Music Video Ideology

During a lesson we discussed ideology, which is a system of meaning inherent to a specific culture that allows us to define the world and make value judgements about it.

We also discussed the idea that this ideology allows us to 'normalise' media texts, accepting the behaviour or values it holds as part of its conventions. An example of this is the media representing social interaction and social institutions. Because these representations are repeated they are reinforced into broad social definitions.

For example, a video I put on here for 'Headbutt' by The King Blues has a very 'British' style to it, due to low production values and being filmed in grimy/run down areas, which are conventions of British cinema. It is also reminiscent of communist principles, especially those of Vladimir Lenin, due to the video showing that the people in it are happy living in run-down areas, and that it is good to be a part of the lower classes. While it is easy to tell the style of music is linked to punk, it is only loosely related, as there are more links to other genres such as folk, by singing about love. There are also influences from rap music, such as the type of hat the singer wears and the way he moves his hands while singing. This shows that while there are many ideological conventions taken from other genres, the feel for this type of music is very low production values and simple video styles.

A different viewpoint in this genre could be shown with the video for 'London Is The Reason' by Gallows, which leans more towards the heavier side of the punk genre

This video is again based in grimy, run down areas, however it has lost the folk aspect, as the song is not about love, with the chorus being:

We have no fear, we have no pity

We hate you, we hate this city

 

This shows that the song is not about love, its about anger, which is more in line with punk ideology. The lyrics are also sung with a much deeper tone, which makes it sound more violent. The video itself is based around the normal people rising up against a police culture, showing the police as animals such as pigs to dehumanise their actions of attacking people in the streets. This sort of view on the authorities is definitely in line with a punk ideology, which makes this video far more simple to assess, as it doesn't fuse genres like the King Blues one does. The video for this song still uses conventions of British cinema, but there is very little influence from anywhere else but punk music videos.