Textual Analysis Of Blur- Parklife

General Information…

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIEsmGzo2UE

• Blur are an English alternative rock band, formed in London in 1988 as Seymour. Parklife is from their album which is also called Parklife.

Genre Characteristics- Alternative Rock

• General Characteristics of genre:Low key lighting

Jump cuts

Performance based with whole band

A narrative with performance concept

Clothing- leather jackets, jeans etc

• Characteristics In Parklife:Many comedy elements eg : double glazing salesman shouting out window telling person to loose weight

(0:54)

No performance based with whole band

Special effects used eg : upside down car (02:13)

Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals

• Every time the audience hear the lyrics ‘Parklife’ we immediately see visuals that show the word Parklife. This allows the audience to remember the name of the song and it is catchy.

Relationship Between Music and Visuals

• The music has quite a fast tempo especially in the chorus, there is a strong relationship between the music and the visuals especially at (03:11) where the band members open and close their umbrellas to the beat of the music.

Star Image

• In this music video very unusual conventions have been used and one very unusual element is that the protagonist is not a band member, but is actually Phil Daniels who is a salesman and the main focus of the music video, whereas the remainder of the band make cameo appearances. Star image is shown through the use of close up shots of Phil Daniels.

Intertextuality

• The way Blur are crossing the road is similar to the Beatles crossing Abbey road and it allows the audience to make links and recognize elements of similar artists.