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"A Director's Medium"

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"A Director's Medium" En analyse av Michel Gondry og Chris Cunninghams virke som musikkvideoregissører sett i lys av kanonbegrepet og historisk auteur-tankegang. av Even Onsager Masteroppgave Institutt for informasjons- og medievitenskap Universitetet i Bergen September 2007 Sammendrag Tre DVD-utgivelser fra 2003, Palm Pictures' The Work of Director Spike Jonze , ... Chris Cunningham og ... Michel Gondry , snudde på det tradisjonelle hierarkiet mellom artist og musikkvideoregissør og satte regissøren som forfatter av musikkvideoteksten. I 2005 kom det fire regissører til i serien og bekreftet dette inntrykket ytterligere. Denne oppgaven skal analysere denne serien, representert ved to av utgivelsene, The Work of Director Michel Gondry og The Work of Director Chris Cunningham , ved å se på hvordan utgivelsene kan sies å ha skapt en musikkvideo-kanon gjennom å ha flyttet fokuset fra artist til regissør. Analysen har et teoretisk fundament i den franske auteur -doktrinen, en poststrukturalistisk nyansering av denne og i en historisk-formal forståelse av musikkvideoformen. Oppgaven legger Maria Demopoulos' formulering om at musikkvideofeltet representerer "the Wild West of filmmaking" til grunn for et postulat om at musikkvideoformen har eksistert i et kritisk vakuum uten plass til kvalitetsbedømmelse i en åpen offentlighet. Oppgaven vil utfra dette se om Gondry og Cunninghams DVD-utgivelser kan ha endret på denne situasjonen. 2 Takk! Aller først vil jeg takke min veileder Peter Larsen for gode diskusjoner og gode tips underveis, og for å ha vært til uunværlig hjelp med det teoretiske grunnlaget. Jeg vil også takke de ansatte på Institutt for informasjons- og medievitenskap, spesielt Karl Knapskog som kom med avgjørende innspill på prosjektbeskrivelsestadiet. Det å forstå bedre enn jeg gjorde selv hvor jeg i min begrepsforvirring ville hen med prosjektet, virker like imponerende nå som det gjorde da. Takk også til Elin Furheim Zeiffert for å ha latt meg jobbe som seminarleder ved instituttet og til Rune Arntsen for filmutlån, praktisk hjelp og godt humør. En takk går også til Jan og Steffen for å – som alltid – ha vært gode diskusjonspartnere og venner og til Pappa for god støtte. Tusen takk til Mamma for støtte og svært viktig gjennomlesning på tampen. En stor takk går også til Ane for å ha lest oppgaven og kommet med innspill, for å ha vært tilgjengelig som tilhører for frustrerte utblåsninger og for å være en god venn. Til slutt vil jeg takke alle mine medstudenter, spesielt Carina, Erna Synnøve, Helene, Kristin og Siv. Det ville ikke vært noe gøy uten dere. Oslo, 01.09.07 Even Onsager 3 Innholdsfortegnelse SAMMENDRAG .................................................................................................................................................... 2 1. INNLEDNING................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.1. P ROBLEMSTILLING ....................................................................................................................................... 6 1.2. H VA ER EN MUSIKKVIDEO ? .......................................................................................................................... 6 1.3. L OVLØSHET I FILMENS VILLE VESTEN .......................................................................................................... 7 1.3.1. "The visual equivalent of reheated food"............................................................................................. 7 1.3.2. Å skape noe "nytt" i en postmodernistisk form .................................................................................... 8 1.4. M USIKKVIDEOER OG AKADEMIA .................................................................................................................. 9 1.5. O PPGAVENS OPPBYGNING .......................................................................................................................... 11 2. TEORI.............................................................................................................................................................. 13 2.1. A UTEUR -DOKTRINEN ................................................................................................................................. 13 2.1.1. La politique des auteurs: oversettelse og begrepsavklaring.............................................................. 13 2.1.2. Begrepene "auteur" og "mise en scène" ............................................................................................ 14 2.1.3. Auteurens spillerom ifølge Kast, Bazin og Hoveyda. ........................................................................ 15 2.1.4. Arven etter auteurdoktrinen............................................................................................................... 17 2.2. D EN HISTORISKE FORFATTEREN . R OLLE OG FUNKSJON .............................................................................. 18 2.2.1. Forfatterens "funksjon" ifølge Michel Foucault................................................................................ 19 2.2.2. Forfatterens død (og oppstandelse)................................................................................................... 20 2.2.3. Pop-forfatteren .................................................................................................................................. 22 2.2.3.1. The Monkees: En kollektiv forfatterrolle..................................................................................................... 23 2.2.4. "Degree of individualization"............................................................................................................ 26 2.3. K ANON ....................................................................................................................................................... 27 2.3.1. Kunstner eller verk? .......................................................................................................................... 28 2.3.2. Debatten rundt Morgenbladets kunstkanon....................................................................................... 29 2.3.3. Popkanon: Mojo magazine og The Beatles ....................................................................................... 30 2.3.4. "The worth of a particular mountain": verdivurderinger.................................................................. 32 2.3.5. Hvem fastsetter kanon? ..................................................................................................................... 33 2.3.6. Kan en utgivelse bidra til kanonisering?........................................................................................... 34 3. MUSIKKVIDEOENS HISTORIE OG GENEALOGI................................................................................ 37 3.1. M USIKKVIDEOFORMATET , TIDLIGE ÅR ....................................................................................................... 37 3.1.1. Video-jukeboxene............................................................................................................................... 38 3.1.2. "Music-variety programming"........................................................................................................... 40 3.1.2.1. 1950-tallet: Your Hit Parade........................................................................................................................ 40 3.1.2.2. 1960-tallet: Artistsentrering......................................................................................................................... 41 3.2. M USIKKVIDEOEN PÅ 1970- OG 1980-TALLET ............................................................................................. 43 3.2.1. In the Beginning Was the End: en veiviser........................................................................................ 43 3.2.2. Musikkvideoene får fotfeste ............................................................................................................... 45 3.2.3. Steve Barron: en auteur..................................................................................................................... 48 3.3. 1990-TALLET ............................................................................................................................................. 50 3.3.1. Nybølgen............................................................................................................................................ 50 3.3.2. Appropriering eller plagiat?.............................................................................................................. 51 3.3.3. Arven etter 1990-tallet....................................................................................................................... 54 4. MUSIKKVIDEOFORMEN ........................................................................................................................... 55 4.1. MTV OG REKLAMEASPEKTET .................................................................................................................... 55 4.2. T YPOLOGIER : L YNCH , K INDER OG STRØM ................................................................................................. 58 4.3. J OE GOWS TYPOLOGI .................................................................................................................................. 59 4.3.1. Formale muligheter..........................................................................................................................
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