Music video 4 - Video as parody, reference or homage

Reference - To refer. 

Parody -  A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.

Homage - a public show of respect or honor towards someone or something.

 In the music video genre, there are many examples that illustrate each of these sub-genres.

Reference

Marilyn

Madonna

A particularly well-known 'reference' is Madonna's 'Material Girl' that includes a large amount of similarities with Marilyn Monroe's 'Diamonds are a girls best friend'. Both are an example of a music video that reflects the artist and features them in a performance. There are many similarity's between the two and it is clear that Madonna wanted to reflect Marilyn, for example: They both wear pink dresses and fancy jewelery, and also are both performing on a stage with stairs and with male dancers who are wearing suits.
 Another comparison is the beat and pace of the song. Madonna's 'Material girl' was confirmed to be a mimicry of Monroe's hit from the 1953 film 'Gentlemen prefer blondes' and reports also claimed that she had created the video to seem as powerful and elegant as Monroe therefore "promoting Madonna's image". (wiki) Madonna also claimed that she was "curious" of Marilyn Monroe's "sexuality..that I can relate to". I think that this statement shows that she was striving to be as good as a previous star, and by creating a music video that contained large amounts of reference from a different famous video, she herself would gain more popularity like Marilyn did.


Parody
 A more recent parody is the 2010 "overnight Internet sensation" spoof of 'Empire state of mind' is the Welsh hit 'Newport state of mind' which features actors singing about the love they have for their home town, another comparison is also the visual for example: the collection of photographs of the cities, which both including a bull statue, buildings and general sights. Director M-j Delaney was a fan of the original song, and the idea for a spoof came around whilst she was with two of her friends. They wrote it as a joke but Delaney claims she wanted it to be a "celebration, something the people of Newport could enjoy"(BBC interview July 2010). Starring Alex Warren and Terema Wainwright, the parody follows the exact same melody as Jay-z and Alicia's 2009 3x platinum hit but with the lyrics changed to comic information about Newport, Wales. After posting the song on YouTube, the song received over 500,000 hits in the first few days and Warren states in BBC news interview just a few days after the video went global,"we weren't expecting that at all, we could never have predicted it". 

New York

Newport

Although some press releases have described it as a "tribute" to the original song, all involved agreed that it is supposed to be a parody and "a gentle ribbing of Newport, not designed to be harsh, but funny instead".

Homage

In March 2011, Chris brown released his new album 'F.A.M.E' that contained the single 'She ain't you'. Brown used this single to pay tribute to Micheal Jackson, who passed away the year before, by putting a small quote - "Dedicated to my biggest inspiration of all time, I love you, R.i.p Micheal..", at the beginning of his video. The viewers then see Brown dressed in an 80's suit, much alike the one that Jackson wore in the hit 'Smooth criminal', he also includes some famous Jackson moves in his modern choreography.

  During the song, Jackson's 1983 single 'Human Nature' is sampled as the background melody, mixed in with a few new instruments to give the song a fresh twist. "Browns new video is the ultimate nod to the late ledgend"- (http://blog.music.aol.com/chrisbrownjackson), this is clear because of the obvious attempt to re-create Jacksons dance moves and the heartfelt message at the start of the official video.

  Brown notes that Jackson was "his inspiration to become a performer" and it is clear the Brown really looked up to the "King of pop", at the 2010 beta awards CBS news reported that after Brown paid tribute by singing 'Man in the mirror' on stage, he got "Emotional almost immediatly after the song started" (cbsnews.com), I think this really shows that Brown wanted to make his idol proud, and he did this by creating a video that reflected Micheal, but also showed what he could create by himself.