Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin’s Theory 

 Goodwin’s Theory is based upon 8 key principles 

1. Links between lyrics and visuals 
2. Links between Music and visuals (complimentary, contradicting or Amplifications)
3. Genre characteristics 
4. Intertextual references 
5. Notions of looking (objectification of women)
6. Voyeurism (direct gaze, other people looking at artist, insight into artists life, screens and mirrors)
7. Demands of the Record Label (representation of the artist)
8. Performance based, Narrative based or concept based music videos 

1. Links between lyrics and visuals- 

Goodwin suggest that they lyrics will be a contestant reference to the visuals on the screen. Which means that the visuals will be reenforced by the lyrics and what they are saying.  For example this can be seen in the lyrical music video for chainsmokers - closer, this music video has a lot of references to a RangeRover which does feature in lot of the video. The lyrics on the screen are a clear representation of what the visuals are on the screen as well. As the lyrics say  “In the Back seat of you Rover” the white RangeRover drives toward the camera. Further more, later on in the video it says ‘of the mattress that you stole” which is replicated by the visuals as you are able to see the couple laying on their mattress. 

1. Genre characteristics- 

These are depicted as the certain traits associated with a particular music genre. An example of this would be if you had a heavy metal band you would expect to see a live band. However, for grime due to this being quite a new genre this has adopted many different characteristics of multiple genres. Music video for grime would consist of many different things; A narrative based storyline, lots of hooded clothing, jewellery, a common trait of a grime video would be to show the artist as if they were writing the music. Furthermore, rap video’s has some of these traits in common with the extravagance and the show of wealth through the representation of cars, (stereotypically) women, big houses e.c.t.  

 hooded and (urban) clothing   

Narrative based  

1. Notions of looking-

Notions of looking plays on the idea of gaze and the way someone in particular is seen. For example, in more than half of music videos women are often presented as objects (according to Goodwin).

However, Notions of looking is not just restricted to women. It may also represent men in a particular way for example; as a cheater, as violent e.c.t. Beyonce’s - If I were a boy, depicts a story told from a woman about how her boy friend is cheating on her and what it would be like if she were to cheat. This is a very narrative based music video as it goes through the couples relationship and how it is told from the females perspective. This also fits the point of how women are just objects and how they have to just deal with their problems and how they are just objects for men. This is represented through the lyrics “if I were a boy, even just for a day” depicting how the life for a male is much easier than being a female. 

In these screenshots of the music video you can see who the man is represented as a cheater as another women is seen to be flirting with him. She is also represented as an object at the same time as you are able to see her breasts exposed more than they would normally be.  Later on in the music video the lyrics that are sung are “I would turn off my phone, tell everyone its broken so they would think that I was sleeping alone” is a representation of how if she was a man it would be okay if she were to not answer her phone.

1. Demands of the record label-

The record label has a certain control over the artist they sign. The image and the way the artist is represented is ultimately down to the record labels decision and who they think their wrist should be represented. For example, if they have signed a female to their record label they may want their artist to be represented as sexy in order to appeal to men swell as men, enabling them to widen their target audience making more money for the artist but more importantly the record label. This isn't just for women but can be applied to men as well as women. If a man is represented as sexy their target audience is going to widen rather then just having a small target audience. Both the men and woman are going to be favoured by a larger audience making the record label more and more money. This is a very important part of the artists marketing as certain genders as more inclined to listen to certain genres of music. An example of this would be if women are interested in urban music they are more likely to R&B. So men who are appealing to women and who are ‘sexy’ would draw in women audiences.  

1. Narrative based-

As well as being part of the genre characteristics narrative is also its own category with in Goodwin’s theory. The narrative allows the music come to life like a story or a film. It connects all of the dots with in the categories that Goodwin Identified. Narrative can either be fragmented or linear. Today it more common for a fragmented narrative to be used. This is common in R&B and Grime as a genre. Most Pop video’s now are heavily narrative based for example Beyonce - If I were a Boy I heavily narrative based and I believe this is linear in the way it is being told. Artists like Beyonce usually have narrative based songs  as well.  Another artist that has made a few narrative based songs is Ella Eyre - Comeback

This is going to help me in creating my own music video as I am going to use the knowledge I have acquired from this task in my won music video. This means that I am able to have the knowledge of what types of theories exist and what types of theories can be applied to my video for example; the Male Gaze Theory. This, in my opinion, is one of the most used theories across all types of media. Having this knowledge will enable me to create a meaningful video rather than just an image that has no depth to it. 

I found all of my information by using slide share and by using information given to us in class. I found that combining all of the information that i had both learnt in class and found using slide share. It enabled me to gain a full understanding of Goodwin's Theory which will allow me to create the best music video possible as i now have the information about all of the different type of theories. By using both sources of information it meant that i could also gain the most amount of information about Goodwin and his theories to i was able to understand and use them myself.