Intertextuality

Intertextuality

Madonna

Many artists have incorporated intertextuality in their music videos to make specific references to significant events, people or culture. Many artists do this for reasons such as popularity by making a reference to a popular book will boost the amount viewing the music video. Intertextuality is often quite hard to incorporate into a music video as usually the thing that is being incorporated has to be well known, easy to create and has to have a meaning for the music video to work. 

One of the most well known examples of intertextuality is Madonna "Material Girl". In her music video she makes a clear reference to Marilyn Monroe in "Diamonds are forever" in the way that she dressed and the background. In the footage Madonna is dressed in a similar pink dress, same hair cut, similar necklace and bracelets with men next to her holding love hearts. People who saw this footage were able to know where the reference and inspiration came from because it was such an iconic Marilyn Monroe moment therefore gaining Madonna more viewers on her music video generating popularity. Popularity being one of the reasons why musicians would incorporate intertextuality in their music videos.

 

Lady Gaga Ft. Beyonce ‘Telephone’

The video features references from a lot of different films and places, but perhaps the most dominant is the Quentin Tarantino style movies the video referenced throughout, featuring many from Tarantino’s catalogue. The first one I spotted was right at the beginning, the yellow title card text with a red drop shadow, a very similar font to that used in Jackie Brown.

 

Another Quentin Tarantino reference made was to the Getaway way car that Beyonce drives Lady Gaga away in, called the ‘Pussy Wagon’. This is a reference to the film Kill Bill where Uma Thurman steals and drives the very same car.

 

Lady Gaga names Beyonce as “Honey Bee” In the diner, just before they pull off their murder spree. This seems to be a reference to the nickname “Honey Bunny,” the nickname given to one of the two robbers in the famous diner scene in Pulp Fiction, one of Tarantino’s films.

Another Pulp Fiction reference, is the “To be continued…” title card at the end of video could be referencing one of the famous lines in Pulp Fiction. “To be continued” is a John Travolta quote at the end of Pulp Fiction leaving it on an enigma, like the video for Telephone. 

There are lots of other film references unrelated to any of the QuentinTarantino films such as Thelma & Louise. The film about two women driving away from the law. As Lady Gaga and Beyonce drive off into the distance at the end, it gives a the Thelma and Louise

ending, which ends as they speed off a cliff in a shocking ending.