Analysis of 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles and 'Proppihola' by Chicane - Luke Parker

Analysis of 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles

 and 'Proppiholla' by Chicane

Straw in Goodwin et al, 2000 stated music videos are indicative of the development of media and culture, and that music videos have similar characteristics to advertising and Jazz music as they were perceived as a negative aspect for our developing society and would affect our current 'Stability' as videos allowed audiences to gain deeper meaning into the motivations behind the producers. Artists and producers were now empowered to express themselves not only through the linguistic meaning and interpretation of the lyrics but through the visual representation of our culture and modern day society. This opened up a new prospect for the music industry and for artists on the global scale as through the hypodermic needle theory, the audience are passed the hidden or sometimes evident ideology. 'Video killed the radio star' by the Buggles was the first music video broadcast on the redefining MTV channel. It is an ironic reflection on the 'Golden age' of the radio' and a unique portrayal of our postmodern society. In post modernistic society the texts main function is to be read by an academic audience who can interpret its metaphorical and literal meaning in order to stimulate an intellectual. The television as a medium has been seen as the embodiment of our postmodern society and the song this can be 'ironically' distinguished in 'Video killed the Radio star'. In context, the video is an expression on the cultural view at the time, whereby space travel and the exploration of the universe was becoming more proliferated and at the forefront of the media, and this reflected in the video. Also the video deals with gender issues of the time, and the struggle to live and survive in a postmodern culture. Finally it deals with the problematic issue that audiences were becoming more disconnected and disjointed from society with the proliferation and advancement of technology.

The title of the song is particularly significant in creating an immediate impression on the audience and establishing the narrative for the music video. 'Video killed the radio star', is an ironic reflection as it is modern day pop song reflecting on the past using a range of different techniques including the use of a futuristic synthesizer and postmodern ideas of  the audience using music videos as a way of surveillance and to keep up with the ever changing norms and values. It is also a reflection on society’s social change from the radio being the main medium in transferring the upper classes ideological messages directly to the audience, to the television and videos dominating the ideological control.

The mechanistic approaches portrayed in this video through the different technical elements are reflective of society’s conversion to a digitalised age and a sign of the disconnection with reality. This can also be seen throughout the video as a reoccurring theme for example, the beginning of the video opens with a slow zoom out from a medium shot focusing the audience on the image of the glowing moon,  as it appearing in the centre of the rule of thirds over layered with shimmering water. This links into the space age of technological development as the audience are gazing at the moon as a signifier of wonder and amazement in human history. This can be seen contextually in other music artists of this period, of the paranoia and ideology of the space age for example 'The Carpenters' produced a track called, 'Space Encounters' in 1798, which showed the audiences fascination which the new culturally established normality which shows the broad nature and extent of this popular ideology.  This is also a insight into the of the idealistic view of the 'Golden age' of the radio. The producers are giving the audience a view of the past and contrasting it with the new age of the media. The camera continues to pull out as there is an explosion off centre. This has connotations of the powerless nature of the simplistic, ideology of the world, which is submissive to the technological era. This reiterates the metaphorical meaning of the video that the naturalistic and creative spirit of people has been withdrawn. The initial soundtrack of the video is a soft tempo piano which further reinforces the message that society has become non-traditional and subjective. The black and white main character has a mechanised overlay over his dialogue where the vocals have a limited bandwidth. This is symbolic of the idealistic view of the past as a simplistic and individualistic period of time. This is a constant theme in the music video and establishes his importance and power within this music video. The black and white gives the character a nostalgic presence, which contrasts with his initial role as the powerful figure. He acts as a narrator and observer on the change in society, and is resembling of the past and his identity is lost through the development of technology. The use of the radio microphone is symbolic of the age of the character and acts as a metaphor for the past. Another example in this media text of the mechanisation of the instruments. There is a medium shot focusing on a male playing the piano. The camera then moves in a diagonal line to reveal television screen, where a drum is hit twice. This is to represent that creative elements for example musical instruments were becoming digitalised. The musicians are disjointed from society. This is seen firstly through the facial expressions of the characters which are emotionless and disconnected from their individualistic natures. Also can be seen through their demeanour as they are robotic in their movements and monotonous. The Mise en scene of the characters and also reflects the mechanisation of our society. The main vocal character is wearing a plain white coat, which is an reference to the educated professionals such as scientists or doctors, which refers to creative progress of the music industry which has been reduced and mechanised. It also establishes his authority and hierarchical status in society, which has references to the male domination and to represent is an unequal gender balance. Also the radio microphone attached the glasses shows his attachment to the digital world. The passive characters formed in this music video also reflect the nature of the main culture phenomenon. The characters are wearing silver reflective clothing to represent the futuristic nature of the digital age.

The young female character plays an important role as she is used by the producers as a metaphorical image for the development from adolescence to adulthood and maturity in a postmodern society. Her adolescence has been expressed through her Mise en scene, of the stereotypical apparel, red dungaree. This is typical attire of the time period of a young girl. There is a long shot of the child in the centre of the frame. The character is literally a fractured, broken and pixelated image relating to metaphorical instability in a fracture in a consumerist society where her establishment of individualism is non-existent. The explosions around her reinforce the metaphorical meaning of her fading away from reality and the societal norm. This is coupled, synchronised and combined with the visual representation and the lyrics, “Video killed the radio star” which reiterates the change and fluidity of our ever changing characteristic society. This can also be seen when there is a long shot of the girl changing into adulthood. This transition is shown to be a demystified emotionless process, which is oppositional to society's view. The futuristic woman is submissive to the world as her actions and presence becomes robotic. There is also a medium shot of the woman in a test tube which is ironic as the woman is been treated a laboratory test subject. Her emotionless passive nature shows her disconnection from society and her inability to cope. She attempts to escape from the test tube with no hope, which represents her entrapment in our society. It also highlights key feminist theoretical issues, as there is a gender imbalance with the power given to the male characters as they survey and analyse the woman as inferior. This is grouped with the lyrics, “We can’t rewind we've gone too far”, showing that post modernism has taken over our society and the possibility to go back to 'golden age' is unlikely. There is then a reaction shot of the girl looking at her futuristic self. This reinforces her fear for the future and the inevitable collapse of childhood in the digitalised world. The child is then seen at the on top of a pile of cartoon radios which resembles the distant nature of the radio as a medium, as the cartoonist image is used as a signifier of the past. The next scene is of two television monitors emerging out of the ground. They are seen as fracturing the studio in a literal sense but are representing wider society and how the establishment of the television is fracturing and dividing our society. This movement is repeated with multiple camera shots to represent the power and dominance is to bring to producers of the future. The lead vocal, follows this sequence with the lyrics, “Pictures came and broke your heart”. This is strengthening the meaning and connotations of the visuals.

There is then a medium shot of main vocals on a television screen, pointing audience. The digital vocals are echoed and sustained, which is over layered with the black and white radio star character. This establishes a link with the past and a reflection on the past and old media mediums such as the radio. It highlights the importance of the past technologies such as the radio and reflects on the ideological age, where the audience establishes their own identity, culture and values. The lyrics are synchronized with the image, “Put the blame on VCR”, which demonstrates the ideology of the artist, as the past is the ideal and the future of our consumerist society of greed and a focus on material goods is dividing and destroying our society. Video Killed the Radio star' is a visual and audio presentation of the degeneration of society through the technological advances of our world. It incorporates post modernistic views and has inspired a generation with its interesting concepts and creativity.

Chicane, is a modern British electronic music act who in developed and released the soundtrack, 'Poppiholla' in 2009. it incorporates idea's of audience expectation and aims to show an alternative view, from the postmodern society. Unlike, 'Video Killed the Radio Star', which ironically looks at the birth of post-modernism in our society and establishment of fluidity and change in our society, 'Poppiholla' attempts to address the stereotype issue raised with the post-modern culture. Richard Dyer, an academic suggested that the passive audience is heavily reliant on stereotypes in order to simplify the world around them and to contextualise the media and that the audience use stereotypes as a cultural short hand. This music video uses audiences cultural stereotypes in order to switch the role of the stereotype and to reverse the post-modern era. The meta narrative of this music video focuses on an black individual who is falsely discriminated. At the beginning of the video there is a camera tilt from the sky to the main character. The camera reveals a, 'Danger,  security' sign. This has connotations that this character is dangerous to society, which highlights the stereotype of a black male. This is coupled with the male who  is wearing a hooded sweatshirt which is a stereotypical attire for the stereotype. There is then a close up of the male looking over at the woman at a cash machine. The cultural shorthand and stereotype in post modern ideology would form that that the male would commit a criminal offence. This stereotype is reinforced as there is a close up of a woman looking in fear at the male character. This stereotype is eradicated when the male walks past the woman without any conflict. This is against the cultural norm and expectation of the audience. This is a reoccurring theme within the music video, as the similar situation is exposed again with another woman. This is to reiterate the morality and new postmodern era. The stereotype is completely reversed at the ending of the music video where the main character saves a woman from being crushed by falling bricks. Like beforehand, the post modern audience has expectations of the male is going to cause conflict and harm  to the woman. This is show by a first person view shot of the character running to the woman who is unaware of the situation.

Through the analysis of these music texts, I have seen the expose and effect of post modernism in conjunction with the media and how cultural can effect music video's.