Blog Task 5 - Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin believes that most media theories don't apply to pop music videos, for example, Todorov's theory of equilibrium. This theory states that there's am equilibrium (balance) at the beginning of the text, something that ruins that, and another (or the same) equilibrium is found at the end.

Pop videos aren't made to tell a realistic story such as a TV Programme is. These music videos normally follow the lyrics of the song playing, giving a vague narrative that fans' of the song will recognise, and even gain a batter understanding of the song. Pop videos are entertaining, helping the artist gain popularity of the song. The forth wall is often broken in pop videos. This happens in many ways, the main way is through the artist looking directly into the camera, drawing the audience in. This is something we never see in a TV programme.

However, most pop videos do, to an extent, follow some mainstream media theories. As they do show a beginning equilibrium, middle problem, and an end equilibrium.

A good example of Andrew Goodwin's theory is 'California Gurls' by Katy Perry Ft. Snoop Dogg. There is no distinct narrative in the video. As far as the audience can tell, Snoop Dogg is controlling 'California Girls' in the form of a board game. The lack of narrative supports the lack of narrative in the song lyrics, as it's fun and carefree. This video was a success as it gave Katy Perry a brand identity. For a long time after the video's release, the main image used for Katy Perry in media texts was an image made from the video.