Video Analysis
To gain a better idea of what is expected from similar music videos, I will take an analytical approach to different music videos of the same genre as the Hoosiers. As their genre of alternative has many sub-genres, I will try to include a range of songs from some the Hoosiers usually delve into, such as Pop rock and Indie rock.
Centuries - Fall out boy
Centuries by Fall out Boy has a very memorable and distinctive music video. It revolves around the Bible story of David and Goliath, where the band members work together to make a slingshot as in the story to kill the champion gladiator, who may be human sized but plays his roll as the giant by dominating the band members in the arena, displaying the same kind of hopelessness of success as David faced against Goliath. The music video continues the Biblical theme by using a lot of Christian imagery, such as replacing the "T" in the title with a cross and having someone nailed to a cross. They deviate slightly by including black people, a man on the cross and a women in the emperor's harem, who were never mentioned in the Bible and would not have been present in the time period.
Goodbye Mr A - The Hoosier
Continuing the theme of intertextuality, we have the Hoosier's own Goodbye Mr A, one of their most famous and successful songs and music videos. The overall aesthetic of the video is superheroes, portraying the band as superheroes directly based on and in reference of popular comic book, and even Disney characters. These characters being:
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Irwin Sparkes: Disney's The Incredibles (Mask).
Alphonso Sharland: Marvel's Thor (Hammer).
Martin Skarendahl: Marvel's Magneto (Helmet).
All 3: DC's Batman (Utility belt) and Superman (Underwear on the outside, their capes and power of flight).
Mr A: DC's The Flash (Wings on mask) and Captain Atom (Colour scheme, A for Atom), as well as Marvel's Captain America (Mask with "A" on his forehead).
But the pop-culture references don't stop there, we see the lead singer Irwin playing the video game Fifa, a reference to the fact that Goodbye Mr A was featured in the sound track of Fifa 08.
They also sneak in a Ghostbusters reference as a pun. Next to their HQ's phone reads the legend "Hoosier gonna call?" A play on the popular Ghostbuster's motto "Who ya gonna call?". Not only does this provide a reference, but also a light-hearted pun, which makes them seem casual, as they are joking for their fans, which is integral to their band image, and is a nice convention of Alternative rock bands.
Roar - Katy Perry
Intertextuality is used frequently by indie and pop rock music videos in an attempt to connect and related to their audience through relatable references, such as the famous "Hoosier gonna call", a reference to the Ghostbusters seen in the Hoosiers' Goodbye Mr A. In Katy Perry's Roar video, during the first scene the title is presented in a similar font to the Indiana Jones movies. This reference is further emphasised by Katy Perry's character's boyfriend, whose costume is strikingly similar to Indiana's. Similarly, references to media in a similar scenery to the video is shown, including George of the Jungle through the mid shot of Katy looking over the jungle and the tracking shot of the tucan, even referencing Tarzan when she swings from branch to branch.
Katy's character becomes progressively more confident and powerful as the video goes one, starting off as a stereotypical scared, defenceless women and ending as a strong, animal like empress of the jungle. She still maintains however, many stereotypes of women in the media, being highly sexualized through her costume, which exposes her breasts so much, and the high angles throw them into even greater focus. More evidence of her sexualization is found in one of the last scenes, where she is sitting on a throne. While this should look empowering, the effect is ruined by her spreading her legs at the camera. This could however be interpreted as an anti-stereotype, showing her as not afraid to position herself like this because society deems it distasteful.
Women are not the only ones stereotyped in this genre, in my previous two examples, the band members were portrayed as either manly warriors or man-children playing superhero. While this is definitely in a much more acceptable light than the sexualization of women, it is still noteworthy that the same formula applies regardless of gender, if in different ways.