The Wombats are an indie rock band from Liverpool. “Let’s
dance to Joy Division” is the second single from their second album “A Guide to
Love Loss & Desperation”. The music video for this track is symbolic of the
metanarrative for the majority of their videos as it features the band giving
performance in coherence. This is typical of the indie rock genre and therefore
serves predominantly as an advert for the band, selling them as a united
identity.
This music video is conventional of the genre according to
the theories of Andrew Goodwin. The band are shown rehearsing which serves as a
performance to the audience, and display a typically amplified relationship
between the music and the visuals, as the cutting rate matches up with the beat
of the song, as well as the change of lighting towards the end of the video.
Generally, indie rock features slightly more bohemian characteristics within
visuals, such as obscure lighting or actions by the band members/characters.
“Let’s Dance” conforms to this genre characteristic through the sudden and
unexplained elevation of the band, as well as the development of the set into a
chaotic sequence of lighting screens, giving the impression of uncontrollable
flight in the final part of the video. This also adheres to the ideas presented
by Richard Dyer and his theories of stardom, as it gives the band and
extraordinary quality.
The location for the video entails its own set of meanings
through connotation. The basement setting, complete with fully equipped practise
material is an indexical sign that connotes to the audience that The Wombats
are a rock band, as this location is a typical setting for that type of genre, and
so the audience create this meaning from the visuals they are given. The genre
style through the metanarrative of the video also reinforces these meanings, as
the use of a fast cutting rate and an incomplete narrative are typical of indie
rock. In relation to the print media,
the digipak for the album is an artistic representation of an assortment of
objects on a shelf. This is symbolic of youth, as it reflects the way in which
a child might organise its possessions and so signifies youth culture to the
audience, designed to connect to those of a similar age range.
The Wombats in this video and similarly in their other
videos are deemed to have extra-human characteristics, intended to display a
metaphorical style in the narrative. The purpose of Dyer’s theory of stardom is
to identify the different characteristics that artists display in their work
and image, which makes them a commodity to be consumed by audiences. The
paradoxes discussed by Dyer are present in this video positioning The Wombats
as the stars. Presence and absence is signified through the use of close ups of
the band members signifying their presence, but without any direct looks at the
camera, ignoring the audience and connoting their absence, adding to an
incomplete star image and therefore building on the repeatability of the video.
Furthermore, the second paradox of ordinary and extraordinary is observed
through costume and body movement. The band are positioned as an ordinary young
group through their plain clothing and lack of accessories, however their
extraordinariness is displayed through editing techniques which raise them off
the ground, positioning them above the audience, which connotes them to be of a
higher status – stars. Coherence is demonstrated through the group rehearsing
together, promoting the band as a unified identity that is to be consumed as
one. Presence and absence is further displayed in the album art of the digipak.
The band’s name ‘The Wombats’ and the title of the album “A guide to love loss
& desperation” however images of the band members are made purposely small,
so that they do not feature prominently as the main feature in the art. This
leads to an incomplete band image, imploring the audience to consume the album
in an attempt to complete that image.
As is typically the genre style of indie rock videos, the
band is not obviously fetishized, as they appear to be positioned to rehearse
among themselves. They are not dressed to please a female gaze and are not
exposed in any sexually suggestive way. This therefore connotes a more straight
forward ideological discourse; that the band are performers with a job to do.
This is shown through the expression of their music seen in the elevation from
the floor and the change in lighting that their music causes.
From my analysis of this music video and the promotion of
the album it comes from, I would conclude that this particular example is a
tool for the promotion of the band. However, the clear examples of stardom and
genre characteristics displayed within the video, elevate it from being simply
a tool and make it more of an expression of band image, which therefore causes
an audience to want to consume this media text.
No comments:
Post a Comment