Goodwins Theory applied to Lily Allen- 'Who'd Have Known'

Apply Goodwin’s theory to a particular music video. Lily Allen- Who’d Have Known.

In Andrew Goodwin’s ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992) he explains his main theories on music video. There are six key points to his theory. Firstly, he argues that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, for example stage performance in a metal video. Secondly, he states there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, which is illustrative, amplifying, or contradictory. Similarly, his third point says there is either of the three relationships between the music and the visuals. Fourthly, he believes that due to the demands of the record label, there is a need for lots of close ups of the artist. In his fifth point he explains that there is frequently reference to the notion of looking, in particular voyeurism and scopophilia. Finally, he says there is often intertextual references, to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc. This essay will examine Goodwin’s theory in proposal to Lily Allens music video to Who’d Have Known (2009).

Goodwin’s first point is that music video demonstrates genre characteristics. Who’d Have Known is a love song describing the artists’ feelings at the beginning of a relationship, where she seems happy and wants her and her partner to move on to the next level. However, the music video itself shows Lily looking upset and lonely, and committing a sinister crime, rather than being happy in love. On the surface Lily’s romantic genre of music is not shown here, and so I would disagree with Goodwins theory. However, Lily falls into the genre of quirky/indie music, and perhaps the irrelevant, and contradictory narrative shown in the video, is actually demonstrating her quirky genre, as the music video is completely random.

In Lily Allen’s video, the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals is complicated. At first it may seem that the relationship is illustrative, as in the first scene she sings the lines “Its 5’Oclock in the morning” and “so I snuck of to your bedroom”, and the visuals illustrate this as we see her lying in bed in the early hours of the morning. There are clear illustrations of the lyrics, for example “drinking wine” and wine is shown, and “watching telly” and they are shown watching the TV. However, this relationship soon becomes disjunctive and contradictory, as we see a clip of Elton John on the T.V, and books and newspaper articles on him. At this point the audience have no idea as to why Elton John is being shown, as there is no mention of him in her lyrics, and so this creates a contradictory relationship. Interestingly, there is also amplification between the lyrics and the visuals. When she sings “you put your arm around my shoulder”, we see a photo of them hugging, but it turns out that she has stuck her face on another women’s body, so as to make the lyrics be true, showing how she is exaggerating the lyrics. The contradictory relationship continues as she sings: “we could watch a place in the sun”, which seems as if there would be a happy visual to this, but in fact she is kidnapping Elton John, and it is actually a sinister scene.  She sings: “Your quite affectionate in public”, where the visual shows him tied to a chair looking miserable, holding no affection to Lily. Goodwin’s theory that the relationship is either illustrative, amplifying or contradictory, is completely applicable to Lily’s video as the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, is all three.

The relationship between the music and the video is also a mix of contradictory and illustrative. The track is sometimes up beat, and happy, where the video is completely the opposite, which creates a juxtaposed relationship between music and visual. For example, at the chorus, when the music is the most up beat and happy seeming, we watch Elton John try to get out of the locked car, and Lily pushing him into the house, which completely contradicts the happy rhythm of the music. However, the music is overall quite slow and mellow, which illustrates Lily’s sadness and loneliness that we see in the video. In terms of the rhythm and the editing relationship, it is completely illustrative. When the beat drops, the scene cuts, for example at about 0:24, the verse goes into the bridge, and we cut from Lily in the bedroom, to a completely different room. Here Goodwin’s theory can be correctly applied, and we can see how the music is sometimes disjunctive to the video, which is a main characteristic of music video as opposed to film or TV.  

Furthermore, Goodwin argues that due to demands from the record label, there will be many close ups of the star. This is highly visible in Lily Allen’s video. The video is completely centered on Lily, with a high element of performance as she sings the whole way through the video. This is interesting, as even though Elton John is present, and would be argued to be a bigger star than Lily, the focus remains on Lily Allen. This is because the record label want to sell Lily and so show close ups of her throughout. Good examples of this are at 0:40, where she turns around in the car, 1:55, where she looks through articles on Elton, and 2:53. Lily is shown wearing a lot of eye make up, black lacy gloves, and black maxi dresses, which are quite dramatic fashion statements. This represents Lily’s star image, as she is often perceived to be a fashion icon.

The notion of looking and the themes of voyeurism and scopophilia are present throughout Lily’s video, however not as much as other star’s or her other videos. In the first scene, we see Lily in lacy black nightwear, which is clearly used voyeuristically for the pleasure of the audience. Additionally, when Lily is in the outfit of a chauffeur, it is suggestive of sexual dress up, and so Lily is again being treated voyeuristically for the pleasure of the audience. At about 1:59, to 2:02, the shot shows just Lily’s upper half and it looks as if she is naked as she is wearing a strapless dress. This treatment of Lily as a sexual object demonstrates Goodwin’s theory. However, compared to other video’s Lily is not treated very voyeuristically as she wears a long dress, and the camera angles are more of her face, than her body. In a way this represents Lily’s star image, and the fact that she wants to be taken seriously for her musical talent, rather than for her good looks. This fits in with the genre of Lily’s music, because even though she often refers to sex, her songs are more about relationships as opposed to portraying her as a sexual icon, like for example The Pussycat Dolls might do.

Lily’s whole video uses intertextuality in the form of Elton John. Elton John is not mentioned in the music, or involved in the creation, yet he is used as one of the main characters in the video. This use of Elton John is quite comical, as it would be funny for an audience who know of Elton John as a respectable music star, to get kidnapped and tied up. One of the main intertextual references is of her playing the piano, which instantly creates links to Elton John. Goodwin explains that if the audience understands the reference they will get more pleasure out of the video, and this is particularly true when Lily plays the piano, as it could be very comical if you understood the link. The use of Elton John may be useful to Lily Allen’s star image as it gives her more credibility, and makes her seem as if she has high musical status, as she is shown with the credible and very famous Elton John.

In conclusion, Goodwin’s theory on music video can be successfully applied to Lily Allen’s: Who’d Have Known. It is clear that Lily’s music video demonstrates her genre of indie/quirky pop. The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, are illustrative, amplifying and contradicting, showing how Goodwin’s theory can be applied. Additionally, the relationship between the music and the lyrics demonstrates Goodwin’s theory as it is both illustrative and contradictory. Goodwin’s idea that music video will include many close ups of the star, is largely apparent in Lily’s video as the camera completely focuses on her. Goodwin’s theory of voyeurism is visible at time in Lily’s video, however not as much as Goodwin suggests. Finally, Goodwin explains that music videos often use intertextuality, and this is particularly apparent, through Lily’s use of Elton John. Therefore, it is clear that Goodwin’s theory is successful.