Exploration of related theory

There are various theories behind the creation of a music video which help to explore why they are put together.

Andrew Goodwin

One of the theories comes from Andrew Goodwin who identified 7 key ideas to creating a music video.

An example of a video with an intertextual reference is Iggy Azalea whose video for her song 'Fancy' uses a close reference to the film Clueless.

    

John Berger (1972)

Another theory that applies to music videos is John Berger's 'Ways of seeing' (1972) and he believes that the video will include certain features. One of these ideas is that 'Men act and women appear' which suggests that they conform to the tradition that women are passive and the men are the dominant characters throughout. Instead 'women watch themselves being look at' in a more sexual manner where they are only used for this certain purpose and not to be independent and dominant.

Sven E Carlsson (1999)

Carlsson's main idea regarding music videos is that 'One of the most common methods of analysis is to break up the music video into black and white boxes so that everything is perceived as opposites.
This can be a common approach to music videos in that binary opposites drive the narration of the video forward.

He also states that music videos can be performance based where the audience can see the artist performing or conceptual where the audience are made to watch something other than the artist. Carlsson created the theory that most performance based videos makes the performer no longer a performer. It is saying that performers are restricted in the way they can perform as they are being used to sell their voice, face or lifestyle due to the artist being a seller of their body image.