Andrew Goodwin's theory

'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' ( 1993 )

Andrew feels that the traditional narrative does not apply to pop videos.

He identifies 3 main points about music videos being more about the visualness and has a more important meaning which goes beyond the original meaning.


1. Illustration - this is where the video tells you more then the lyrics.

Illustration is the simplest and easiest concept. The music video for owl city shows this idea, for example in "fireflies", when the artist is singing and he says "fireflies", the word fireflies comes up on the screen to a little toy.

2. Amplification - this is where the video adds new meaning that don't oppose the lyrics but adds layers of meaning to the whole video.

An example of this is "Disturbia" by Rihanna, I think it fits with Andrew's theory of Amplification because of it's use of miss-en-scene, consume and make up. The lighting for the song is dark and dull, and lyrically the words are strong and fierce. In the video there are many jump cuts which creates jumpy movements. Most things in the video are out of the ordinary, although this is not unusual for Rihanna and she likes to be different, and there is also a lot of black backgrounds which links in with her lyrics and song name.

3. Disjuncture - this is where there is little connection between the lyrics and video or where the video contradicts the lyrics.

An example of this is "Praise you" by fat boy slim where there is no relation from the video to the lyrics. There are just a bunch of people dancing around in a shopping mall which has no relation to the lyrics. The lyrics are more to do with a couple who are celebrating there relationship.