RESEARCH: Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin

‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’- 1993, Summary

Andrew Goodwin’s theory gives us an insight about the structure of music videos.  Todorov is a the usual structure of films containing the equilibrium, a balance, disequilibrium, a problem and equilibrium, the solution to the problem, according to Goodwin this structure usually seen in films does not apply to music videos as they approach narrative from a different angle to novels and films.

As Goodwin notes the reasons why music videos have a different narrative structure are as follows:

1.     Pop videos are built around the song and songs do not hold the structure of Todorov.

2.     The pop video uses the singer as both the narrator and as a character

3.     The artist normally looks into the camera directly, which tries to involve the viewer at home with the performance.

As Goodwin puts pop videos rely on repetition, often it repeats images in the way the song repeats the lines and/or chorus. This repetition, also seen through plays on the TV, radio and advertisement, allows the audience to become familiar with the genre and have certain expectations about what to expect when we see a song from a certain genre. Pop songs, in this way, do not have a formal ending, compared to that of films. Songs are usually 3 minutes long and so ends in a very quick time, this means that there structure is different as they usually end in a climax or use various repetitions till the end. Though as Goodwin sees, some music videos can particularly be different from the norm. The video may be created for simply the visual entertainment of the viewer to attract several viewing of the video, therefore promoting the single. And some music videos are used to promote the film it is based on.

There are 3 relations between songs and videos:

1.     Illustration: where the video tells the story of the song

2.     Amplification: when the video introduces new meanings, which does not contradict the lyrics but adds new levels of meaning

3.     Disjuncture: where there is little connection between the video and the lyrics

Some videos, as noted also, have recognisable features. Women in many are presented as objects, in some a different musical element can be identified with a certain object and most videos are usually produced to appeal to a wide range of viewers, containing elements such as young photos to appeal to a younger/older audience.