Lucente 1

Beth Lucente

MIT 3651f

Making a Music Video that Stands Out From the Crowd: The Use of Pastiche and Parody

When one is a fan of a particular artist, it is likely that they are also interested in that artist’s musical genre. Consequently, one would listens to other similar artists within that particular genre. This means that audiences come to expect certain recurring characteristics within an artist’s music video based on what genre of music is being produced. Wale’s “Break Up Song” and The New Pornographers “Moves” are two music videos from different musical genres that are able to challenge standard tropes seen in most rock and rap music videos. While both music videos deal with similar themes of struggling for the things you love, and imitate Hollywood style narratives, Wale uses pastiche whereas The New Pornographers use parody within their videos. While Wale and the New Pornographers use different techniques, both music videos accomplish the same kind of unpredictability. This is important because it allows the artist an opportunity to stand out from their genre. It essentially increases both Wale and The

New Pornographers’ authenticity as artists as they strive to be unique and different from conventional music videos within their musical genres.

In “Female Body Image as Function of Themes in Rap Music Videos: A Content

Analysis,” Zhang et al. researched what themes have been most conveyed within rap music videos. A predominant theme they found was soaring levels of violent imagery and sexual content and permissive messages (Zhang et al 789). Female characters are often shown as sexual objects in rap music videos. Their only purpose is being visually Lucente 2 appealing to the audience and the rapper within the video. Zhang et al. write that females in rap videos “often wear provocative clothes and behave in submissive ways” (Zhang e al. 789).

At times, rap videos also depict violent physical abuse between rappers and women. Women are often depicted as deserving a violent outburst because she has been unfaithful or untrustworthy. In her expose “Love Hurts: Rap’s Black Eye”, journalist

Elizabeth Mendez Berry “does not rely on conventional forgiving narratives of black male aggression toward women, but forces readers to seriously consider the authentic reality of the pimp/hustla hyperbold” (qtd. in Fitts 215).

Another theme that can be frequently seen within rap music videos is political awareness. Zhang et al write, “Some researchers have suggested that much of rap music attempts to accentuate social problems as an expression of dissatisfaction with life and disaffection toward mainstream society...rap music may also be used as a vehicle to fight oppression from the dominant culture” (Zhang et al. 789). Rappers are often featured in their old neighborhoods where poverty and drug addiction are serious problems.

Uneducated societies are often emphasized. These same researchers noted that rap videos also frequently “manifest consumption activities and material wealth” through the video’s visuals (Zhang et al. 789). These rappers want to be shown as successful but having struggled to achieve it.

In his article, “Drop It Like It’s Hot: Culture Industry Laborers and Their

Perspectives on Rap Music Video Production,” Mako Fitts explains that rap music videos rely on this formulaic video imagery that highlights a rapper’s accumulated wealth and Lucente 3 property (Fitts 211). Women and materialistic gain are visually depicted in rap videos because “the visual imagery [is] all about the linguistic and sexual bravado of rappers...Rappers partake in mental masturbation and ego-stoking...to access the hottest women, to acquire the most money...and to display extreme wealth, which symbolizes status and authority” (Fitts 212). Fitts gives the example of rapper Nelly’s 2004 music video for “Tip Drill” as a conventionally over sexualized and materialistic rap video.

The video shows Nelly and his gang throwing “money at women’s scantily clad body parts, namely the buttocks, while defining a “tip drill” according to this verse: “it must be yo ass cuz it ain’t yo face/I need a (tip drill).” In addition to throwing money and alcohol, toward the end Nelly swipes a credit card through a woman’s buttocks” (Fitts 226).

In “Is it More than Rock and Roll?: Considering Music Video as Argument,”

Gregg B. Walker and Melinda A. Bender write that just like rap music videos, with rock videos, “sexism is fairly high...it is common for women to be used exclusively as decorative objects and that rock videos glorify luxury and material wealth” (Walker and

Bender 67).

Rock music videos often show bands performing at a venue. Alcohol, drugs and hard partying imagery are often also depicted. Hansen and Hansen write, “sex and violence “sells”; that, for whatever reason, violence and sex exert an attractive force on the audience that increases enjoyment and enhances positive evaluations of rock music videos” (Hansen and Hansen 213).

Beebe refers to pastiche as displaying “the virtuosity of the practitioner rather than the absurdity of the object” (Beebe 305). Wale’s “Break Up Song” can be defined Lucente 4 as pastiche because it directly imitates scenes from the 2009 film 500 Days of Summer.

The film focuses on a relationship between a young man and woman. While the man finds himself in love, the woman does not return these feelings. In the music video, Wale is shown in the exact same predicament. While he raps about ending a relationship, direct scenes from 500 Days of Summer are imitated. The beginning of both the film and music video has a narrator introduce the man and woman. The narrator then warns: “this is not a love story.” Another direct example of pastiche is the use of split screen shots. Both the film and music video have split screen shots with the left side depicting

“expectations” and the right side showing “reality.” In both the film and the music video, these split screen shots occur at a party setting. The expectations screen shows Wale and his love interest alone talking whereas the reality side shows a bunch of people talking in a group.

Taking direct scenes from a film and using them within his rap video allows Wale to transcend what is generally considered to be a conventional rap music video. There is one female character within the video and the visuals show that she and Wale are in a legitimate relationship. He treats her with kindness and respect throughout the video even as she breaks up with him. Wale makes it known that he is in love and even interrupts the music at one point to tell his two friends “I love her smile... I love the way she says my name. It’s like when I’m with her anything is possible.” This is another example of direct pastiche as the main character in 500 Days of Summer proclaims his love in the same manner. Wale is not concerned with being depicted as an alpha male Lucente 5 who gets beautiful women whenever he pleases. Despite the woman breaking his heart,

Wale is never shown being violent or disrespectful. The visuals within the video work well with his lyrics to show the struggles of love. For example, while Wale raps, “Your new man got my respect/So if I do call it's just to check,” the visuals depict the couple doing their laundry and having their first kiss. This is another direct instance of pastiche as the film shows the couple having their first kiss in the photocopier room. It is also important to note that she is not overtly sexualized in her appearance. She is attractive but wearing appropriate attire throughout the video.

While Wale has the video take place in Washington D.C where he grew up, he chooses to feature the majority of the video at a university campus. Both he and his love interest are university educated and there is no mention of a “ghetto past.” Wale’s wealth is never emphasized. He is depicted just like any other college student would be. Using elements of pastiche give this music video a Hollywood narrative feel. The entire film is essentially reenacted within the 4-minute video.

In Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video from The Beatles to the

White Stripes, Saul Austerlitz writes,

The presence of half-nude women in the background of practically every music video ever made has grown so commonplace that it appears almost unworthy of mention. Music videos, for the most part, are intended for men’s eyes, providing them with endless opportunities to delectate in the spectacle of beautiful women performing for their pleasure (Austerlitz 4).

The New Pornographers chose a much different route for their music video for “Moves.”

There is no spectacle of beautiful women within the video. In fact, men dress in drag to Lucente 6 portray a few female characters. Austerlitz writes, “In music video, the primary role of women is to serve as eye candy and any deviation is seen as a variation to the norm”

(Austerlitz 4). Parody is used within the video which allows a shift from a conventionally over sexualized rock music video into what Pitchfork writer Tom Breihan describes as “an extended trailer for the most cliche-heavy, debauched rock-star biopic imaginable” (“Director's Cut: The New Pornographers: "Moves"”).

While Wale chooses to be both performer and main character within “Break Up

Song,” The New Pornographers do not appear within the video and instead have actors portray the band members. Director of the video, Tom Scharpling states that the objective of the video was that “if you were to watch this biopic, it'd be the worst thing you'd ever seen. It's a bad movie trailer. It's sloppily made and inaccurate, and the story doesn't track, and the people mostly don't look anything like the people in the band” (qtd. in

“Director's Cut: The New Pornographers: "Moves"”). Notably, comedian Jon Wurster plays a “manic, over-the-top performance as New Pornographers leader Carl Newman-- or some excess-addicted alternate-universe version of Newman, at least” (“Director's Cut:

The New Pornographers: "Moves"”).

The video does an excellent job of parodying a bad movie trailer. There are scenes with overlying text meant to draw a viewer into the narrative the same way a real movie trailer does. The trailer for the fake film entitled, “The Rise and Rise of The New

Pornographers” deals with the struggles of fame and success and is able to encapsulate an entire similarly themed film into the 4-minute music video. There is the opening scene of a child meant to be a young Carl Newman with the text: “the boy who had a dream...” Lucente 7 which quickly leads to an older Newman forming his band with the text “became the man who challenged destiny.” The band is then shown in a car being attacked by fans as they

“[become] the group that shook the world.” Hard partying scenes of the band drinking and doing drugs as well as a quick shot of protestors with signs that say “Canadians Go

Home” allude to an upcoming downfall of the group that a Hollywood narrative would include yet Scharpling states,

I've seen so many [biopics], and they tend to follow the same arc. [New Pornographers frontman] Carl Newman was like, "What if we just never fail?" It was perfect. I wrote it off of that premise-- instead of the usual second-act turn where everything goes south because they get decadent, they get rewarded for their decadence. A lot of times, that is how it works (“Director's Cut: The New Pornographers: "Moves"”).

Frederic Jameson states, “pastiche is, like parody, the imitation of a peculiar or unique style, the wearing of a stylistic mask...but it is a neutral practice of such mimicry, without parody’s ulterior motive, without the satirical impulse, without laughter” (qtd. in

Curry 15). With this definition, one can clearly see how Wale’s “Break Up Song” represents pastiche while The New Pornographers’ “Moves” represents parody. “Moves” pokes fun at Carl Newman’s infamous red hair and makes no attempt at appearing to be realistic. It imitates well-known movie trailer conventions for film biopics meant to invoke emotion within the audience but manipulates it to ensure the audience understands the parody nature of the video. The characters are all over the top and were purposely cast to not look like the band members. With “Break Up Song,” Wale is put in a scenario taken directly from the film 500 Days of Summer. While the music video has changed the location of the film, there are overt references from the film shown within the video. Lucente 8

When one is a fan of a particular artist, it is likely that they are also interested in that artist’s musical genre. Consequently, one would listens to other similar artists within that particular genre. This leads to audiences coming to expect certain recurring characteristics within an artist’s music video based on what genre of music is being created. Wale’s “Break Up Song” and The New Pornographers “Moves” are two music videos from different musical genres that are able to dispute standard tropes seen in most rock and rap music videos. While both music videos deal with similar themes of the struggle for the things one loves, and imitate Hollywood style narratives, Wale uses pastiche whereas The New Pornographers use parody within their videos. While Wale and the New Pornographers use different techniques, both music videos achieve the same breed of unpredictability. This is significant because it allows the artist an opportunity to stand out from their genre. It essentially increases both Wale and The New

Pornographers’ authenticity as artists as they strive to be unique and different from conventional music videos within their particular musical genres.

Works Cited

Austerlitz, Saul. Money for nothing: a history of the music video, from the Beatles to the

White Stripes. New York: Continuum, 2007. Print.

Breihan, Tom. "Director's Cut: The New Pornographers: "Moves" | News Pitchfork."

Pitchfork. N.p., 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 Nov. 2011. Lucente 9

.

Curry, Ramona. "Madonna from Marilyn to Marlene: Pastiche and/or Parody?." Journal

of Film and Video 42.2 (1990): 15-30. Print.

Fitts, Mako. ""Drop It Like It's Hot" Culture Industry Laborers and Their Perspectives on

Rap Music Video Production." Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism 8.1

(2008): 211-235. Print.

Hansen, Christine Hall, and Ranald D. Hansen. "The Influence of Sex and Violence on

the Appeal of Rock Music Videos." Communicative Research 17.0 (1990): 212-

234. Print.

Walker, Gregg B., and Melinda A. Bender. "Is it More than Rock and Roll?: Considering

Music Video as a Argument." Argumentation and Advocacy 31.2 (1994): 64-79.

Print.

Zhang, Yuanyuan, Travis L. Dixon, and Kate Conrad. "Female Body Image as a Function

of Themes in Rap Music Videos: A Content Analysis ." Sex Roles 62.0 (2010):

787-797. Print.