Intertextuality

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the way in which media texts refer to another. This can either be obvious or just small, subtle hints throughout the text. Intertextuality may refer to other the same texts or different texts such as music videos, movies, literature, TV shows and even historical events.

POP 101 - Marianas Trench

Marianas Trench song POP 101 is supposed to be a song which teaches us how a pop song is made. Throughout the music video it gives many references to different popular music videos of the time.

At the start of the video Marianas Trench makes reference to Iggy azalea's Fancy music video, as he parodies it to show that he is going to be teaching us how to create a pop song.

Later on we see the 'iconic' party scene from pop songs. This part of the video uses iconography to show the use of alcohol through the plastic red cups. In this scene we also see a slow motion builder spraying alcohol on himself to try and create a sexual look. This gives reference to the satisfaction music video which was highly sexualised.

Marianas Trench then continues to make reference to the black eyed peas by copying their I gotta feeling music video, and even linking the visuals with the lyrics which go 'guitar and strings like these to sound like black eyed peas'. 

After this they make reference to Mumford and Sons by making it look like they have recorded it in a barn, and by copying the instruments they have used. This also shows that, as Rick Altman said, there is no more pure genre. Mumford and Sons is a cross between pop and country which is shown by the location, as barns and hay is an icon for country music, as is the banjo which is used in both videos. 

Marianas Trench then continue to recreate even more music videos by creating the controversial 'Blurred Lines' music video. This was controversial for many reasons, the main one being the high amount of nudity in the video. However, in the Marianas Trench POP 101 version, the cover up the nudity.

Marianas Trench even pay homage to Katy Perry by recreating her as a person with bright pink hair. This is another example of how popular artists have specific icons, such as Katy Perry's bright hair from her California girls video.

He then tries to recreate another controversial music video which was Miley Cyrus' We Can't Stop music video by copying the close up shots of her face. After she changed her image from a 'good girl' country singer to a pop artist who doesn't care about what people think, a lot of people judged her so she continued to do what she wants. However, because of the controversy, Miley Cyrus ended up being plastered all over the news and therefore ended up being well known and managed to get we can't stop up to number two on the billboard hot 100.

Pop 101 also reflects the zeitgeist by showing twerking. This dance move originated in the 1980's but then came back when Miley Cyrus started twerking at the MTV music awards in 2013 and has since became a popular dance move. 

Theyt even try and duplicate LMFAO's popular music video, sexy and I know it. They use the same hair and glasses, to make it obvious what they are doing.