Applying Andrew Goodwin's theory to music videos of the 1980s

Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer: This music video follows the convention of lyrics and visuals.

The video amplifies the lyrics of the song through images. This is shown through when Gabriel sings about steam trains, a steam train is presented to us in the video.

The music video also applies voyeurism through the artist looking straight into the camera, looking at the audience. This creates a sense of companionship between him and the audience, making them feel more connected to his abstract style of music video.

The video is a stop motion animation which means it would have taken a lot of money and time to produce.

Madonna: Material Girl:

This narrative style of music video applies the convention of video and genre, given that with this piece being a pop song, the video is very over-the-top and extravagant.

The lyrics also amplify what is seen in the video. For example, when Madonna sings about being a ‘material girl’, she is seen with a large group of men who give her gifts. This type of amplification emphasises how materialistic her character actually is.

Voyeurism is also shown through the use of the female body. The way the men think through gifts they can win her heart, again emphasise the materialistic manner of this music video.

Finally, intertextuality is shown through the use of a film studio, in a music video. This shows the direct relationship between this music video and Marilyn Monroe- Diamonds are a girls best friend, given that Madonna almost copied the style of Marilyn’s video and used it for herself.

A-ha: Take on me:

This narrative music video also includes some elements of performance. This means that at the same time at telling a story- you also see the band performing the song.

There is intertextuality shown within this video through the form of comic books. The theme of comic books makes the video unique and it allows the video to use other media forms to further enhance the way it looks and the way the consumers, consume the video.

There is also a level of intimacy through the use of close ups of the band and the actors. This intimacy allows us to connect with the video and makes us want to watch on and listen to the sing for longer.

U2: Where the streets have no name: This performance style music video illustrates the words

of the song through the video itself. For example, they are singing about streets, which is represented through the rooftop performance of this video. We know it’s performance as we are seeing the band play the song.

The video matches the genre of the song which is another convention of Andrew Goodwin. This is because we see thousands of people rocking to the sound of the song, which is what genre the song is, rock. Also, the way the camera moves also represents it’s a rock song, with fast movement, and it showing us the instruments that are used, like electric guitars and drum kits.

Finally the music and visuals match up as we see a guitar whilst we are hearing it, which makes it illustrative.

Bonnie Tyler: Total eclipse of the heart: This abstract style video shows the

convention of voyeurism. This is through the representation of the female body and how throughout this video, she is primarily in a dress. This shows what the ‘perfect’ female body should look like, subliminally making people want to change themselves.

Furthermore, there is a level of intimacy between the singer and the audience. This convention is shown through close ups of Bonnie Tyler which show her the words of her song are affecting her. This makes us feel the same way and affects the way we listen to the song.