VANCE JOY - RIPTIDE

POSTMODERNISM 
cannot be defined, shouldn't be a theory

• 'style of substance' - valuing the looks of something over the depth of it
• emphasises surface meaning over deeper analysis - shouldn't be analysed
• distrust of form and established conventions - break rules on purpose 
• e.g. 'breaking the fourth wall' - character turning to talk to the audience in a film

VANCE JOY - RIPTIDE (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ_1HMAGb4k

Vance Joy is an Australian singer-songwriter signed to Atlantic Records (subsidiary of major label, Warner). His music can be categorised as fitting into indie folk-pop genre. Riptide was Vance Joy's first single to be released in the USA, it became a platinum selling single. The video was directed by Dimitri Basil and Laura Gorun and has had nearly 210 million youtube views

OBJECTIFICATION  the process by which a human is represented as an object
MALE GAZE  the assumption that every media product is created for the heterosexual male audience, therefore, the function of any woman we see is for their pleasure, Lizbet Van Zoonen
SEXUALISATION  the process of only valuing someone for their sexual appeal
VOYEURISM  taking pleasure of watching someone whilst they're undetected 
SCOPOPHILLIA  the love of watching (voyeurism)

• general theme and narrative - montage of shots suggests themes of drowning and death ("sank", makeup coming off, "lump in my throat")
• alternative theme and narrative - unpredictable and deliberately misleading montage of shots
• deliberately invites polysemic interpretations 
• montage consistently matches the themes of the lyrics - "cowboy running" in a long, cantered shot, symbolic of dual personality, afraid of what he has become
• intertextuality of old western film - mise en scene of costume, referential code to create audience appeal
• intertextuality of horror film - mid shot of ouija board, "dark side", referential of 70's horror cinema
• date on letter is "August 1974" - mid shot, anchors audience into a particular time period, picked 70's because it was considered cool 
• mid shot of feet being dragged under a bed, low angle shot, low-key purple lighting- purple lighting connotes evil and darkness, specific reference to 1970's Italian horror films
• denies the audience of a definite meaning
• voyeuristic, high angle long shot of young, blonde woman removing swimsuit, zooms in - high angle shot is demeaning towards woman because we look down on her, makes reference to lyrics "pretty girls", voyeuristic aspect is creepy, positions audience to a perverted perspective, Van Zoonen's 'Female Gaze' theory
• "techniques of photographing girls" - female, manicured hand pushes book into the centre of the frame, seems rehearsed and non-consensual

• high angle shot - voyeuristic intent (positioning)
• looking out into the ocean, symbolic of adventure 
• mise en scene of costume - exotic 
• framed in centre of shot - emphasizes her importance to heterosexual male audience (male gaze)
• shallow depth of field shot - she is in focus, background is blurred, importance
• shot with zoom lens - voyeuristic 
• stereotypically attractive - blonde hair
• mid shot of her back - implies she isn't aware that the audience is watching
• mise en scene of beach - adventure, luxury 

Representation of women

• women are vulnerable - stereotypical in films/ intertextuality, damsels in distress, voyeuristic angles 
• powerful and independent - smoking, stereotypical of men
• often close to men or being comforted by men - dependant 
• various shots of feet and hands - objectify women, audience can't see their emotions 
• subverts and conforms to stereotypical representations of women
• no explicit anchorage of ideology in music video 

How does thus video to Riptide encode feminist ideology?

• almost mocking sexism in music videos - book of "how to photograph girls", connotes that women are purely present to be looked at by male heterosexual audience 
• mise en scene of masculine clothing 
• low angle mid shot of woman holding arms in air - gesture connotes power
• mid shot of blonde woman bound in tightrope - connotes the restrictions that females face in society, critical of the notion of woman as a 'weaker sex' , women are being 'tied down' with maternal responsibilities etc
• video lacks anchorage - forces audience to make their own assumptions, highly polysemic
• ironic representation of patriarchal hegemony 

'SUSPIRIA' (1979) re-release trailer

Italian horror film

Paradigmatic features

• props - knives, noose, gloved hands, barbed wire
• weak and vulnerable female protagonist - damsel in distress archetype
• colour scheme - vibrant primary colours, red and blue filters, typical of 70's European horror
• soundtrack - use of suspenseful non-diegetic sounds, diegetic female screaming
• iconographic features such as cherry-red blood

The iconography in Riptide heavily references the horror genre ('dentist' looks like a torture device, dull and unsaturated colour, vibrant use of reds on lips and nails)

SURREALISM  an artistic movement that originated in France, a text which follows the logic of dreams

"Un Chien Andalou" - French surrealist film

"Riptide" and "Un Chien Andalou" both lack continuity (subversive of regular films and music videos that use eye-line matches and a match on action)

Surrealism allows a larger audience, gratification of intertextuality and social interaction (will go away and talk about it)