MUSIC VIDEO: GHOST TOWN CSP!

 

MUSIC VIDEO: GHOST TOWN CSP:

Background and historical contexts

Read this excellent analysis from The Conversation website of the impact Ghost Town had both musically and visually. Answer the following questions

Why does the writer link the song to cinematic soundtracks and music hall tradition?

Starting with a Hammond organ’s six ascending notes before a mournful flute solo, it paints a bleak aural and lyrical landscape. Written in E♭, more attuned to “mood music”, with nods to cinematic soundtracks and music hall tradition, it reflects and engenders anxiety.

What subcultures did 2 Tone emerge from in the late 1970s?

Mod and Punk subcultures and its musical roots and the people in it, audiences and bands, were both black and white.

What social contexts are discussed regarding the UK in 1981?

England was hit by recession and away from rural Skinhead nights, riots were breaking out across its urban areas. Deprived, forgotten, run down and angry, these were places where young people, black and white, erupted.

Cultural critic Mark Fisher describes the video as ‘eerie’. What do you think is 'eerie' about the Ghost Town video?

As Mark Fisher says "The sensation of the eerie occurs when there is nothing present when there should be something." In Ghost Town this is shown by the lyrics and cinematography and how the town they are filming in is empty when there should be people and liveliness. 

Look at the final section (‘Not a dance track’). What does the writer suggest might be the meanings created in the video? Do you agree?

It’s just a cry out against injustice, against closed off opportunities by those who have pulled the ladder up and robbed the young, the poor, the white and black of their songs and their dancing, their futures. Drive round an empty city at dawn. Look at the empty flats.

Now read this BBC website feature on the 30th anniversary of Ghost Town’s release. 

How does the article describe the song?

A depiction of social breakdown that provided the soundtrack to an explosion of civil unrest.

What does the article say about the social context of the time – what was happening in Britain in 1981?

Released on 20 June 1981 against a backdrop of rising unemployment, its blend of melancholy, unease and menace took on an entirely new meaning when Britain's streets erupted into rioting almost three weeks later - the day before Ghost Town reached number one in the charts.

How did The Specials reflect an increasingly multicultural Britain?

With a mix of black and white members, The Specials, too, encapsulated Britain's burgeoning multiculturalism. The band's 2 Tone record label gave its name to a genre which fused ska, reggae and new wave and, in turn, inspired a crisply attired youth movement.

How can we link Paul Gilroy’s theories to The Specials and Ghost Town?

Ghost Town provides an example of Gilroy's Black Atlantic theory. This is because the 2 tone label and ska as a genre reflects the black diasporic identity as it blends elements of west indian, america, and working class British culture to create something new.

The article discusses how the song sounds like a John Barry composition. Why was John Barry a famous composer and what films did he work on?

For more than three decades, the music of composer John Barry contributed intrinsically to the definition of the American film experience. He created award-winning soundtracks that wafted in the background of dozens of cinema's more memorable film attractions and into the mainstream of American culture. 

Ghost Town - Media Factsheet

Watch the video several times before reading Factsheet #211 - Ghost Town. You'll need your GHS Google login to access the factsheet. Once you have analysed the video several times and read the whole factsheet, answer the following questions: 

Focus on the Media Language section. What does the factsheet suggest regarding the mise-en-scene in the video? 

The mise-en-scene of the Ghost Town video uses the style of British social realist films. This genre is characterised by sympathetic representations of working-class men, the highlighting of bleak environments and a sense of hopelessness. The video’s low-budget shoot, the social and political nature of the subject-matter of both video and song all reflect the codes and conventions of this film genre.

How does the lighting create intertextual references? What else is notable about the lighting?

The mise-en-scene of Ghost Town also makes use of a visual style that borrows from expressionist cinema. The lighting design makes a virtue of available ‘natural’ sources, such as the harsh yellowy reflections of the lights in the tunnel on the windscreen as they pass over the band members, the grey skies and dark streets. It isn’t black and white, but it sometimes feels as though it is since the colours are so bleak and desaturated.

What non-verbal codes help to communicate meanings in the video?

The car is a Vauxhall Cresta, which signifies the importance of the 1960s to the two-tone culture that influenced both The Specials and other bands.

What does the factsheet suggest regarding the editing and camerawork? Pick out three key points that are highlighted here.

• One scene is cut like an action sequence of a car chase. Both its style and short shot duration give a frenetic feel. This is reinforced by handheld, disorienting camerawork with whip pans and canted angles.
• Most of the shots are on-board travelling shots. Some are in the interior of the car, as seen in a previous example. This invites audience identification with the band.
• The sequence near the start consists of a series of establishing shots and low angle shots which make the scenery loom in an intimidating way.

What narrative theories can be applied to the video? Give details from the video for each one.

Enigma codes are represented by the erriniess and darkness of the town and the low-key lighting of the music video. Action codes are presented by the swerving and high speeds of the car.

How can we apply genre theory to the video?

We can apply Neale's repetition and difference theory, because we can see a mix of the music genres Ska and Reggae in the same song.

Now look at the Representations section. What are the different people, places and groups that are represented in the Ghost Town video? Look for the list on page 4 of the factsheet.

City- East London before gentrification.

Urban youth- ages around early twenties- graduated university and looking for a job.

Race- Black and white band members.

Masculinity- Wearing suits which reinforces traditional male stereotype and how he is usually the breadwinner in the family.

How can Gauntlett's work on collective identity be applied to the video?

According to Gauntlett, media texts may give us a sense of our shared identity because they allow us to connect with others through our shared interests as audience members. In this way, the song and accompanying music video foster a sense of the collective masculinity of men and share the struggle to negotiate one's own identity.

How can gender theorists such as Judith Butler be applied to Ghost Town?

These musicians seem to be ‘performing’ the structures of patriarchy which include brotherhood, camaraderie and male solidarity. The total absence of women is a significant point in itself. Feminist theorists might argue that the video eclipses women’s own feelings of hopelessness.

Postcolonial theorists like Paul Gilroy can help us to understand the meanings in the Ghost Town music video. What does the factsheet suggest regarding this?

Post-colonialists might argue that there is double consciousness here. This term refers to the experience of being part of a black minority in a predominantly white culture, seeing black representations being constructed for white people from the outside with very little self-representation