DOCSLIB.ORG

Wedding Videography, Music and Romantic Memory

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Wedding Videography, Music and Romantic Memory Continuum Journal of Media & Cultural Studies ISSN: 1030-4312 (Print) 1469-3666 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ccon20 Soundtrack for love: wedding videography, music and romantic memory Michael James Walsh & Matthew Wade To cite this article: Michael James Walsh & Matthew Wade (2020) Soundtrack for love: wedding videography, music and romantic memory, Continuum, 34:1, 14-31, DOI: 10.1080/10304312.2019.1700216 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2019.1700216 Published online: 11 Dec 2019. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 285 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ccon20 CONTINUUM: JOURNAL OF MEDIA & CULTURAL STUDIES 2020, VOL. 34, NO. 1, 14–31 https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2019.1700216 Soundtrack for love: wedding videography, music and romantic memory Michael James Walsh a and Matthew Wade b aFaculty of Business, Government and Law, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia; bSchool of Sociology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia ABSTRACT KEYWORDS Professionally produced wedding videos are evocative artefacts. Film music; music; memory; Capturing the ritual of the wedding, the wedding video stands as weddings; videography a postcard that showcases the conspicuous display of emotion that assumes a central place in the memorialization and indeed the very praxis of the modern wedding ritual. The role of music in the wedding video is crucial; representing a key partner to the imagery of the wedding, the musical dimensions emotionally charge the artefact in perpetuity. In this article we argue that the musical soundtrack of wedding videos services manifold functions, including the enabling of narrative continuity, providing a sense of propulsive rhythm, pacing and supporting the successful communication of emotions that sits at thecentreofthecompressediconographyofthewedding.Although the visual elements play a lead role, we contend that the unseen qualities of the musical materials also play an integral function; under- girding the images of the wedding and mediating the emotional and affective display. The argument presented is based on an analysis of 132 selected publicly available videos, sourced from wedding video- graphers based in the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Introduction The contemporary, professionally produced wedding video is a salient device of remem- brance, comprising a highly curated, symbolically laden, privately intimate, yet also publicly performed and dissemination-friendly artefact of memory. Such videos have become popular mementos, and their emergence aligns with three broad trends of an overarching ‘visual turn’ (Jay 1994). The first is the proliferation of ‘prosumer’ technologies for video recording and post-production, making event videography a viable enterprise for those looking to traverse the amateur-professional divide (Moran 2002,64–96). Second, such practices of multimodality are part of a broader ‘video turn’ in popular media consumption (Holt 2011), beginning in the 1980s with the emergence of pop culture juggernauts like MTV, and accelerating again through ubiquitous computing and the ease of personal media creation today (Vernallis 2013;Shaviro2017). Thirdly, as ‘the overlap between producers and users becomes signifi- cantly larger’ (Manovich 2001, 118), videos shape the crafting of personal narratives, and we are now accustomed to ‘prosuming’ such narratives through video-hosting across digital platforms (Ritzer and Jurgenson 2010). Wedding videography has been well suited to CONTACT Michael James Walsh [email protected] © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group CONTINUUM: JOURNAL OF MEDIA & CULTURAL STUDIES 15 exploiting and indeed escalating all these trends, proving a valued artefact in memorializing this ‘momentous occasion’ (Bezner 2002;Mead2007). In this article, we focus on the soundtracks used in wedding videos. We argue that music plays a vital role towards inducing desired emotional effects and narrative thrust, providing a sense of continuity, shot-to-shot rhythm, lyrical theming, and interpretive anchoring. Altogether, these musical soundtracks constitute a powerful aural framing device that aids personal and collective memory construction. Moreover, contemporary wedding videogra- phers lean heavily on the appeal of ‘highlight’ packages,1 which are expressly produced for dissemination on social media.2 As memories are increasingly mediated via network technol- ogies, we must remain cognizant that the ‘boundaries between present and past are no longer given, but they are the very stakes in debating what counts as memory’ (van Dijck 2007, 404). The music within these videos thus functions as a mnemonically pliable ‘artefact of memory’, holding a special status because of its ‘temporal and non-representational character’ (DeNora 2003a, 81). As such, it can be readily re-coded to complement other texts, particularly in tagging, mapping, and suggesting expected emotional engagement to the viewer. In this context, music soundtracks play an understated role, cutting across and weaving together the various actors, artefacts, and rituals of the occasion, enclosing the video within a suitably affecting auditory frame. We argue that the short-form wedding video’s distinctive textual qualities mimic and borrow from both the narrative guidance of film scores and the often non-narrative hedonism of popular music videos, yet simultaneously also serve the more traditional memorializing functions associated with the wedding photo album. Music in short-form wedding videos provides a propulsive rhythm and pacing, and altogether enhances the functional communication of idealized emotions that underlie the iconography of the wedding. The wedding video’s primary function, therefore, concerns the compressed and heightened display of the contemporary ‘romantic utopia’, made material through forms of conspicuous display (Illouz 1997), and to which the soundtrack plays a fundamental role in crafting the text’s intended reading. To develop this argument, the article is structured as follows: (1) we review relevant literature concerning the visual dimensions of weddings and the role of soundtracks; (2) we then offer an account of our sampling and methods; (3) we then present the results of a genre analysis of music used within wedding videos – identifying the aesthetic cate- gories of music in these artefacts and considering the role they play in generating affective sentiment; (4) finally we offer a thematic account of the lyrical content that weaves together the often dazzling array of visual artefacts within wedding films. Supplementing these lines of inquiry are insights into the creative process provided by videographers themselves, collected through a questionnaire distributed to current Australian practitioners. This study is also a response to calls for a sociology of music that actually ‘deals with the specifically musical aspects of its subject’, rather than eliding such analysis by solely focusing on broader sociocultural practices of production and consumption (Marshall 2011: 157; DeNora 2003a). While we cannot claim the aesthetic acuity of practising musicologists, this paper explores ‘a more open relationship to the material and sensuous properties of [music]’ (Prior 2013, 122) through a methodological bricolage. By first illuminating cultural contexts, followed by multimodal text analysis, then complemented 16 M. J. WALSH AND M. WADE through rationales of current practitioners, this paper offers novel means by which to parse emergent forms of life narrative. Visual media, weddings, and the role of the soundtrack Photography has long played a role in the memorializing of wedding culture. As Susan Sontag notes, ‘for at least a century the wedding photograph has been as much a part of the ceremony as the prescribed verbal formulas. Cameras go with family life’ (1977,8). Indeed, via the turn to digital media, photography and videography now play an even more prominent role in contemporary weddings (Bezner 2002;Strano2006; Wade and Walsh 2019;White2012). Beyond Sontag, visual memoralizing today does not simply ‘go’ with family life, it also serves to ‘do’, ‘make’,and‘shape’ narratives of intimacy. The vivacity and immediacy of these mediated narratives entails that we have transitioned from sharing memories to sharing experiences, rendering such texts even more laden with normative import (van Dijck 2008, 60; Walsh and Baker 2017; Walsh, Johns, and Dale 2019). Contemporary user-friendly technologies have encouraged ‘ubiquitous photography’, evi- dent in the array of discourses and uses of photography that ‘have become radically pervasive across all domains of contemporary society’ (Hand 2012, 11). One consequence that stems from the increasing ubiquity of photography is the desire to capture the wedding in ever greater detail, while also enabling a curational veto that avoids or limits any unflattering depictions of the self. In the case of the professional wedding video, therefore, a path is provided for the marrying couple to become ‘literally actors in their own drama, enacting – and re-enacting – crucial moments of the ceremony for the benefitof the camera, and for their own viewing pleasure later on’ (Mead 2007,164). Part of the value associated with the increasing prominence of wedding videos is that –
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Real Estate Marketplace Glossary: How to Talk the Talk
    Federal Trade Commission ftc.gov The Real Estate Marketplace Glossary: How to Talk the Talk Buying a home can be exciting. It also can be somewhat daunting, even if you’ve done it before. You will deal with mortgage options, credit reports, loan applications, contracts, points, appraisals, change orders, inspections, warranties, walk-throughs, settlement sheets, escrow accounts, recording fees, insurance, taxes...the list goes on. No doubt you will hear and see words and terms you’ve never heard before. Just what do they all mean? The Federal Trade Commission, the agency that promotes competition and protects consumers, has prepared this glossary to help you better understand the terms commonly used in the real estate and mortgage marketplace. A Annual Percentage Rate (APR): The cost of Appraisal: A professional analysis used a loan or other financing as an annual rate. to estimate the value of the property. This The APR includes the interest rate, points, includes examples of sales of similar prop- broker fees and certain other credit charges erties. a borrower is required to pay. Appraiser: A professional who conducts an Annuity: An amount paid yearly or at other analysis of the property, including examples regular intervals, often at a guaranteed of sales of similar properties in order to de- minimum amount. Also, a type of insurance velop an estimate of the value of the prop- policy in which the policy holder makes erty. The analysis is called an “appraisal.” payments for a fixed period or until a stated age, and then receives annuity payments Appreciation: An increase in the market from the insurance company.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Summer Rain by Carl Thomas 2. Kiss Kiss by Chris Brown Feat T Pain 3
    1. Summer Rain By Carl Thomas 2. Kiss Kiss By Chris Brown feat T Pain 3. You Know What's Up By Donell Jones 4. I Believe By Fantasia By Rhythm and Blues 5. Pyramids (Explicit) By Frank Ocean 6. Under The Sea By The Little Mermaid 7. Do What It Do By Jamie Foxx 8. Slow Jamz By Twista feat. Kanye West And Jamie Foxx 9. Calling All Hearts By DJ Cassidy Feat. Robin Thicke & Jessie J 10. I'd Really Love To See You Tonight By England Dan & John Ford Coley 11. I Wanna Be Loved By Eric Benet 12. Where Does The Love Go By Eric Benet with Yvonne Catterfeld 13. Freek'n You By Jodeci By Rhythm and Blues 14. If You Think You're Lonely Now By K-Ci Hailey Of Jodeci 15. All The Things (Your Man Don't Do) By Joe 16. All Or Nothing By JOE By Rhythm and Blues 17. Do It Like A Dude By Jessie J 18. Make You Sweat By Keith Sweat 19. Forever, For Always, For Love By Luther Vandros 20. The Glow Of Love By Luther Vandross 21. Nobody But You By Mary J. Blige 22. I'm Going Down By Mary J Blige 23. I Like By Montell Jordan Feat. Slick Rick 24. If You Don't Know Me By Now By Patti LaBelle 25. There's A Winner In You By Patti LaBelle 26. When A Woman's Fed Up By R. Kelly 27. I Like By Shanice 28. Hot Sugar - Tamar Braxton - Rhythm and Blues3005 (clean) by Childish Gambino 29.
    [Show full text]
  • OF CROSSINGS and CROWDS: RE/SOUNDING SUBJECT FORMATIONS by Devon R. Kehler a Dissertation Submitted T
    Of Crossings and Crowds: Re/Sounding Subject Formations Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Kehler, Devon R. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 04/10/2021 06:11:05 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/625373 OF CROSSINGS AND CROWDS: RE/SOUNDING SUBJECT FORMATIONS by Devon R. Kehler __________________________ Copyright © Devon R. Kehler 2017 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WITH A MAJOR IN RHETORIC, COMPOSITION AND THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2017 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Devon R. Kehler, titled Of Crossings and Crowds: Re/Sounding Subject Formations and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ___________________________________________________________ Date: April 14, 2017 Adela C. Licona ____________________________________________________________ Date: April 14, 2017 Maritza Cardenas ____________________________________________________________ Date: April 14, 2017 John Melillo Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case of Rihanna: Erotic Violence and Black Female Desire
    Fleetwood_Fleetwood 8/15/2013 10:52 PM Page 419 Nicole R. Fleetwood The Case of Rihanna: Erotic Violence and Black Female Desire Note: This article was drafted prior to Rihanna and Chris Brown’s public reconciliation, though their rekindled romance supports many of the arguments outlined herein. Fig. 1: Cover of Esquire, November 2011 issue, U. S. Edition. Photograph by Russell James. he November 2011 issue of Esquire magazine declares Rihanna “the sexiest Twoman alive.” On the cover, Rihanna poses nude with one leg propped, blocking view of her breast and crotch. The entertainer stares out provocatively, with mouth slightly ajar. Seaweed clings to her glistening body. A small gun tattooed under her right arm directs attention to her partially revealed breast. Rihanna’s hands brace her body, and her nails dig into her skin. The feature article and accompanying photographs detail the hyperbolic hotness of the celebrity; Ross McCammon, the article’s author, acknowledges that the pop star’s presence renders him speechless and unable to keep his composure. Interwoven into anecdotes and narrative scenes explicating Rihanna’s desirability as a sexual subject are her statements of her sexual appetite and the pleasure that she finds in particular forms of sexual play that rehearse gendered power inequity and the titillation of pain. That Rihanna’s right arm is carefully positioned both to show the tattoo of the gun aimed at her breast, and that her fingers claw into her flesh, commingle sexual pleasure and pain, erotic desire and violence. Here and elsewhere, Rihanna employs her body as a stage for the exploration of modes of violence structured into hetero- sexual desire and practices.
    [Show full text]
  • Uptownlive.Song List Copy.Pages
    Uptown Live Sample - Song List Top 40/ Pop 24k Gold - Bruno Mars Adventure of A Lifetime - Coldplay Aint My Fault - Zara Larsson All of Me (John Legend) Another You - Armin Van Buren Bad Romance -Lady Gaga Better Together -Jack Johnson Blame - Calvin Harris Blurred Lines -Robin Thicke Body Moves - DNCE Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas Cake By The Ocean - DNCE California Girls - Katy Perry Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen Can’t Feel My Face - The Weeknd Can’t Stop The Feeling - Justin Timberlake Cheap Thrills - Sia Cheerleader - OMI Clarity - Zedd feat. Foxes Closer - Chainsmokers Closer – Ne-Yo Cold Water - Major Lazer feat. Beiber Crazy - Cee Lo Crazy In Love - Beyoncé Despacito - Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Beiber DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again - Usher Don’t Know Why - Norah Jones Don’t Let Me Down - Chainsmokers Don’t Wanna Know - Maroon 5 Don’t You Worry Child - Sweedish House Mafia Dynamite - Taio Cruz Edge of Glory - Lady Gaga ET - Katy Perry Everything - Michael Bublé Feel So Close - Calvin Harris Firework - Katy Perry Forget You - Cee Lo FUN- Pitbull/Chris Brown Get Lucky - Daft Punk Girlfriend – Justin Bieber Grow Old With You - Adam Sandler Happy – Pharrel Hey Soul Sister – Train Hideaway - Kiesza Home - Michael Bublé Hot In Here- Nelly Hot n Cold - Katy Perry How Deep Is Your Love - Calvin Harris I Feel It Coming - The Weeknd I Gotta Feelin’ - Black Eyed Peas I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift I Want You To Know - Zedd feat. Selena Gomez I’ll Be - Edwin McCain I’m Yours - Jason Mraz In The Name of Love - Martin Garrix Into You - Ariana Grande It Aint Me - Kygo and Selena Gomez Jealous - Nick Jonas Just Dance - Lady Gaga Kids - OneRepublic Last Friday Night - Katy Perry Lean On - Major Lazer feat.
    [Show full text]
  • Vanessa Parish Episode Transcription.Docx
    EPISODE 34- Vanessa Parish [INTRODUCTION] [00:00:04] TR: Welcome back to the Afros and Knives Podcast, the interview series featuring black women working in food and beverage, wine, hospitality, food tech, food science, agriculture, food justice and food media. I am your host, Tiffani Rozier. This week’s guest is pastry chef, food writer and creator of the Pinch of Brown Sugar brand, Vanessa Parish. Vanessa’s work as a pastry chef and mental health advocate is shaped by her identity as a queer, black, indigenous woman moving through the world. She is an active board member of the Queer Food Foundation, whose mandate is to promote, protect, fund and create queer food spaces, and also to recognize honor and celebrate queer food workers and chefs. She is just launching a candle line called Vanessa Parrish Sweet Comfort. It is a collection of candles, inspired by some of your favorite desserts, like the sage and vanilla, which reminds you of an ice cream; let's see, apples and maple bourbon with caramelized pralines, then brown sugar, fig and cardamom. Be sure to visit the vanessaparish.com, in order to grab your candles. They do sell out. They do, they don’t end up out of stock, so you definitely want to get your hands on those. You can catch some of Vanessa’s work on Blavity, BET, Tasty. You can follow her work and her story on Instagram @PinchOfBrownSugar, as well as you can hunt the internet and find her on YouTube, Amazon Prime, Apple TV. She is everywhere.
    [Show full text]
  • MTO 23.2: Lafrance, Finding Love in Hopeless Places
    Finding Love in Hopeless Places: Complex Relationality and Impossible Heterosexuality in Popular Music Videos by Pink and Rihanna Marc Lafrance and Lori Burns KEYWORDS: Pink, Rihanna, music video, popular music, cross-domain analysis, relationality, heterosexuality, liquid love ABSTRACT: This paper presents an interpretive approach to music video analysis that engages with critical scholarship in the areas of popular music studies, gender studies and cultural studies. Two key examples—Pink’s pop video “Try” and Rihanna’s electropop video “We Found Love”—allow us to examine representations of complex human relationality and the paradoxical challenges of heterosexuality in late modernity. We explore Zygmunt Bauman’s notion of “liquid love” in connection with the selected videos. A model for the analysis of lyrics, music, and images according to cross-domain parameters ( thematic, spatial & temporal, relational, and gestural ) facilitates the interpretation of the expressive content we consider. Our model has the potential to be applied to musical texts from the full range of musical genres and to shed light on a variety of social and cultural contexts at both the micro and macro levels. Received December 2016 Volume 23, Number 2, June 2017 Copyright © 2017 Society for Music Theory [1.1] This paper presents and applies an analytic model for interpreting representations of gender, sexuality, and relationality in the words, music, and images of popular music videos. To illustrate the relevance of our approach, we have selected two songs by mainstream female artists who offer compelling reflections on the nature of heterosexual love and the challenges it poses for both men and women.
    [Show full text]
  • How to Talk with Children About the Coronavirus
    Mental Health and Social Supports How to Talk With Children About the Coronavirus Children are naturally curious. The closing of schools affects children directly. As a result, they will likely have many questions about what the virus is, why schools are closed, and why they have limited access to friends and family. When speaking with children it is important to do the following: • Reassure children that you are doing everything that you can to keep them safe. • Children will respond to what you say and how you say it, so do your best to stay calm and remain reassuring. • Make sure that children know that they can come to you when they have questions. Make time to speak with them, and have that time be as uninterrupted as possible. • Be honest with them. When accurate information isn’t available, children often think of the worst-case scenario. Don’t ignore their concerns, but explain that some people have COVID-19. Let them know that schools are closed to slow the spread of the virus across the state, not necessarily because there are cases in their school. • Avoid language that may lead to blame or stigma. Remind them that the virus can make anyone sick regardless of their race or age. • Pay attention to what children hear on the television or radio, and see online. Make sure to vary what they are seeing and hearing, and encourage them to practice a digitally healthy lifestyle. Too much information focused on COVID-19 can cause children to experience anxiety or panic. • Teach children everyday actions to stop the spread of germs, like how to wash their hands and appropriate social distancing behavior.
    [Show full text]
  • Julius Wellhausen, Anti-Judaism, and Hebrew Bible Scholarship
    religions Article Unapologetic Apologetics: Julius Wellhausen, Anti-Judaism, and Hebrew Bible Scholarship Stacy Davis Department of Religious Studies and Theology Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA; [email protected] Abstract: Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918) is in many ways the ancestor of modern Hebrew Bible scholarship. His Prolegomena to the History of Israel condensed decades of source critical work on the Torah into a documentary hypothesis that is still taught today in almost all Hebrew Bible courses in some form. What is not taught as frequently is the anti-Judaism that underpins his hypothesis. This is in part due to unapologetic apologetics regarding Wellhausen’s bias, combined with the insistence that a nineteenth-century scholar cannot be judged by twenty-first century standards. These calls for compassion are made exclusively by white male scholars, leaving Jewish scholars the solitary task of pointing out Wellhausen’s clear anti-Judaism. In a discipline that is already overwhelmingly white, male and Christian, the minimizing of Wellhausen’s racism suggests two things. First, those who may criticize contextual biblical studies done by women and scholars of color have no problem pleading for a contextual understanding of Wellhausen while downplaying the growing anti-Judaism and nationalism that was a part of nineteenth-century Germany. Second, recent calls for inclusion in the Society of Biblical Literature may be well intentioned but ultimately useless if the guild cannot simply call one of its most brilliant founders the biased man that he was. Keywords: Wellhausen; anti-Judaism; historical context Citation: Davis, Stacy. 2021. Unapologetic Apologetics: Julius Wellhausen, Anti-Judaism, and Hebrew Bible Scholarship.
    [Show full text]
  • Golden Note Entertainment Inc. Entertainment Checklist
    Golden Note Entertainment Inc. Entertainment Checklist Initial Consultation Have a very informative meeting and learn about all of the wonderful services. Sign a contract and book a really awesome Entertainer. Receive organizational material. Go home knowing that you made a wise decision. One Month Prior to Affair Start filling out information in folder and picking out music. Check contract and verify all times and event venue are still the same. Notify entertainer of any changes in contract. Decide if you wish to upgrade or add anything to your package. Prepare a copy of your floor plan, CDs to be given to entertainer, and have the name address and phone number of your photographer and videographer ready for final. Two Weeks Prior to Affair Meet with Entertainer for Final Consultation. MAKE SURE YOU: o Fill out Wedding Sheet – Special Notes – Special Requests. Remember, all information during the final consultation is final. Golden Note does not guarantee to accommodate any changes after the final consultation! Announcements and special notes are easy. We pride ourselves on taking care of almost every request from our client. Doing this takes time. Please make sure that if you have any music changes after the final, that you bring the CD’s to the event with you. o Have a copy of your floor plan. o Have the name, address, and phone number of the photographer and videographer. Pay final balance if any. Day Prior to Affair If paying balance on the day of the affair, be sure it’s prepared in cash, certified check, or money order.
    [Show full text]
  • Popular Culture and the Remapping of Barbadian Identity
    “In Plenty and In Time of Need”: Popular Culture and the Remapping of Barbadian Identity by Lia Tamar Bascomb A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in African American Studies in the Graduate Division of University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Leigh Raiford, Chair Professor Brandi Catanese Professor Nadia Ellis Professor Laura Pérez Spring 2013 “In Plenty and In Time of Need”: Popular Culture and the Remapping of Barbadian Identity © 2013 by Lia Tamar Bascomb 1 Abstract “In Plenty and In Time of Need”: Popular Culture and the Remapping of Barbadian Identity by Lia Tamar Bascomb Doctor of Philosophy in African American Studies University of California at Berkeley Professor Leigh Raiford, Chair This dissertation is a cultural history of Barbados since its 1966 independence. As a pivotal point in the Transatlantic Slave Trade of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, one of Britain’s most prized colonies well into the mid twentieth century, and, since 1966, one of the most stable postcolonial nation-states in the Western hemisphere, Barbados offers an extremely important and, yet, understudied site of world history. Barbadian identity stands at a crossroads where ideals of British respectability, African cultural retentions, U.S. commodity markets, and global economic flows meet. Focusing on the rise of Barbadian popular music, performance, and visual culture this dissertation demonstrates how the unique history of Barbados has contributed to complex relations of national, gendered, and sexual identities, and how these identities are represented and interpreted on a global stage. This project examines the relation between the global pop culture market, the Barbadian artists within it, and the goals and desires of Barbadian people over the past fifty years, ultimately positing that the popular culture market is a site for postcolonial identity formation.
    [Show full text]
  • Hardly That Kind of Girl?
    Hardly That Kind of Girl? On Female Representations in Mainstream Pop Music Videos Kai Arne Hansen Master Thesis Department of Musicology University of Oslo Spring semester 2011 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This master thesis would not have been completed without the help and support of a number of people, and I want to extend my sincerest thanks to the following: First of all, my supervisor Professor Stan Hawkins at the Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, has done a remarkable job in both challenging and inspiring me. Your efforts and patience is much appreciated, and the degree to which you believe in my work has meant a lot to me throughout the process. Thanks is also due to all Professors and academic staff at the Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, and also to my fellow students. The creative and inspiring atmosphere at IMV could not exist without you. Karl Magnus Bjorøy has remained a close friend and adequate sparring-partner throughout my entire writing process; both your friendship and advice is valued equally. Thanks to Even Bekkedal for supplying constant support and encouragement. I would not have been without our chats and banter, nor our endevours in procastination. A special thanks to Egil Marstein Bauer for helpful suggestions and proofreading, your enthusiasm and support is greatly appreciated. iii I would also like to thank all of my friends on a general basis. None mentioned, none forgotten. You make my days, weeks, and years much brighter, and I cannot imagine life without you. My sincerest gratitude to my family. You have supported me continously in my studies over the last years.
    [Show full text]