Research- Intertextuality

   

MICHAEL JACKSON’S ‘THRILLER’+ TYGA’S ‘DOPE’D UP’+ THE RING + TEXA CHAINSAW

Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ (1982) and Tyga’s ‘Dope’d Up’ (2015) music videos are quite similar in many ways. In Tyga’s MV, he starts off by saying “So, what did you think about the movie?” and then adds “Full moon tonight. You know what that means. I might turn into a werewolf or something.” This line is significantly referenced to the iconic 1980s MV, because within Thriller’s MV, the short film begins with Jackson and his love interest portraying actors within a movie, (which they’re currently seeing in theatre), that ends in Jackson turning into a werewolf and about to kill his girlfriend. The two music videos also show the couples walking along the street until something troubling finds them.

The two music videos have the same concept with a character waking up to find that the whole ordeal was a nightmare and after find themselves to be perceived as their partners were the monster from their night terror. However, ‘Dope’d Up’ subverts the original idea of ‘Thriller, by making the love interest the monster instead of the protagonist like in MJ’s music video.

Tyga also uses two other fictional horror characters to promote the theme of a ‘murder house’. The female [on the left] is supposed to portray the vengeful ghost in ‘The Ring’ series and the male [on the right] is a representation of ‘Leatherface’ aka Jedidiah Sawyer, who wears his victims’ faces after killing them, most notably with his chainsaw. The reasoning, I believe, for the use of these two popular characters is because of their successful franchises, and how recognisable they are to the public to identify. ‘The Ring’ paved way to a lot of successful Japanese Horror movies like The Grudge, and earned the new genre ‘J-Horror’ and was the first American remake of a classic Japanese horror. Furthermore, ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ series has made 8 movies, comic books, and video games and has made over $235 million at the worldwide box office.

 Iggy Azalea's 'Fancy' + Clueless (1995)

In Iggy Azalea’s ‘Fancy’ music video, she portrays the popular, rich and sweet girl, Cher Horowitz in the iconic 1995 film ‘Clueless’. The music video (directed by Director X) is filled with remakes of the classic Clueless scenes, and the outfits are reinvented to channel the famous stylings of the film with a slightly modern edge. She does this to portray a ‘New Classic’, which is also the name of her debut album.  For example, the opening scene of the music video, is the same famed scene from the movie, which has Cher (played by Alicia Silverstone) on her computer trying to match what clothes she wants to wear. However, Azalea casually flicks through the clothing on an app displayed on her tablet, immediately showing the difference between traditional and modern technology. Furthermore, the singer also captures the fearful outbreak between Cher, Dionne, and Murray when driving onto the highway during a driving lesson, including the full shot of Murray (with braces) screaming. In addition to the parties and the admired PE lessons with the monochrome outfits.

However, in this scene, Cher is seen having a debate that is quite absurd and tries to make the impression that she is clever. ‘Fancy’ subverts this as in her music video, the audience can see that she puts her hands on her hips and after then starts to sway her hips to show a sassy, seductive persona, which Cher is not trying to portray at all in that moment as she wants to be taken seriously.

Overall, the music video was very successful within using the narrative from 1995 movie and has gained 829,584,851 views on Youtube and is still rising. Even Alicia Silverstone, whom played the famous protagonist- Cher Horowitz, had commented on her liking of the rapper’s music video. The song then went on to be her U.S. number one hit single featuring Charli XCX. "Fancy" was also shot in the same Los Angeles high school where Clueless was filmed.

IGGY AZALEA ft. RITA ORA ‘BLACK WIDOW’ + KILL BILL

Iggy Azalea’s music video of ‘Black Widow’ references to the very recognisable movie ‘Kill Bill’. The storyline between both videos are quite similar in some ways. How both of the protagonists sets out and trains for the sole purpose of killing a dangerous man, who controls everyone and has done wrong to them. The song was originally written by Katy Perry, but decided to give it to Azalea as Perry’s album was already finished. Azalea later on revealed the visuals are inspired by 70s kung-Fu films and Tarantino movies, (hence the intertextuality). The song eventually peaked at number 4 in the UK charts and number 3 in the U.S.

Despite the bike scene being in the film, it also references from music videos such as; Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ and Aaliyah’s ‘More than a Woman’. I believe Azalea did this to represent them as superior and fierce, and to show that they’re dangerous and shouldn’t be messed with.