(RESEARCH) Andrew Godwins Theory

Andrew Godwin's Theory

                  Andrew Godwin believed that common Narrative Analyses could not be applied to some music genres videos. For example he stated the pop music approached narrative in music videos from a different angle when compared with novels and films. His three reasons behind his theory were that; Pop videos were built around songs, in pop videos the singer acts as the narrator but also as a character and finally that the singer often looks directly into the camera, which is not present in films. He stated that the structure of Pop videos often relies on repetition and shots are repeated in the same way how songs consist of repeated choruses and lines. Because of this he was able to say that Pop songs and videos have no form of closure or ending and often take audiences to a climatic part of a song before fading away and repeating the same process.

                  Godwin also felt that there was only three common factors between songs and there music videos and they were:

·      
           Illustration - This is where the music video tells the story of the song's lyrics. An example of this I have found is a song called ''My Story'' by South London Rappers Krept and Konan

·       Amplification - This is when videos introduce new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning

·       Disjuncture - This is when there is little connection between the song and what is shown in the music video. For example Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror.      

  

Andrew Godwin also touched on the topic of the ''Male Gaze'' in his article. He stated that Music videos often present women as objects of male desire and it is commonly found in genres like Hip Hop and RnB. An example of this is the Music video for 2 Chainz - Birthday Song.



Also music videos often try to appeal to a wide audience, without alienating the main target audience. For example older artists could be portrayed to be younger in videos so people of that generation can still identify them. Lastly he stated that Music videos which have been written for films often incorporate images from the movie. An example of this is Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On and The Titanic.