Andrew Goodwin & his Theories

Andrew Goodwin’s Music Theory From “Dancing in the Distraction Factory” (1992) and how it has Changed

In 1992 Andrew Goodwin came up with a theory about the forms and conventions of music videos. The characteristics of these were:

1.    Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics e.g. rock videos being made up of stage performance and girl bands having dance routines.

2.    There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.

3.    There is a relationship between music and visuals.

4.    There is a frequent reference to voyeurism, especially with objectification of the female body.

5.    There is often inter-textual reference (often to film, TV, children’s stories etc.)

Over the years this has gradually changed with artists becoming more experimental with their videos and the conventions of them but largely this has stayed the same.

One example of breaking the gender stereotype is Jennifer Lopez song “I Luh ya Papi” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4oiEhf9M04) which while sticking largely to the forms and conventions of a hip-hop video while the voyeurism is largely sexually objectifying the male figure whereas usually this would be the female being objectified.

Another good example, which breaks Andrew Goodwin’s theory, is the video for the Chemical Brothers song “Star Guitar”. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S43IwBF0uM) During the video the artist does not appear and there is no clear story. The video features timed scenery in the foreground and background to go with the beat of the song. In Goodwin’s theory he believes that there should be an artist represented or a narrative story.

The song  “feels like we only go Backwards” by Tame Impala (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wycjnCCgUes) also breaks Andrew Goodwin’s theory in a very similar way to the chemical brothers. The song does not feature the artist and is done in one scene where visuals are placed to fit with the music. The lack of staged performance especially breaks convention due to the genre of the song.

While much has changed in music videos they largely stay true to Goodwin’s forms and conventions. Music videos of today are becoming more experimental featuring different themes such as the sexuality of men rather than women.

by Robert Rickers & Kieran Webber