Postmodern media came from the postmodernism movement; a reaction to the previous era of modernism. Postmodern media tends to defy rules that other texts would use such as those of time, context and meaning. Postmodern media texts make use of intertextuality and are therefore aimed at a literate audience. Through its references and recycling of the past it seems to be making a statement though postmodernism has also been defined as ‘weird for the sake of weird’.
Kirby Ferguson summed up that postmodern media can be regarded as unoriginal by suggesting ‘everything is a remix’. This concept could be created in many different ways, ways that have now become recognisable features of postmodern media such as bricolage. Bricolage is creating a new piece of work from old parts, perhaps without consideration to the original meaning and taking the original work completely out of context. Another feature is pastiche, a self-conscious imitation or parody such as in 'Hobo with a Shotgun', a text highly dependent on the mocking of other films and exaggeration.
Within music R&B and electrnic music is a mass production of postmodern media as these genres often use sampling or remixes. An exampleof this is 'Goldigga' by Kanye West which sampled 'I Gotta Woman' by ray Charles which in turn took parts from the gospel song 'It Must Be Jesus'. Through this the original meaning was not only changed but completely lost.
Postmodernism also often uses irony to express itself and this means that it can challenge boundaries between genres, art forms and the class of high and low art. The constructs in society such as gender, race and sexuality are often also explored in postmodern texts; they are questioned and reassessed. ‘Being John Malkovich’ directed by Spike Jonze is a great example of a lot of these features. Predominantly it is a fantasy film and the fantastical elements are clear however there are many genres that this film could fit into partly because of the awkward humour which could lead you to believe it is a comedy and the dramatic tension which is a feature of action films. The main source of irony theme to this film is that the main character is a puppeteer and that he happens to be the one to find a portal that leads into the head of actor, John Malkovich, making it possible for him to control him, like a puppet. Another ironic part of the film is the relationship between the main character, his wife and his new love interest. If this were a romantic comedy or a romance film then the plot involving this love triangle would be predictable but instead his wife and love interest end up together, leaving him alone. The lesbian relationship is also used as a device to question and explore constructs of sexuality. At first their relationship is only possible through the use of John Malkovich’s body and makes the audience wonder whether they can ever be together properly if Maxine is not attracted to Lotte’s physical appearance. This blurs the edges of the labels given to differing sexual orientations.
Some have criticised postmodern media for its lack or originality but while postmodernism was once just a movement but now it seems that today’s media is almost destined to be post-modern without much real effort or thought.Nearly all work is influenced in some way by something and it is hard to be completely original.
How is the story structured and how are your audience positioned?
The narrative has a beginning, middle and end in chronological order but is interrupted with flashback scenes. Therefore we use a mixture of present and past tense. The conflict is established mainly by the lyrics and the external performance shots. The flashbacks back this up with a simple explanation of why the lead character feels the way she does. It is resolved at the end when the audience realise she is part of the band and music has become her 'escape'. The construction of the lead character is done through the use of close ups and high angle camera shots to make her look vulnerable. The audience is made to feel sympathetic towards the character and some may be able to relate to how she is feeling. We created this with the use of connotations such as the empty field representing loneliness and the gloomy weather to represent her overall mood. The narrative to my music video is closed because it has a resolution and does not carry on into a sequel. Summarise the lyrics in your text.
'Save Me' is about someone having a secret that they are perhaps ashamed of but they know that they need to tell someone for peace of mind. Are there any key lines that you chose to give visual dominance to?
'Confessing my sins to an angel.' - We used this within the video when the lead character is writing the letter she is in fact writing lyrics from the song and this is the first line of the letter.
'I've got a secret to tell.' - The video was based around the idea of the character telling her secret and the effect this would have. What is the importance of the mise en scene?
The addition of instruments and the location in which the band performance shots were set adds authenticity to the band and makes it look as if they are really playing live. The lack of props is very important for the external shots because we wanted the field to look desolate to make the lead character look alone. The letter was key to the narrative and established the plot. Can you apply any of Barthes codes?
Enigma code - The use of the letter and the obvious distress that the character is in leads to the audience wondering why and what happened previously.
Semantic code - The main connotation was the use of the desolate field to represent loneliness but the costume and make up also represented the genre and gave connotations of negative emotions.
Symbolic code - Assumptions would have been made because of the costume and dark make up. We used conventional costume and in doing this perhaps created expectations of the characters personality or attitude. What category is your music video according to Andrew Goodwin?
Amplification. Can you apply Steve Archer's theories?
Yes, our video did cut between both performance and narrative and the 'lead singer' was the also used as the main character within the narrative. What role does the artist play in your music video?
Because the character is both the lead singer and the main narrative character she plays both the role of narrator and protagonist. Did you choose a subjective or objective character identity in your music video and why?
Objective, because the lyrics of the song lent themselves to a personal and indepedent account. What typology does your music video fit into?
Performance and narrative.
'Media texts rely
on audience knowledge of generic codes and conventions in order for them to
create meaning.' Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to
genre.
Laura Barsby
Considering
Andrew Goodwin’s method of categorising products my music video would be a
mixture of performance and illustrative. This means that as well as having a
‘live’ band set up I also used a narrative. My idea was always to have these
parts meet in the middle; giving a reason for the performance shots therefore
we used the same character for the singer and the protagonist. This format of
performance and illustrative as well as using the lead singer within the
narrative is a convention of many music videos, especially within the rock
genre.
This leads me to that the genre
of our song was rock/pop, with an alternative acoustic sound and narrative
lyrics. Knowing this then lead to research of rock/pop music videos in order to
find conventions that we could recreate within our own product. The main
convention that we used was using both the performance and illustrative
categories that I previously mentioned which can also be seen in Flyleaf’s
‘Sorrow’ and Evanescence’s ’My Immortal’. We also used the black and white
effect for the flashback scenes (which in itself is sometimes used within film).
This added to the slightly ‘gothic’ and dark aesthetic and also made it easy to
differentiate between scenes within the video. The video for both ‘My Immortal’
and Automatic Loveletter’s ‘Hush’ use black and white too but in a different
way as the whole of each video is shot using that effect. This gloomy aesthetic
convention was also met by the lighting we used which was mainly ambient
(making sure that we shot the outside shots on an overcast day). As well as the
setting other mise en scene was important in terms of convention such as
costume. Within a lot of the music videos we researched the look was pretty
similar and therefore easy to recreate. We used a feminine grunge style,
pairing Doc Martens with a black lacy dress, a leather jacket and heavy
eyeliner.
The lyrics of the song meant that
we had a strong basis for a storyline as well as an idea about the emotion we
wanted to portray. Theorist Tom Ryall suggested that the types of conventions
found in genres might be grouped within certain categories. The first of these
is narrative. My video has a clear narrative structure because there is a
beginning, middle and end with a resolution. Also, my video is closed because
the narrative does not carry on to a sequel. Another category is
representations and my video adheres to this idea because there is one main
character who carries the main narrative and there are two band members but
that is all. I have used some conventions which could be seen as stereotypical
for a female in this genre such as costume and make up. Also, the emotion
portrayed fits with the genre and may be seen as stereotypical. The ideology
within my video is that there is a sense throughout my music video that music
can be a kind of 'salvation' because my protagonist character finds hope and
overcomes her problem by singing.
Rick Altman argued that genre
offers audience a 'set of pleasures' and emotionally I think my music video may
adhere to this too. The video is
supposed to have a clear and relatable amount of emotion portrayed from the
main character for the audience and this is depicted through camera angles such
as close ups, location and the special effects as well as the actual acting.
As a movement, Post modernism worked against the ideas of the previous Modernist movement, opposing the traditional ideas and placing importance upon notions that are thought-provoking. Instead of simply recreating images that are already known within the audience’s minds Post modernist texts or works use irony, can be self-reflexive and play with the constructs and boundaries of social conventions such as gender, sexuality and race. Intertexuality is also a key aspect of Post modernism and relies on a literate audience with a knowledge of a lot of different media texts.
Many Post modern texts can be recognised by the seemingly ‘weird’ nature of the themes. It has even been described as ‘weird for the sake of weird’. This quality comes from the apparent disjuncture of the ideas used within one text. For instance, a soundtrack for a Post modern film may be made up of tracks well known within other completely different genres, giving an off centre feel to the film. Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Inglourious Basterds‘ for example; uses music from western films and 80’s music such as David Bowie. Also, a large feature of Post modern texts (TV, film or music) is that the genres will be blended, more so that crossovers like romantic comedies. In this case you may not be able to categorise the text under one genre and you may not be able to define what it is at all. An example of this is ‘Being John Malkovich’, a film that could be a fantasy, comedy or drama or all three at once.
Another feature that ‘Being John Malkovich’ has that a lot of Post modern texts have is the challenge and manipulation of constructs. This could be constructs of gender, challenging the stereotypes of women, for example or the constructs of sexuality, using ‘gay’ references which could run the risk of alienating some of the audience. As well as this it is common for Post modern works to use and develop upon stereotypes of characters, making them ‘larger than life’ to the point that they no longer seem realistic. The texts often push as much as possible such as Aldo Raine in ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and his ridiculous Southern accent which at times becomes comical.It is this kind of manipulation and use of social reference that make Post modern texts thought provoking and interesting, especially to an educated and literate media audience which is becoming more common and widespread as the media develops in all its formats.
As well as the audience being literate they need to be able to appreciate humour in all its forms. Post modern texts use irony throughout usually and the humour can be dry, sarcastic and even awkward. The humour is not always ‘laugh-out-loud’ but it can be appealing to a certain audience. There is definitely a comparison to be made between the humour used in Post modern texts and the humour used in other media pieces.
The aspect of hyper reality that is a feature that non Post modern texts could not get away with without someone calling them out on it. This is, for example, after a fight scene and the clothes are completely spotless or using ridiculous stereotypes that are based on something real but break past it. Hyper reality may also cross over into the fantasy or sci-fi genres, again blending genres and creating something new.
The idea of creating something new out of the old, bricolage or reusing ideas is another feature used in Post modern texts. This ties into intertexuality as scenes from films may be recreated to create a certain feeling or effect or parts of one text may be used within another. This can then branch out to texts making references to themselves and that brings us to self-awareness.
Self awareness is used a lot in post modern texts and Tarantino, especially, is a fan. This may refer to shots of the scenery being seen through panning shots (‘Inglourious Basterds’), breaking the fourth wall, in other words, a character looking into the camera as if they are talking directly to the audience or as I mentioned references to the text within itself.
'Representations in media texts are often simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so that audiences can make sense of them.' Evaluate the ways that you have used/challenged simplistic representations in one of the media products you have produced.
I am evaluating the representations within my music video and I feel that must videos often use ideologies according to their genre in order to relate and appeal to a certain audience. Often stereotypes are reinforced and the aesthetic will be very recognisable. My music video was in a rock genre and during the research stage of the project I looked at a lot of conventions.
The character in my music video was female meaning that there was always a risk of adhering to the male gaze theory though because of the genre the character wasn't the 'typical' female character. I think it would be more likely for other females to look up to and relate to the character rather than her being used in a voyeuristic way. This challenges the stereotypical view of females within music videos but it fits with the way females in rock are usually seen more than they are in pop, as an artist rather than as an object. The costume and the personality we tried to portray helps to make this character fit the more 'alternative' genre.
My representation of the rock genre (in terms of aesthetic, mood and personality) was quite conventional. All three of my characters we were wearing dark colours and the female especially was also wearing eyeliner and had a very grunge look. The mood, which was chosen because of the song, was negative which could fit the stereotype of 'emo'. Also the fact that I used both a narrative and performance within my music video means that the format was quite conventional for rock genre music videos. The idea that the front woman is the focus of the music video and the males of the band are just in the background is a feature of many female fronted rock bands such as Evanescence, Paramore and Flyleaf, whether this is intentional or not. This was used in my music video as the narrative followed one individual character and it made sense to use the singer.
I think a lot of the representation used in my music video was conventional and I used the dominant ideologies that audiences relate with. This was probably mainly because when researching and planning I spent a lot of time looking at the conventions used in rock music videos in order to make my own realistic and as professional looking as I could.
Which genre category is it? (Performance, illustrative or disjuncture - Andrew Goodwin)
My music video was a mixture of performance and illustrative. What genre is your music?
Rock/pop Which generic conventions have you applied?
Using both the performance and illustrative categories
Black and white effect
Feminine grunge costume
Make up (Dramatic eyeliner)
Panning
Gloomy aesthetic
Tom Ryall suggests that the types of conventions found in genres might be grouped within the following categories: Narrative: My video has a clear narrative structure because there is a beginning, middle and end with a resolution. My video is closed because the narrative does not carry on to a sequel. Representations: There is one main character who carries the main narrative and there are two band members but that is all. I have used some conventions which could be seen as stereotypical for a female in this genre such as costume and make up. Also, the emotion portrayed fits with the genre and may be seen as stereotypical. Ideologies: There is the idea throughout my music video that music can be a kind of 'salvation'.
Rick Altman (1999) argues that genre offers audience a 'set of pleasures'. Emotion pleasures: The video is supposed to have a clear and relatable amount of emotion for the audience and this is portrayed through camera angles, location and effects as well as the acting.
How we define a genre depends on our purposes. (Chandler, 2001) What was your purpose?
My purpose was to create a music video that linked with the song and that had both narrative and performance shots that a rock genre audience would watch.
'Media texts will never be successful unless they are carefully constructed to target pre-established audience needs or desires.' Evaluate the ways that you constructed a media text to target a specific audience. In the research stage before we started to create our music video we spent time viewing existing music videos from the rock and rock/pop genre including 'My Immortal' by Evanescence, 'Sorrow' by Flyleaf and 'Jar of Hearts' by Christina Perri. This helped us to become aware of the conventions used within this style of music video. The main thing that we noticed was the costume and make up. The females in these videos had a feminine grunge style, usually pairing dresses with boots and eyeliner. This look definitely lends itself to the rock style and could be something that the audience can relate to or look up to. In our music video we developed this idea and the costume was a leather jacket over a black lace dress and docs. The styling was more focused on the female, meaning that the female audience would probably be more interested. Viewing existing music videos also helped us to decide to use both a narrative and performance shots because most of the other rock genre music videos did both. The story was basically about finding salvation in music and our audience would be able to relate to this because we are targeting big music fans and people that are involved in music themselves. Rock music fans tend to be very loyal and it is often more than
music to them, it's more about a lifestyle. Also, the feelings and emotion we tried to portray could also be something that the audience could relate to. If you think about the stereotype of rock fans as 'emos' and the connotations this has then the tone of the video very much fits.
We thought it was important to have performance shots, not only for the narrative, but because a lot of other rock genre videos do and it is a convention that our target audience would enjoy and probably relate to. Rock music fans are the ones that spend a lot of time at concerts, gigs and festivals and are very into the live music scene. They may also play or sing themselves, whether it be in a band as a solo artist, meaning that the quality of live and 'real' music is very important. Therefore, we wanted to portray the live music aspect of the band within the video, making sure to give them an image as a 'real' band.
We also created an audience profile which helped us to think about the shops that the audience would be likely to shop at which gave us ideas about what clothes they might wear. We looked at local shops such as Voodoo in Leicester, only stores like Disturbia and well known high street shops like New Look and River Island. During the research and planning stage I looked on Lookbook for some styling and aesthetic ideas too. The aesthetic is obviously very important for a music video and it is important that the artist is portrayed in a way that the audience can both relate and look up to. We wanted a strong female but not someone intimidating, meaning that the mixture of feminine and grunge worked well as well as being quite conventional for the genre of music.
'All representations therefore have ideologies behind them. Certain paradigms are encoded into texts and others are left out in order to give a preferred representation' Levi Strauss (1958)
The main overall ideology for the music video was the feeling that music is a kind of 'salvation'. It portrayed the idea that music could give hope and the character prevailed because of music. The character therefore, was initially represented as vulnerable but gained hope and power throughout the video.
Richard Dyer (1983) posed a few question when analysing media representations in general: 1. What does it imply? Is it typical of the world or deviant?
The video gives a sense of the world as a slightly darker and unhappier place than perhaps most people see it. This is because it is from a personal point of view; from the eyes of one specific person, using their feelings (which are expressed in the song). 2. Who is it speaking to? For whom? To whom? What does it represent to us and why? How do we respond to the representation?
Literally, it is to the audience of the music video; people who are into rock music and that will relate to the feeling and lyrics of the song. The character in the video, however, is speaking to anyone who will listen while it also being like an internal monologue. You could argue that it speaks for the genre specific audience and therefore represents them in a slightly negative light.
Laura Mulvey (1975) argues that the dominant point of view is masculine. The female body is displayed for the male gaze in order to provide erotic pleasure for the male (voyeurism). Women are therefore objectified by the camera lens and whatever gender the spectator/audience is is positioned to accept the masculine POV. John Berger (1972) 'Men act and women appear'. 'Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.' 'Women are aware of being seen by a male spectator.'
The audience for the music video isn't gender specific and the character is female so you could expect there to be some aspect of the male gaze theory coming into it. However, the costume is not revealing and does not fit the typical style that can be seen in pop videos, because we were working to a rock genre. The way the character acts is nothing to do with being seen as a 'sex icon' and instead is to do with portraying emotion.
Magazine - I created a questionnaire to gain feedback from my audience, therefore understanding what they wanted and applying it.
Music Video - Created an audience profile based on real people that were our target audience and used their ideas.
Julian Mcdougal (2009)
Difficult to define a specific audience
Magazine and music video - With other genres moving into the mainstream our audience may be larger than it would have been before but there will still be a loyal 'rock' audience.
Ien Ang (1991)
More sub categories
Be very specific to your audience
I think that my audience is very specific and though anyone could read the magazine it is specifically geared towards females that are involved in rock music themselves, as well as just listening to it.
Hypodermic Theory
Inject ideas into an audience
Pluralist (active) theory
Our own interpretation
My audience can pick and choose which parts of the magazine they may read as well as whether they want to read it at all.
Uses and gratifications theory
Escapism, relationships and surveillance
Magazine - I think my magazine fits with creating a personal relationship because the information about bands could become a talking point. It also identifies with the audience, aesthetically it would be appealing to the audience and may influence them. It definitely fits with the surveillance because it is giving information throughout.
Music Video - Music videos are used for entertainment as a form of escapism and they also may become a talking point between friends.
My audience would be mainly made up of females because the magazine focuses on the females within rock music. They would probably be quite young; teenagers or young adults and they would be heavily into rock music, perhaps even playing themselves in some way.
Detail what the audience might identify with in your product?
The audience would recognise and probably like the music of the bands and artists I cover. The fact that it is focused on females means that female readers can identify with the artists they see in the magazine. My magazine also had a focus on how the music is made and this would be interesting for any composers that are reading.
What meanings/uses they might make from consuming/interacting with the product?
They may learn about composing and they will gain information about the bands/artists.
Is your text popular for a mass audience?
I feel that because of the genre of my magazine my audience would be more likely to be a niche and alternative audience. Taking the term 'popular' into account I don't feel that my audience would fit with either the high or low culture in the fact that their style wouldn't be associated with the 'mass' culture. The other definition of popular meaning 'for the people' probably would fit my audience because they are a minority group that have gained popularity and still stay true to the values and are loyal to rock music.
Ien Ang (1991) 'Audiencehood is becoming an ever more multifaceted, fragmented and diversified repertoire of practises and experiences.' Do you agree with Ang?
Yes, I think people are becoming a lot more open minded and are more willing to take on new things. I think a lot of this is to do with developments in technology. Detail the social demographic of your target audience.
Mainly I think my audience would be female, around the age of 18 and working class.
John Hartley (1987) 'Institutions are obliged not only to speak about an audience, but - crucially, for them - to talk to one as well; they need not only to represent audiences but to enter into relation with them.' To what extent do you agree with this?
I agree, I think that the audience needs to feel like they are gaining something and that they are being represented. They also want to know that there are likeminded people both producing and reading the magazine. Hartley also suggests that institutions must produce 'invisible fictions of the audience which allow the institutions to get a sense of who they must enter into relations with.' (They must know their audience so that they can target them effectively.) How did you do this with your magazine?
I created an audience profile based on people that I had talked to, these people were the kind of consumers I was targetting (female, teenager, liked rock music).
Audience Feedback
In order to gain feedback I read all the comments left by both teachers and students but in order to gain feedback from a different group I created a questionnaire and gave it to friends that are into rock music.
Can your coursework be linked in any way to the passive audience theory?
I suppose that the language used in the magazine articles could have an effect on the audience but most of the magazine is just informative.
How can your target audience be seen as active?
My audience can pick and choose which parts of the magazine they may read as well as whether they want to read it at all.
McQuail's uses and gratifications theory.
I think my magazine fits with creating a personal relationship because the information about bands could become a talking point. It also identifies with the audience, aesthetically it would be appealing to the audience and may influence them. It definitely fits with the surveillance because it is giving information throughout.
For the music video we thought a lot about what camera angles and shots we would use and what effect these would have. We ended up using quite a large variety of camera angles and shots to portray different things. The long shots that show the character walking through the field and used with a straight angle and panning. This shows desolation which links with both the song and the band name and it makes the character seem small compared to her surroundings. The close ups were used to show the emotion of the song and we used the camera at an eye level angle to make the emotion even more obvious. The mid shots used with a straight angle were used mainly for performance purposes; to capture any gesturing as well as body language and emotion. The other mid shots used with a high angle were used to show the character as vulnerable while also capturing body language, costume and emotion.
The editing of the video was kept quite simple with mainly straight cuts between scenes and shots to keep the pace and to make the cuts clean. We did, however, use a dissolve cut between two of the scenes when the band shots are first introduced to differenciate them from each other.
The lighting was also simple because we wanted it to be natural because of the situation. All of the external shots used natural lighting to create realism and the internal shots use low key lighting to keep it looking natural and realistic. Because it was a highly narrative video realism was important and it wasn't apprporaite to use a lot of light and colours that may be used in more pop videos.
All of the sound used was non-diegetic because the only sound used is the music track. When editing this was put in as a seperate audio line and the video was placed on top.
We wanted the external setting of the field to connotes a sense of lonliness and desolation because this fits with the song and the band name so there is a strong theme throughout. We used Barthes code for this which talks about the connotations that can be attributed to denotations, the denotation being the field. In these scenes there were no props used and this created a contrast between these shots and the internal shots where quite a few props were used. The letter in the internal scenes was a vital prop because it laced the narrative of the video together. We also used some props to dress the scene and make the internal set look realistic. The costume e for the external shots was a black lacy dress paired with docs and leather jacket, this meant that a mixture of feminine and grunge was used which is quite conventional for the genre of music and the style of the song. The make up was also very conventional and typical of a female rock genre artist. On the internal flshback shots the costume and make up was different because it was a different scene and they weren't 'performance' shots.
We used some special effects during editing such as the 'cold steel' colour effect for the flashback scenes. This acted as a black and white kind of effect and was another way of differenciating the scenes from each other. This is a convention seen in films and music videos used for the same purpose. We sped up and slowed down some of the shots meaning the timings of the shots were changed to fit them with the pace of the music as well as to create atmosphere.
Long shot with a straight angle and panning used to show desolation
Close ups with eye level angle used for capturing emotion
Mid shots with a staright angle used mainly for performance purposes - to capture gesturing, body language and emotion
Mid shots with high angle to show character as vulnerable while capturing body language, costume and emotion
Editing:
Mainly used straight cuts to keep pace and to make the cuts clean
Used a dissolve cut between scenes
Lighting:
All external shots used natural lighting - realism
Internal shots use low key lighting to keep it looking natural and realistic
Sound:
All sound is non-diegetic, the only sound used is the music track
Mise en scene (setting, costume, colour, props):
Setting - External field shots connotes a sense of lonliness and desolation which fits with the song and the band name so there is a strong theme throughout.
Props - Using a field for the external shots also meant that no props were used in these scenes which creates a contrast between these shots and the internal shots where quite a few props were used. The letter was a vital prop because it laced the narrative of the video together. Props were used to make the internal set to make it look realistic.
Costume - black lacy dress, docs and leather jacket - a mixture of feminine and grunge was used, conventional for the genre of music and the style of the song. The make up was also very conventional and typical of a female rock genre artist.
Special Effects (visual, sound and lighting):
Speeding up/slowing down shots - The timings of the shots are changed to fit them with the pace of the music as well as to create atmosphere.
Colour - The 'cold steel' effect used for the flashback scenes differenciates the scenes from each other. It is a convention that is sometimes seen in films for the same purpose.
Genre: Alternative rock (predominantly) Years active: 2001 - 2013 Members: Gerard Way, Frank Iero, Ray Toro and Mikey Way. Based in: New Jersey, US.
The band name itself is taken from an Irvine Welsh book, a collection of three stories called 'Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance'. They also said that the themes within Irvine Welsh's 'Train Spotting' and 'Acid House' were very influential. As an artist, Gerard always had a vision in terms of the aesthetic of the band as well as how the music would sound. This and a love of horror films and musicals such as 'Phantom of the Paradise' and 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' gave My Chemical Romance the look that some called 'emo'. This look, however, changed drastically with each album as the style of the music changed. Each studio album had a very different sound, initially with a grungey rock sound which developed into punk and alternative rock and finishing with the last album that encompassed more pop themes and electronic sounds as well as the usual rock sound. Gerard Way said it was like taking the mainstream sound and using it against them to give it meaning. One of their musical influences was Iron Maiden which Gerard said gave him the theatre influence. Another 'theatre-esque' band they were influenced by was the Misfits, who were important in New Jersey at the time the band was growing up. The punk aspect of My Chemical Romance comes from Black Flag and Gerard has stated that they were the reason he became obsessed with the idea of revenge. The themes of revenge are very dominant in the albums, especially their second, also because the band had always felt like outcasts growing up. Another, and a very different influence was The Smiths, who gave lyrical inspiration and the contrast of the bleakness with how 'pop' the music was. Mikey Way, the bassist commented saying 'We were talking about starting a band and like what would be like an ideal band that we'd wanna listen to and we always said like wouldn't a band be great if Morrissey were in the Misfits. That'd be such a kick-ass band, we should really try it someday.' They have also cited David Bowie and Queen as other major influences.
Debut album: 'I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love' (2002)
The album is often regarded as a concept album with a narrative link to their second album 'Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge'. It is believed that the story involves two Bonnie and Clyde-esque characters. There is a very obvious theme of the supernatural - vampires and other un-dead creatures, and these may be used metaphorically for those who exploit or corrupt others. These elements mainly come from Gerard Way, the lead singer, who before starting the band was working as a comic book artist and had been working on a vampire comic which was never completed. Instead these themes came through in the music he created.
Track Listing:
Romance
Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Both of Us.
Vampires Will Never Hurt You
Drowning Lessons
Our Lady Of Sorrows
Headfirst for Halos
Skylines and Turnstiles
Early Sunsets over Monroeville
This is the Best Day Ever
Cubicles
Demolition Lovers
1. Romance:
This track was taken from a guitar piece of which the origin and the composer aren't known, though it is suspected to be from the 19th century. It has been used by many different artists and has been played and recorded in different ways.
My Chemical Romance's version of 'Romance'
'Forbidden Games/Romance of Love' - Tom Jones
A vocal version of the piece arranged by B. Parker and Marc Lanjean, also performed by Miriam Makeba, a South African singer.
'Forbidden Games' - Ginette Reno
'The Outskirts' - Buck 65
Uses the piece as backing
2. Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Both of Us
The songs deals with drug use and reflects on alcohol abuse and lead singer Gerard Way once introduced the song on stage by saying 'this song is about sucking dick for cocaine'.
The original music video for the song was directed by Marl Debiak and Grey Sky Films and is very similar to a film called 'Audition' directed by Takashi Miike. 'It is about a man looking for a spouse and after a series of interviews, he finds a woman. After their first date he tries to find where she lives and apparently cannot find her address. When he returns to his home, he pours himself a drink and after drinking it collapses on the floor. The woman comes out of a doorway. She then proceeds to torture the paralyzed man, putting needles in his chest and below his eye and chopping off his leg.'
My Chemical Romance's 'Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Both of Us' music video
Takashi Miike's 'Audition' film trailer
8. Early Sunsets over Monroeville
This song was inspired by the film 'Dawn of the Dead', making use of references to the film in the lyrics.
My Chemical Romance's 'Early Sunsets over Monroeville'
The 1978 'Dawn of the Dead' trailer
11. Demolition Lovers:
Apart from the narrative links between this album and the second there is also this track, the last track on Bullets. The name 'Demolition Lovers' is also the name given to the cover artwork of 'Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge'.
My Chemical Romance's 'Demolition Lovers'
Second album: 'Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge' (2004)
Gerard Way was quoted as saying: 'The concept for the record 'Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge' was the story of a man and a woman who are separated by death in a gunfight and he goes to hell only to realise by the devil telling him that she's still alive. The devil says 'you can be with her again if you bring me the souls of a thousand evil men', and so he hands him a gun and he says 'I'll go do it'. That was the idea behind the concept, the record ended up being a lot more about loss and real life than anything so it's a good split.'
The artwork 'Demolition Lovers II' was created by lead singer Gerard Way and was inspired by his favourite painting 'The Lovers' a painting by Rene Margritte. This pictures were also recreated on the DVD 'Life on the Murder Scene' with real people.
Rene Margritte's 'The Lovers'
Cover to the 'Life on the Murder Scene' DVD
Track Listing:
Helena
Give 'Em Hell, Kid
To The End
You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison
I'm Not Okay (I Promise)
The Ghost of You
The Jetset Life is Gonna Kill You
Interlude
Thank You for the Venom
Hang 'Em High
It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Fucking Deathwish
Cemetery Drive
I Never Told You What I Do For a Living
4. You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison:
Like David Bowie and other post-modern artists My Chemical Romance liked to play with constructs and boundaries of sexuality. They always made it clear that there was no place for prejudice of any kind at a My Chemical Romance show. The way that they portrayed themselves on stage, therefore, reflected this with Frank, the rhythm guitarist, saying that it would be ironic that if two guys were fighting in the crowd they were to look up at there'd be two guys kissing on stage. These homosexual themes also entered a few of the lyrics, with this song being a main one as the title suggests.
My Chemical Romance's 'You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison'
5. I'm Not Okay (I Promise)
There were two videos made for 'I'm Not Okay', the first being made up of concert footage and clips of the band. The second version is a conventional music video. This depicts life inside a fictional American high school and is made to look like a trailer for a film.The band are the 'outcasts' and at the end of the video they attempt to take on the popular kids.
The cover art for the single was also recreated with real people on the 'Life on the Murder Scene' DVD.
My Chemical Romance's 'I'm Not Okay (I Promise)' music video
'I'm Not Okay (I Promise) single cover artwork
Inside cover of 'Life on the Murder Scene' DVD
6. The Ghost of You
The band has been quoted as saying that when making this music video they 'shot a movie and just edited it to be a video.' It closely parallels the opening of Saving Private Ryan, which is what Gerard asked of the director, Marc Webb. Half of the video dance where the band are performing and the in the other half it shows the D-Day scenes, in which the band members play as soldiers. The song's title is an allusion to an advert that read 'Oh, how the ghost of you clings'.This itself was an allusion to the song, 'These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You), a song that deals with losing a loved one.
My Chemical Romance's 'The Ghost of You' music video
The opening of 'Saving Private Ryan'
Frank Sinatra's 'These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)'
9. Thank You for the Venom
Along with the 'Demolition Lovers' and the partial narrative overlap with My Chemical Romance's first two albums there is also this track. The name of the track can be seen in French on the back cover of lyric booklet to 'I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love'.
My Chemical Romance's 'Thank You for the Venom'
Back cover of the lyric booklet to 'I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love'
Third album: 'The Black Parade' (2006)
'The Black Parade' is a rock opera and a concept album based on a character known as 'The Patient' who has cancer and is dying. The album tells the story of his death, his experiences in the afterlife, and his reflection on his life. When 'The Patient' dies deathcomes for him in the form of a parade, this is based upon Gerard Way's belief that death comes for a person in the form of his or her fondest memory.
One of the initial names for the album was 'The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance' based on David Bowie's album 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'.
With the album came an alter ego for the band, calling themselves 'The Black Parade'. To portray this image they performed in costume for the 'Black Parade' tour. This costume was alike to the marching uniforms worn by The Beatles for the 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' album. Gerard Way cut and dyed his hair white to reflect 'The Patient' and to create another new look for the album. Mikey Way wears a military medal on his uniform, which is possibly a throwback to the 'The Ghost of You' video in which his character dies.
My Chemical Romance's 'The Black Parade' Costume
The Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' Costume
The live performance for the album was very theatrical, with Gerard Way portraying the character of a member of The Black Parade. His mannerisms have been compared to the character played by Bob Geldof in the movie adaptation of Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'. His performance was also compared to David Bowie's performance of Ziggy Stardust. Gerard Way cited the bands Queen and Pink Floyd as major influences on this album especially.
My Chemical Romance performing 'The End' live
Pink's speech from 'The Wall'
David Bowie performing 'Ziggy Stardust' live
Track Listing:
The End
Dead!
This is How I Disappear
The Sharpest Lives
Welcome to the Black Parade
I Don't Love You
House of Wolves
Cancer
Mama
Sleep
Teenagers
Disenchanted
Famous Last Words
Hidden Track:
14. Blood
Bonus Tracks:
Heaven Help Us
My Way Home is Through You
Kill All Your Friends
1. The End
The influence of Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' and David Bowie's 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars' are especially evident in the album's opening track, 'The End'. There is a definite comparison to be made between this song and 'In the Flesh?' by Pink Floyd and 'Five Years' by Bowie.
There is also irony because it is the first track and yet it is called 'The End'.
My Chemical Romance's 'The End'
Pink Floyd's 'In the Flesh?'
David Bowie's 'Five Years'
5. Welcome to the Black Parade
Originally titled 'The Five of Us are Dying', 'Welcome to the Black Parade' was the first single from 'The Black Parade' album. According to Gerard the song 'personifies the whole record'. There are similarities between the guitar orchestration in this song and the arrangements of Queen.
The song looks back on 'The Patient's' memory of his father taking him to a parade and the video depicts that this parade comes to the character in death. The video portrays the events of the entire story, starring all its characters including 'The Patient' dressed in a hospital gown who is being lead into death by the parade. The video also features three other main characters: 'Fear', 'Regret' and 'Mother War'. All of the costumes were designed by Colleen Atwood, known for her collaborations with Tim Burton.
My Chemical Romance's video for 'Welcome to the Black Parade'
The cover for the single is taken from the video, with 'The Patient' standing in the middle and 'Fear' and 'Regret' on either side of him. The make-up that the two women are wearing is reminiscent of the make up that Gerard donned for some photo shoots and live performances in the 'Three Cheers' era. On the inside artwork for the album there is a small poster with all the characters as well as an abstract cartoon version of 'The Black Parade'.
The cover for the single 'Welcome to the Black Parade'
The poster inside the 'The Black Parade' album
The 'cartoon' depiction inside the 'The Black Parade' album
9. Mama
Liza Minnelli sings on this track, depicting the 'Mother War character. This is yet another 'theatre' aspect to this album and this song has a lot of cabaret influence too.
My Chemical Romance's 'Mama'
10. Sleep
At the beginning of the song there is a tape recording of Gerard recounting night terrors he'd been having while sleeping in Paramour Mansion where the band had stayed for some time during the making of the album. He talks about how he would wake up in the middle of the night and it would feel like somebody’s hands were around his neck, choking him.
My Chemical Romance's 'Sleep'
11. Teenagers
The video for 'Teenagers' is very similar to Billy's Talent's video for 'Red Flag' both aesthetically and narratively. The video is also reminiscent of the video for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Nirvana. The use of a high school setting, cheerleaders and students storming a stage has become a recognisable image because of Nirvana's hit video so it is very likely that My Chemical Romance were influenced by this.
My Chemical Romance's video for 'Teenagers'
Billy Talent's video for 'Red Flag'
Nirvana's video for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
13. Famous Last Words
The concept for the video was that it was a follow on from the 'Welcome to the Black Parade' video. In this video the Black Parade float that the band were performing on is set alight and burns throughout the video. The band are seen in the same marching band costumes but they are now alone and seem to be in a desperate state. The make-up that Gerard is wearing is similar to that worn by 'The Patient' character in the 'Welcome to the Black Parade' video.
'The Black Parade is Dead!' was the second DVD released by My Chemical Romance. There are two performances on it, one being the last ever performance of 'The Black Parade' tour in Mexico. The performance marked the end, and 'the death' of 'The Black Parade' as a band. This is reminiscent of David Bowie killing off his alter ego 'Ziggy Stardust' in favour of creating a new persona as Aladdin Sane.
Fourth album: 'Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys' (2010)
The band stated that the creation of the album was initially influenced by 'the spirit of bands like The Stooges or MC5', but then became more influenced by artists such as The Chemical Brothers, Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub, Pulp, Manic Street Preachers, and David Bowie, especially the 'Diamond Dogs' album.
David Bowie's 'Future Legend'
The band also stated that there is a significant influence of the cinema on the album , of films like Blade Runner, A Clockwork Orange, The Warriors, Vanishing Point and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. The futuristic theme for the concept of the album is very close to the ideas in Blade Runner.
Another influence was that of Quentin Tarantino and the soundtrack for 'Reservoir Dogs'. Gerard Way commented that the album's heavily influenced by the Japanese cartoon Akira, a manga series set in a post-apocalyptic neo-Tokyo.
A scene from the 'Akira' manga series
Though the band disputed that this was another concept album critics have said that it is and there is a definite high concept. The setting for the album is a fictional post-apocalyptic California in 2019 in which a few outsiders referred to as the 'Killjoys' are in conflict with a immoral corporation 'Better Living Industries' or 'BL/ind.' that want to control the population by selling medication to erase 'unwanted' emotion. Each band member had an alter ego: Party Poison, Fun Ghoul, Jet Star and Kobra Kid and they battle against the industries 'Draculoids' and exterminators such as 'Korse' played by Grant Morrison in the music videos.
The album was influenced by the 'Beerlight' books by author Steve Aylett, especially 'Slaughtermatic', which is namechecked on the album. The magazine 'Rolling Stone' said that the frontman 'dyed his hair fiery red, and he's pissed at everyone: junkies, party girls, Hollywood and most of all himself, for getting so damn famous'.
A website for 'Better Living Industries' was set up after the release of the album featuring information about the corporation (http://www.betterlivingindustries.jp/).
Track Listing:
Look Alive, Sunshine
Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
Bulletproof Heart
SING
Planetary (Go!)
The Only Hope for Me is You
Jet-Star and the Kobra Kid/Traffic Report
Party Poison
Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back
S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W
Summertime
Destroya
The Kids From Yesterday
Goodnite, Dr. Death
Vampire Money
Bonus Tracks
We Don't Need Another Song About California
Zero Percent
1. Look Alive, Sunshine / 2. Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
The song seems to present criticism of the consumerist culture through its lyrics which fits with the fact that this whole album was 'a reaction'.
The video to 'Na Na Na' begins with the 'Look Alive, Sunshine' introduction track which is voiced by Steve Montano also known as 'Steve, Righ?' of Mindless Self Indulgence. He plays a pirate radio station DJ 'Dr Death Defying'. It also stars Ricky Rebel as his sidekick 'Show Pony'. The video shows the 'Killjoys' being pursued by Korse of Better Living Industries and his vampire-masked henchmen called the Draculoids. The Killjoys have a young girl (Missile Kid) as one of their members who BL/ind is out to capture. At the end of the video, after a Mexican Standoff situation the Killjoys are defeated and Missile Kid is captured by Korse and the Draculoids.
There are many movie and TV references throughout the video with influence coming from 'Blade Runner', 'Easy Rider', 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day', 'Ultraviolet' and 'Mad Max'.
My Chemical Romance's music video for 'Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
Trailer for 'Blade Runner'
Trailer for 'Mad Max'
As well as references to popular culture there is also a reference to their previous album 'The Black Parade' at the 1:28 marker in the video you can see a half buried skeleton wearing a 'Black Parade' marching jacket.
On the band's website they ran transmission videos as if BL/ind was a real company and these were the adverts. One of these features a character called 'MOUSEKAT', he is a 'Mickey Mouse' style cartoon propaganda character promoting the drugs used to keep humans under BL/ind's influence.
There were other videos uploaded as if they were from 'Better Living Industries' which talk about the medication.
There were also videos in the style of surveillance camera recordings showing members of the 'Killjoys' and the 'Draculoids.
3. Bulletproof Heart
The band stated that 'Jenny' mentioned within this song could be 'the missing girl' in The Killers song 'Jenny Was a Friend of Mine'.
My Chemical Romance's 'Bulletproof Heart'
The Killers' 'Jenny Was a Friend of Mine'
4. SING
The video to this song picks up after the events of the 'Na Na Na' video and opens with My Chemical Romance as their alter-egos driving down a freeway tunnel. The band arrive in the album's dystopia known as Battery City and they stop in front of 'BL/ind' headquarters. The Killjoys arrive in the main security center and rescue Missile Kid who was previously kidknapped. When we see Korse storming down the hallways of the headquarters he rips a poster off the wall. These posters were released as merchandise.
7. Jet-Star and the Kobra Kid/Traffic Report Track seven is a radio transmission from Dr. Death Defying stating that Kobra Kid and Jet Star have died.
15. Vampire Money
The final track on the album is 'Vampire Money'. It was a reaction to the band being asked to do a song for the Twilight franchise. Gerard Way said that the reason the song was on the album was because 'there’s a lot of people chasing that fucking money. ‘Twilight?’ A lot of people around us were like, ‘please, for the love of God, do this fucking movie.’ But we’d moved on.'
'The Mad Gear and the Missile Kid' is a three track EP by the fictional alter ego of My Chemical Romance as an extension to 'Danger Days'.Guitarist Frank Iero told MTV that 'It's basically what the Killjoys are listening to in the car as they're having those gun battles'.
The cover artwork showcases the 'Dead Pegasus' logo that is featured in the 'Danger Days'videos, specifically featured on Gerard Way's 'Party Poison' jacket.
