Estelle Naughton Tuesday 23rd September 2014 Due on Thursday 2nd October 2014

Media Homework – Music Video Analysis

Analyse a music video in terms of genre theorist Lacey and his idea repertoire of elements, including characters, narrative events, iconography, setting and technical/audio scores.

Lacey, a genre theorist, devised a concept called repertoire of elements where there

are multiple sections in which can be analysed in regards to music videos, films and TV shows. I am going to analyse a music video called ‘Fancy’ by Iggy Azalea featuring Charlie XCX in the style of Lacey’s repertoire of elements. This song is very

popular and is known universally for the video, as it parodies and has some elements of pastiche to a classic 90’s film. Iggy Azalea is a female songwriter/rapper

from Australia and her most recent album is entitled ‘The New Classic’ which indicates that by parodying a well known film she will become ‘The New Classic’ of this generation as the music video to ‘Fancy’ is a replica of the film ‘Clueless’ which

is a classic 90’s film, this could a coincidence but all evidence points to how she’s trying to up the previous classic things.

In regards to Lacey and the genre elements, the characters are a clear cut copy or parody of those demonstrated in the film as Iggy Azalea is dressed and has the

same mannerisms as the main character from ‘Clueless’ called Cher. This is apparent by Iggy having long blonde hair which Cher flicks in the film and Iggy does

the same throughout the music video, wearing similar clothes worn in the 90’s with tartan creating a sense of bricolage due to the crossover of eras, with the 90’s clothing, style and props with the upbeat music of today’s generation. One

stereotype which is broken throughout both the film and the video is that Cher and Iggy is both blonde, stereotypically blondes are meant to be dumb and ditsy whereas

in film Cher is having an intelligent debate with another character called Amber and this is recreated and parodied in ‘Fancy’. This scene is clearly mimicked as shown throughout the mise en scene and the copying of the original characters, it could also

indicate that despite being blonde, both women are strong, independent women and don’t conform to stereotypes. The secondary artist of the song, Charlie XCX is

parodying a character from the film called Tai, who originally is an outcast and stays close to Cher during the film which is then mirrored in the music video as Iggy and Charlie XCX are seen to be together throughout the music video or not far from each

other. Other characters are duplicated from the film and are present in the music video, such as Amber in the debating scene, Dee who is Cher’s best friend, and

Murray who is Dee’s boyfriend and these characters are used in corresponding scenes in the music video. The characters parody and copy the actions of the actors from the film such as walking down the corridor confidently, on the phone to Dee

even though they’re not far from each other and the iconic car scene where Dee is overpowered by a truck on the motorway.

The events of the music video unfold in a way in which is similar to those in the film, all iconic scenes and events from the film are featured in the music video, again

making the music video a parody of the film. The music video cuts down the script of ‘Clueless’ to around 3 minutes, including memorable and symbolic scenes from the

film and replaced the original actors with Iggy Azalea, Charlie XCX and extras,

therefore producing the music video for ‘Fancy’. The events of the film are displayed in a same, if not similar arrangement of those in the music video making the events

indistinguishable. Additionally, someone off the internet played the song ‘Fancy’ over the order of the events of the film and it is almost identical to the video to ‘Fancy’.

Iconography is used to create the sense of the 90’s, which as mentioned before creates an element bricolage as everything apart from the music and

actors/actresses connote the 90’s era. The opening scene of the music video is in the same manner as the opening scene to the film ‘Clueless’, this iconic to the 90’s

and the film due to the bright, vibrant colours and the font used for the text as it is comparable to the one used for the text in the opening scene of the film. Additionally, iconic 90’s props are used to suggest the era and the strong influence of ‘Clueless’

such as the dress sense with the tartan skirts, high waisted items of clothing and the 90’s style of phone which is used to call Dee.

To get a real feel for the 90’s and the film, the music video school scenes were filmed at the same school as the film which could be seen as paying homage to the

film and its success. Every scene within the music video has been made to look exactly like the scenes in the film even when outside of the school setting, such as at

the beginning where Iggy is in a teenage girl’s bedroom picking out her outfit, this happens in the film. The driving scene has been made to look the same as it is a memorable scene within the film, despite having different actors and actresses the

mise en scene looks identical and not just in the particular scene but in every scene represented in the music video. One scene that doesn’t look twin like to the film

would have to be the party scene, for obvious reasons it looks different due to the era, characters and the ‘rolling with the homies’ scene isn’t featured. This scene is different as the mise en scene is different, characters are wearing clothing that isn’t

too similar to the characters in the film and there’s evidently dancing; it could suggest how Iggy is influenced from popular things in the past and then adds her input to

make them her own, such as the different party scene which doesn’t entirely make the video idea her own but is demonstrated in another scene. Another scene in which this is demonstrated is the debating scene, although most elements are

copied from the original scene the words on the board behind Iggy are different as it is names of rappers and artists which in turn, could inspire Iggy due to their past or

present fame, fortune and popularity. High key lighting is used to get the youthful look which is achieved within the original

film, as Iggy Azalea is older than the original character Cher and she wants to replicate the look of Cher. Tracking shots are used more or less throughout the

whole video to follow the main characters represented in the video, for example when Iggy is walking down the corridor and the similar camera technique is used in the original film. Additionally, she walks down the corridor to the beat of the music

which is within the non diagetic sound, following the camera down the corridor, low angle and medium shots are used to suggest Iggy is of importance within the video

and in music. Overall, I believe that by using Lacey’s repertoire of elements it has allowed me to

gain insight on the ideas behind my chosen music video and has given me some inspiration for my music video. I believe the music video for ‘Fancy’ is a performance

and narrative video as it narrates the story of ‘Clueless’ and is a performance video

due to the performance given by Iggy Azalea and Charlie XCX. The music video features various post modern features, one being intertextuality with clear references

to the classic 90’s film ‘Clueless’. This video can also be labelled a parody or pastiche; it can be labelled a parody due to the comedic value of how strongly

‘Clueless’ has influenced the video but a pastiche to the characters, the success of the film and to the 90’s era.