Theorist - Goodwin

Goodwin - Dancing in the Distraction Factory (Routledge, 1992)  

Andrew Goodwin studied music videos, and discovered a number of key factors that tend to appear in the majority of popular music videos.

Goodwin identifies six key features, which distinguish the music video as a form:

1.  Particular music genres may have their own music video style and iconography (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).
2.  There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (with visuals either illustrating, amplifying, contradicting the lyrics).
3.  There is a relationship between music and visuals (with visuals either illustrating, amplifying, contradicting the music).
4.  The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs (or star iconography) which recur across their work (and over time becomes part of their star image)
5.  There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6.  There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).