normally bring attention to. They give people a voice who aren't normally given one in mainstream media or are normally represented in a negative stereotypical way. They focus on representing reality and showing issues which are relevant on a wide scale. What we see on the cover of The Big Issue has been carefully considered to convey a message which suits the ideology of the street paper. However, how we interpret a text/representation is influenced by our awareness of social, political and historical context in which the text has been created. These representations ae created through the media language selected e.g. colour pallet, layout, typography. Who or what is being represented on the front cover ...
Read more