Basic concept of semiotics
The idea of semiotics was first introduced by the nineteenth-century Swiss Linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and an American philosopher Charles Peirce (Danesi, 2002, p.28). Although the research definitions of these two scholars are different, yet the basic idea of semiotics is both considered as the analysis of signs and symbols. One of the broadest definitions is as Umberto Eco stated that “semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign” (Eco, 1979, p.7). In this sense, signs can exist in any kinds of medium and transport in any form such as verbal, images, sounds and so forth (Chandler, 2002, p.2). Every sign, according to Leeds-Hurwitz, has two components: the visible part, the signifier, and the absent part, the signified. The basic idea concept of semiotics then can be expended as the analysis of finding the inner meaning (signified) from the objects (signifier).
The understanding of signs is based on one’s experience (Monaco, 2000, p.155), because what signs “stand for” are the abstract concepts instead of the real things which is “as idealized mental approximations” (Danesi, 2002, p.29). In this sense, it is assumed that different individuals may have different understanding in “what the particular things stand for”. Therefore the idea of “sign” may not have to exist. The similar idea also was indicated by Eco that “semiotics is in principle the discipline studying everything which can be used in order to lie” (Eco, 1979, p.7).
Semiotics in music videos
The idea semiotics in music videos is complex, because music video is a combined subject with music, texts and visuals. All the three elements seem to be interdependent and independent in music video while each exerts a shaping force upon the other (Vernallis, 2004, p.153). Separately, for the music part, according to Elicker (1997), the analysis of musical works is based on structure (e.g. keys, tempo) and lyrics of meaning (e.g. linguistic meaning, language). The video part, on the other hand, owes much to the semiotics of film and television (Howells, 2003, p.245). In this sense, the idea of “how to shoot it” and “how to present the shot” (Monaco, 2000, p.163) also delivers the meaning connotatively in music videos.
Vernallis has discussed that music video can create a sync point, where musical feature could be recurred (2002, p. 175). This means music video supports the song (Howells, 2003, p.238). Song lyrics always carry the ideological signs, which a visual world is ideologically loaded (Howells, 2003, p.244). In fact, both musical and visual are important, because “(the combination) makes an impact on the ‘meanings’ of popular musical texts” (Strachan, 2006, p.192).
Analysis of “What I Go to School For” MV
“What I Go to School For” is the first hit single for a British pop-rock band Busted. The song is about they (play as three school boys) fancy their teacher Miss McKenzie. The lyrics of the song have a great amount of sexual hints. The music video, as the visual reflection of the song, also contains the image of sexuality.
Busted is not a sheer punk band. The average age of the three members in the band was 19 in the year of 2002, when their first album came out, and considering their clean looks, Busted is actually a teen-pop group with the outfits of rock ‘n’ roll. Their debut self-title album peaked No.2 in the UK Album Chart with selling more than 700,000 copies. First single “What I Go to School For” charted No.3 in the UK Singles Chart. Neil McCormick in Telegraph.co.uk wrote that Busted are a British pop phenomenon. The song “What I Go to School For” and its music video definitely represent the attitude to music of Busted, the audacious and authentic attitude towards youth culture and sexuality (other songs like “Britney”, “Air Hostess” and “Falling for You” also carry sexual messages).
Sexuality is a common topic for both rock and pop music. Began from the 1950s, the most successful rock artists “wrote and performed songs about love, sexuality, identity crisis, personal freedom, and other issues that were of central concern to teenagers” (Danesi, 2002, p.84). The topic of sexuality also is confirmed widely used in teen-pop music. According to Firth and McRobbie, sexuality in teen-pop is “transformed into a spiritual yearning carrying only hints of sexual interaction” (1990, p.375, in Brian Longhurst, 2007, p.112)
The most important sign of this music video is that the band members directly take part in the characters. Unlike those music videos finding other actors to play, it is an iconic sign that the story is about the band: they either have done it or imagined of doing that. In fact, the inspiration of the song is bassist Matt Willis’s high school dance teacher Michelle Blair, who is the original image of the lusted-after Miss McKenzie in this song. Willis admitted that he used to have a schoolboy crush on Ms. Blair[1]. Besides, the “singers-as-protagonist” format highlights the identity of the band. In this sense, the use of illustration constructs the stardom or persona the band members are.
The setting and dressing style in the “What I Go to School For” music video are the crucial signs of the theme. The band members are singing and playing as the school boys in a high-school set with wearing school uniforms. These signs in the music video not only present the theme of the song but also provide an outlook of the style of band, which is young and energetic: on one hand, these setting and outlook are the central storyline of the song, which the story of school-boy crush could be presented vividly. On the other hand, these setting and dressing style appropriately target the young consumers in a similar impression of identification.
The first verse (see Appendix) of the song contains the hints of sexuality. “To get the best view of her ass”, “she bends down and shows me more” are the signs for the “male students” yearning for female teacher’s body image. In the music video, the students sitting in a “sex education” class watching video about animals’ copulation. These literal and visual signs serve as the index of sexuality and “the students want to have sex with the teacher”. However, this type of signs seems to be too transparent and even as denotation. In the second verse, the storyline alters to the teacher’s home. “I climb a tree outside her home, to make sure that she’s alone”, “I see her in her underwear” brazenly express the students as the voyeurs. In the music video, the images assist to display the information from the lyrics by given a close-shot on McKenzie’s black silk hose and pink underwear.
In the video, there have several shots imply the idea of sexuality. First, women’s eyes seem to be frequently used to describe sexy in most of the commercials and films, and this video also contains this element. There have some close shots of Miss McKenzie’s eyes (Figure 1, Figure 2) and eyes connection from her (Figure 3).
At the end of the video, the boys play with Miss McKenzie in grassland (Figure 4). This scene is completely unrelated to the school scene before, so we can assume that it is the boys having psychosexuality to the teacher. It leaves a question that whether all those wild scene and behavior are not real.
Figure 1-4
Conclusion
Music video is a complex form to analyze because it both emphasizes on image and words (lyrics). Unlike films, however, images in music videos serve as the supporting function to the words (lyrics) and music. This establishes the idea that images have to be analyzed with words or music. Therefore, most of the scenes and events in the “What I Go to School For” video are visual reflection to the lyrics. Moreover, the images amplify the lyrics which make it more vivid, for example Miss McKenzie’s flirting eyes, in-class sex education videos.
Although sexuality is a common theme in rock music, yet the explicit expression in a teen-pop band is rare. This is the reason why Busted became a hit in Britain in 2002. They dared to try everything including this video which is full of sexual messages. Most of the signs in the video portray the boys as voyeurs or flirty teenagers. In this sense, it is also believed these connect to youth culture and sex in school. In future study, this field could be taken as the main path.
[1] “She’s what Busted went to school for!” January 2005. BBC <http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/theatre/2003/12/michelle_busted.shtml>
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