Intertextuality

Intertextuality
"Intertextuality is the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. It can refer to an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another. The term “intertextuality” has, itself, been borrowed and transformed many times since it was coined by poststructuralist Julia Kristeva in 1966. As critic William Irwin says, the term “has come to have almost as many meanings as users, from those faithful to Kristeva’s original vision to those who simply use it as a stylish way of talking about allusion and influence” "


Pop Intertextuality Example- Madonna Madonna has brought out various albums in the past, this is one of her is one of the most recent albums as part of her comeback. Her image has been changed to the more dance route of pop reimaging herself to her target audience. The use of pink and purple on all the products gives a feminine impression, the photography in the background also gives the impression as though she’s in the middle of dancing also portraying of how the music is upbeat. Again, the idea of a dance album is reinforced in her name where portraying the ‘O’ is through a dance light. Her position and body language on the CD covers show her as being professional in dancing. The colour schemes are the same throughout these products also.

Rap Intertextuality Example- Kanye West Kanye West is a very popular rapper from America, his album covers are unique and eccentric by not using photography similar to MIKA but using graphics in an artistic way giving the impression of humour within his lyrics and work. It creates a bigger contrast between each song making them more individual. The cartoons are humorous yet there is obvious talent in creating his CD covers. The right CD cover depicts a bear wearing glasses which West is known to wear in his videos and other CD covers and on tour, it is a distinguishable factor and characteristic which helps the audience to recognise him and his products. It also creates suspense by not being able to see his face well enough, whilst reflecting his personality and shows how he is unique much like how Lady Gaga is representing herself differently to catch attention due to the wide range of already existing artists.

Rock Intertexuality example Blur is another popular band falling under the contemporary indie rock category and have recently reformed for another tour and album. The below CD covers represent themselves as being unique and specifically modern with the use of unusual photography and graphics art. Each photograph is not what would be expected to promote music but with the use of their name ‘blur’ in its consistent font, then the audience are able to recognise the CD covers in which the music band has produced. Their lyrics have helped to form the album with the songs and therefore the cover acts as an introduction giving people a simple atmosphere for the song meanings. In areas it can be seen as humorous or misunderstood creating an unknown image of blur which is also reinforced by the name blur which is intriguing as well. Overall, there is the impression of talent and creativity.

R&B Intertexuality Example- Rihanna Here is a link to Rihanna’s music video for Unfaithful:  All the CD covers for Rihanna show her emotions clearly or body language representing the song well, each cover is well manipulated to create a flawless effect of either her skin or to capture a perfect moment including the edited lighting. The close ups allow the audience to recognise the singer immediately and to visualise her emotions which are clearly expressed also in her music videos. In her music videos she is the main focus throughout and this remains the same on her CD covers allowing the audience to understand her thoughts and emotions over something which is why she has a huge female audience.

Dance Intertexuality Example- Angel City Angel city is a dance group with the main female singer being Lara McAllen. The majority of their songs have been covers but they still have remained successful, the fonts on both single covers are the same with their bold structure which is striking. The background colours contrast showing how each song is different and people will associate the colour immediately with the song, the woman on the front is dressed for night life representing dance music typically selling herself to the audience and is probably a model rather than part of the band. The logo which is also the title of band makes them recognisable on the album despite changing colour.

My Song, Madonna's "Material Girl" and Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds Are A Girl's Friend"
 Marilyn Monroe's song from the movie, "Gentlemen Prefer Blonds" from 1953 was the model for Madonna's music video on her song, "Material Girl". The following resources would be useful for anyone doing a case study on Madonna and identifying intertextuality. Materialism was rampant in the 1980s and reflected in several movies produced during that period.

I will be using the use of intertextuality of the materialism, to be ironic in the fact that Lucy star is not a materialist person, this will be done by showing her facial exprestions as not being very happy, showing her taking off layers of make-up that girls seem to where in my generation, and then having hardly any make up on. This will be done by Lucy using a make up wipe to wipe away orange foundation and bright pink lipstick and pulling a discusted face when seeing what has been left on her wipe.