Production Diary 5 - Intertextuality

Intertextuality within music videos is when a piece of text is present within another text. Within music videos, aspects of famous films are very common and likely to appear. Some examples of intertextuality within music videos include Ashanti-Foolish, Iggy Azelea- Fancy, and Madonna- Material Girl.

Within Ashanti’s music video for foolish, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas is heavily referenced. The entire music video refers to the film. Iggy Azeala’s video for fancy similarly refers to the famous film Clueless throughout the entirety of the music video, replicating identical shots and costume. Madonna’s Material Girl intertextualises the film that stars Marilyn Monroe, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. There is one shot in particular that instantly communicates the intertextuality of the film within the music video. It is a medium shot of Madonna dressed in a pink dress as Marilyn wore, surrounded by men in black suits.

Audiences enjoy being able to recognise media products interweaved into another. The use of very famous films such as Goodfellas and Clueless rather than unpopular films allow a large amount of the audience to identify the intertextuality, meaning that they can relate to the text.