Monday, 31 October 2016
edit
What is postmodernism? Postmodernism is anti-authoritarian by nature, refusing to recognise the authority of any single style as definition of what it should be. Resultantly, postmodernism can be characterised by its self conscious use of earlier styles and conventions and an eclectic mixing of different artistic and popular styles. It is a sarcastic playful parody of western modernity and the “John Wayne” individual and a radical, anarchist rejection of all attempts to define, reify or re-present the human subject.
How then can a music video be a postmodern text? There are certain characteristics within music videos that make them indicative of postmodernism that can be picked up on by the audience. However, perhaps the more important question is why is a music video a postmodern text. Despite postmodernism rejecting any attempts to define humans, music and songs do exactly this by discussing human emotion in clearly defined iconography that will be accepted by society- sad love songs will discuss all the good things that the person is missing about them, upbeat songs will clearly state all the great things the artist is doing and on and on. Therefore postmodernism must come into play to somewhat parody this definition of the human subject as well as present it the way it should be presented, as opposed to making it something new. However, in doing this, a new way of representing humans comes about. Postmodernism as a theory is full of contradictions.
Tom Odell’s Wrong Crowd was released on the 4th April 2016. The song tells of a boy's newfound association with a group of people who are disliked by his family. However, he believes he cannot help it and will always be with them, destroying everything in his life. George Belfield directed it.
One of the first features of postmodernism that can be seen is the idea of the decline of the meta-narrative and pluralism. The message behind Wrong Crowd is up to interpretation in regards to both lyrics and the visuals that we are being given throughout. Though universally it can be seen as a negative song, most likely through the use of the word wrong, there can be many ideas about whether the song is relating to a more physical idea of wrong people, or a psychological idea of wrongness. The video itself is ambiguous due to it merely being a fragment of time- is this his first time going out to party or another time among many? While it appears to suggest a man who is heartbroken going to party his life away, a close up shot of one of the party goers (a girl) somewhat suggests romantic interest due to the closeness we are to her face and the possibility that we are seeing her from the character’s point of view. This could then suggest that he is going to the “wrong crowd” because he is in fact in love with someone else. This in itself may be why he is part of the “wrong crowd”- he may have done something wrong to the girl.
There is also a mixing of styles that can be seen, since the genre of the song is indie pop. His music video is somewhat more like a pop video, as indie videos would not necessarily revolve around a party lifestyle, or not in the same way. Comparing Wrong Crowd to will.i.am’s Boys & Girls (closer to pop) versus Vampire Weekend’s Diane Young (closer to indie), Wrong Crowd is visibly closer to Boys & Girls- it is more narrative than conceptual.
Intertextuality can also be seen in the video. Our opening shot in the music video is Tom (or Tom’s character) sitting alone in his chair, dressed in white. Though it takes some time for this reference to make sense, as we don’t fully understand the video until certain scenes are revealed to us, this has some allusion to Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations. He has lost his love and is sitting, despondent, in white, much like Miss Havisham sat in her wedding dress after she was left at the altar. This idea links to Strinati’s five features with the idea that this somewhat done because the music video is an inferior text to Great Expectations and this link captures the audience. This somewhat also links to pastiche, as this scene is much more of an homage to a classic scene than it is ridicule.
Pastiche can also be seen in other ways. With the use of more common scenes from pop videos, there is some element of commentary on these types of scenes in pop music, and is very different to them. It is not parody however, as it is not making fun of these scenes, but is merely using them to make a different statement. Tom Odell’s entire song revolves around the idea that he is a part of the “wrong crowd”, people that don’t like his family, don’t treat him well, and generally make him a worse person. This is a complete contrast to many pop videos, where a party group represents a much more popular and friendly group of people. This somewhat adds to the idea of knowingness to do, perhaps with the cynical viewpoint of no party is a good party and is always dangerous to get involved.
Odell also uses Bricolage. Tom uses his own song Constellations to convey the message that he has been heartbroken by the girl he is singing to in the video. While the original purpose of the song is merely to entertain, or to invoke a similar sense of love that Tom appears to be feeling, the use of it here is to make us understand Tom’s pain.
Hyperreality contrasting with magical realism is also prominent. Tom Odell’s video could (within reason) easily be a slice of reality. There is no sense of anything particularly linking to magical realism other than the shot of the woman, boy and jaguar, using symbolism to demonstrate the idea that Tom is trapped between the materialistic world while wanting to be in a more natural one. In regards to the main realistic narrative that we see, this is something that people do- go to parties. However, due to it only being a fragment of time, there is some sense of fiction to it with the idea that he can do this without consequences, or with the idea that after being heartbroken; partying is his first port of call. It is a music video after all, and has been created to represent an idealistic view of what parties are as opposed to how they really work.
There is a strong sense of identity as image within the music video. Since Tom Odell is in the video himself, there is some idea of this music video adding to his image. Although the fact that the music video doesn’t exist is still apparent, there could easily be some theories taken from this music video that, as a celebrity, this is the kind of lifestyle that Tom is actually used to.
Overall, the music video does seem to be postmodern with the large amount of postmodern features that can be seen. Being a music video it will be viewed by a lot of people, and since it is also postmodern it is able to convey a large amount of messages and meanings as shown through the idea of pluralism.
edit