Music Video Analysis
Order Description
In 1,500 words, explore how the video works to (re)produce and/or challenge (1) cultural constructions of identity and/or (2) genre codes and conventions. Within your analysis you must engage with and respond to at least two of the
required readings from this section of the unit.
Music Video: 2NE1 – ?? ?? ? ??(I AM THE BEST) M/V
Please use the 2 sources I attached.
– Michael A. Unger, “The Aporia of Presentation: Deconstructing the Genre of K-pop Girl Group Music Videos in South Korea,” In Journal of Popular Music Studies 27/1, 2015, pp. 25-47.
– Rosalind Gill, “Postfeminist media culture: Elements of a sensibility,” In European Journal of
Cultural Studies, 10/2, 2007, pp. 147-166.
Remember, when writing these essays, most of these sentences should read almost descriptively: about the other authors’ arguments and/or about your specific music video. That said, the essay is not a mere description.
1. You choose points to highlight from the literature based on the music video you’ve chosen. For example, two students might both be using the article about Lady Gaga, but one student might focus on the “my body is just a piece of meat” part, if the female body as meat is something s/he/they can explore in her/his/their music video, and the other student might focus on the part about the alienation experienced by contemporary pop performers, if s/he/they are trying to find feminist potential, if you will, in a contradictory and confusing pop performance.
2. You choose how to describe the music video (which scenes to mention, which costumes to discuss, and so on and so forth) based on what is “at stake”, as outlined in the readings. So, for example, in the Lady Gaga article, O’Brien is exploring whether or not feminism exists within mainstream contemporary pop music. If this is the theme that is also “at stake” for you, then you will discuss your music video in a way that highlights its aspects (costuming, choreography, setting, editing, and so on) that help you reflect upon that theme.
Thus, your analysis emerges through the dialogue you create between the articles and the example. Without a doubt, if you work hard to find connections, you will develop an original and interesting argument.
Finally, whether your intro statement is just that – a statement – or a longer paragraph, somewhere in there you should boldly state that you’re exploring [the music video of your choice] to explore [the theme that’s at stake for you]. Let the reader know right from the start what this essay is about: what the dialogue is that you’re producing and, thus, how you’re producing an original argument.
