Intertextuality in music videos is the merge between the conventions of TV shows and cinema and applying the same techniques to the music industry.
Many music videos borrow from cinema as a starting point using the same methods of story telling.
Now music videos have become so mainstream they are now able to experiment more with narrative and cinematic style.
Taylor Swift's 'You Belong with Me' is a wonderful example of how a music video can tell a meaningful and emotion filled narrative within the span of a single song. We see how it uses intertextuality to refer to classic and familiar love story teen movies in a condensed but meaningful music video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuNIsY6JdUw
Some directors have actually made their name originally directing music videos before moving onto film.
- David Fincher
- Spike Jonze
- Michael Gondry
Jack Black's Tenacious D is a funny but clever music video as it is a homage to all the old classic rock n' roll stars and their music. It puts an excellent twist on the classic Hollywood rock and roll portrayals.
The video consists of two separate narratives- a linear narrative with Jack Black and his friend enter a booth to record their song and a secondary broken non-linear narrative as they make their way on an abandoned road where the Devil appears to them and they have to perform for their lives. The secondary narrative purposefully nods back to old green screen effects as they make fun of classic Hollywood tropes.
Finally the two narratives link together at the ending of the song as we find out that the old lady is actually the devil in disguise.
This homage to old Hollywood and rock n' roll clichés is a great example of how intertextuality is used.
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