Intertextuality

Intertextuality is incorporated into many artists' music videos. Intertextuality is the idea of combining two existing ideas to create a final product. In the case of a music video, this can be done by:

• basing the music video around a film, e.g. Madonna's "Material Girl" is based upon the film "Gentleman Prefer Blondes".
• basing the music video around a TV show, e.g. the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" is based on the TV show "Starsky & Hutch".
• basing the video on: a comic strip, news report, a storyteller, video game ect.

By doing this the artist is trying to make a reference to their audience that they hope they will find interesting. However, not all of the audience will notice this reference and they will just see the music video as it is and not what it represents.

 Here are some examples:

Robbie Williams' "You Know Me" is based upon the novel 'Alice In Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll. Williams falls asleep and ends up in a fantasy world, dressed as a rabbit. This is highly similar to that of the plot line in the novel of "Alice in Wonderland", where Alice falls asleep and ends up in 'wonderland'. There is a tea-table set up as to represent that of the 'Mad-haters Tea party' that features in the novel. One of the characters that features in the novel is a rabbit, whom, is particularly well-known for his catch phrase "I'm late". The fact that Robbie is dressed as a rabbit further hints that Williams is trying to convey that his music video is based upon "Alice in Wonderland", as it could be that Williams is trying to convey this character.

Taylor Swift's "Love Story" is seemingly based upon Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet". The song was used in the movie "Letters to Juliet" (2010) that is also based upon the idea of "Romeo & Juliet". The song features the idea that Swift plays "Juliet" and she is searching for her 'Romeo'. One huge difference throughout the video is the ending. In Shakespeare's version, there is no happy ending for Romeo & Juliet. However, in Taylor Swift's version, there is a happy ending; this has been done to match the genre of her music video and to appeal more to her fans. The lyrics are from the perspective of Juliet, which adds to the sense that this video is based upon the play. The story is moved into a modern setting, and features 'Juliet' searching for her 'Romeo' as the main plot line.