Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context

359 Pages·2004·3.27 MB·English

by  Carol Vernallis

EXPERIENCING MUSIC VIDEO
CAROL VERNALLIS
EXPERIENCING
MUSIC VIDEO
AESTHETICS AND CULTURAL CONTEXT
C O L U M B I A U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S / N E W Y O R K
ColumbiaUniversityPress
PublishersSince1893
NewYork Chichester,WestSussex
Copyright(cid:1)2004ColumbiaUniversityPress
Allrightsreserved
ColumbiaUniversityPressgratefullyacknowledgespermissiontoreprint
selectedpoems(pp.253–269passim.,thisvolume)fromAnneSexton,
TheCompletePoems(Boston:HoughtonMifflinCompany,1981).Reprinted
bypermissionofSterlingLordLiteristic,Inc.CopyrightbyAnneSexton.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Vernallis,Carol
Experiencingmusicvideo:aestheticsandculturalcontext/CarolVernallis.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p.)andindex.
isbn0-231-11798-1(cloth:alk.paper)—
isbn0-231-11799-x(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Musicvideos—Historyandcriticism.
2.Musicvideos—Socialaspects. I.Title.
pn1992.8.m87v47 2004
780.26(cid:2)7—dc22
2003064605
A
ColumbiaUniversityPressbooksareprinted
onpermanentanddurableacid-freepaper.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
c10987654321
p10987654321
DesignedbyLisaHamm
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
I THEORY
1 Tellingand Not Telling 3
2 Editing 27
3 Actors 54
4 Settings 73
5 Props and Costumes 99
6 Interlude:Space,Color,Texture,and Time 109
7 Lyrics 137
8 MusicalParameters 156
9 ConnectionsAmongMusic,Image, and Lyrics 175
10 AnalyticalMethods 199
II ANALYSES
11 The Aestheticsof Music Video:An Analysisof Madonna’s
“Cherish” 209
12 Desire, Opulence,and MusicalAuthority:The Relation
of Musicand Image in Prince’s“GettOff” 236
13 Peter Gabriel’sElegyfor Anne Sexton:Image and Music
in “MercySt.” 250
Afterword 285
Notes 291
Bibliography 323
Index 329

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I WOULD LIKE to thank the many friends andcol-
leagueswhosharedtheirideaswithmeonthesubject
of music video and read all or parts of the manuscript:
David Bordwell, Nicholas Cook, Ken Dancyger, Simon
Frith,ToddGitlin,DeeDeeHalleck,DanHallin,KenHil-
lis, Tim Hughes, Anahid Kassabian, StevanKey,Helene
Keyssar,EricLyon,GeorgeLipsitz,JeffMelnick,Richard
Middleton, Ann Miller, Mitchell Morris, Will Ogdon,
CatePalczewski,JannPasler,LeenkeRipmeester,Joseph
Rubenstein, Ron Sadoff,JonathanSchwabe,JesseSwan,
and Margaret Vernallis, as well as my students at the
Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and the Uni-
versityofNorthernIowa.IdedicatethisbooktoCharles
Kronengold in recognition of all that his interest, criti-
cism, and supporthavemeant.
Chapter 2, “Editing,” was previously published as
“The Kindest Cut: Functions and Meanings of Music
Video Editing” in Screen; chapter 7, “Lyrics,” was pre-
viously published as “The Functions of Lyrics in Music
Video” in Journal of Popular Music Studies;andchapter
11, “The Aesthetics of Music Video: An Analysis ofMa-
donna’s ‘Cherish,’” was previously published as “The
Aesthetics of Music Video: An Analysis of Madonna’s
‘Cherish’”in PopularMusic.

INTRODUCTION
I LOVEDMUSICVIDEO beforeitexisted.Asayoungteen,Iwouldstay
up to watch Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert or The Midnight Special on tele-
vision. Not much was happening in those programs, it now seems clear, but
atthetimeIwastransfixedbytheimageofthemusicianperformingoncamera.
One day, as a graduate student without cable, I was at a friend’s house, and
thetelevisionwason.HementionedMTV,andIturnedtowardtheset.What
I saw, Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love,” was beautifulsomehow.Asadoctoral
student in communication, I was well aware of the role of mass media as a
shaper of ideology, with its aims to turn Americans into consumers and to
inculcate a way of thinking that made the wide gap between the wealthy and
the poor appear appropriate and natural. But I felt excited about this video,
whichseemedtometopossesshumanisticandcelebratoryfeatures.Ibecame
an avidwatcher.
Music video fit my needs. I have a B.A. and M.A. in music and had been
workingacrossdepartments,puttingmusictofilmsandwritingmusicformy
own images. I wanted to discover what kinds of relations music, image, and
lyricsmightcreate.Iknewthewaysmusicfunctionedintheserviceofnarrative
film,butIwonderedwhethermusiccouldplayapredominantrole,oratleast
an equal one. Such a body ofwork existed—experimentalfilmandvideothat
explored music-image relations—but it was small. Music video seemed the
thing to study in the 1980s because it resembled a laboratory where relations
among music, image, and text could be tested. All kinds of videos seemed
possible,thoseinwhichthetonalityofthevideochangedsothatviewersfound
themselvessomewherenew,orsomewhereinwhichthestarsnevershowedup.
I stayed with music video while earning my doctorate in communication
and have continued with it as a college professor. My research has demanded
that I become an omnivore: music video belongs somewhere among music,
film, television studies, cultural studies, ethnic studies, and communication
studies, as well as philosophy, theater, and dance. Manyscholarshaveworked
on the topicofmusic video,includingAnnKaplan,AndrewGoodwin,Simon