Applying Genre Theorists

How genre theorists link to the music video for Youth by Glass Animals

Glass Animals - Youth

• Here’s a little Wikipedia sum up of the band Glass Animals:-

Glass Animals are an English indie rock band from Oxford. The group released their debut album Zaba in June 2014 as the first release on producer Paul Epworth's label Wolf Tone, and their second album How to Be a Human Being was released on 26 August, 2016 to critical acclaim. The band have toured internationally and featured on line ups at festivals such as Glastonbury and Reading/Leeds.

Other requirements

To fully understand this analysis you will also need to do the following:-• Watch the video for Youth by Glass Animals• Read my previous post ‘A few genre theorists’• Read my previous post ‘Some research into indie rock’

Now you have the require information relevant to this analysis.

HartleyHartley argues that 'genre are agents of ideological closure - they limit the meaning - potential of a given text'.• This video would in some ways conform to this idea as in terms

of narrative as the narrative much like the indie rock genre is very obscured and in direct. The lyrics portray a woman giving up her child but in the video this is portrayed with the woman doing her job with a child in the background or running as though trying to find in and he appears/disappears. The setting and effect also retains an old effect with old cars and dinner settings but as though its within the modern world. However it could also be argued that this video disproves this theory as there is no shots at all of the band Glass Animals let alone the band playing instruments which is a key feature in the indie rock genre.

Hodge and KressHodge and Kress say ‘genres control the behaviour of producers of such texts and the expectations of potential consumers.’• In terms of the expectations of potential consumers I’d say this

isn’t particularly applicable as although, as said before, it conforms in terms of a narrative, The narrative could be anything. Any wild and obscure story is acceptable therefore the consumer would never really know what they’re going to watch. This music video kind of links with the lyrics so there may be a chance a consumer could guess however this isn’t possible for all of the indie rock genre as many of the videos are ‘random.’

Fiske

Fiske asserts the generic conventions 'embody the crucial ideological concerns of the time in which they are popular.' • This theory can be difficult to apply as, like said before, the

music video has a very old yet modern feel to it due to the setting and props however the story itself is very relevant in the real world. There are mothers with young children that simply cannot look after them and the video represents that heartbreak and regret that these mothers go through in order give their child the life they can’t.