Burn the witch essay
How are media language and intertextuality used in “Burn the Witch” to construct representations of groups, messages and values?
In 'Burn The Witch' media language and intertextuality is used to create a message about the Refugee crisis 2016.
Burn the Witch is a song created by the famous Radiohead's' in which through media language and intertextuality a story and serious political issue is presented. This is executed mise en scene. An example of this is the stop motion animation that is inspired by The Trumptonshire trilogy 1966-1969 - a children's show which was intended in teaching children about community values, which is ironic when being used in Radiohead's' Burn The Witch as this music videos message is about the Refugee crisis, and discrimination. This could bring about the message that people within the European Union are not being courteous to what the people they see as others in their communities and this is not how they should be conducting themselves as we are taught from young about community values .
Throughout the music video through mise en scene the images of the animated characters and the village looked rather joyful and playful, the high lighting created a happy mood denoting that the village is a perfect place. However the actions of the residents towards one another is disturbing . This is presented through the lyrics "We know where you live"in which the mayor and inspector walk into a garden and see a women bound to a tree surrounded by men in scary costumes pointing swords towards her. This could be seen as a perspective of refugees living in Europe - they came under a lot of backlash especially during the time of the refugee crisis in which, these individuals not only suffered with lack of necessities such as basic humanitarian care, clean water , emergency shelter and legal aid- in first world countries , but the citizens of these countries may hold discriminatory views towards them and in some cases not only verbally abuse but physically abuse them . Within this they also felt a threat from the government in which they'd find them and deport them back to their home countries. Showing that just because a country is perceived as perfect and upright by the media this isn't always the case and that we should look into the reality that refugees face.
Another way in which mise en scene is used to create media language and intertextuality is by through the lyrics "This is a low flying panic attack" and image of a huge red cross painted on a door, this is in reference to medieval practices which represents the 1965's Great Plague of London. The red cross ruled out plague victims which ultimately made them outcasts in which they faced discrimination. This could represent the feelings of refugees living in Europe in which they often feel like they're are disdained and made to feel like a nuisance- something like a plague in which the citizens of the country want nothing to do with them, exposing the brutality that the refugees face.
Another way in which mise en scene is used to create media language and intertextuality is by The Wicker Man a 1973 movie with the effigy-used as a pagan ritual. Within the movie this structure was used to burn the inspector .The exact effigy is presented on Burn The Witch to burn the inspector also,within the political context the inspector could be a metaphor for the immigrants especially the muslim immigrants in Europe who are mistreated for who they are and that they feel like outcasts because how they are treated.This links to the EU referendum in may 2016, as this song was released a month before it, in which the well known slogan 'leave' was a huge part of the lives of people voting leave. It was a big assumption that the individual's voting leave were discriminatory and racist and were only voting leave because they believed that individuals such as immigrants will be required to leave. Within this, refugees may have been bullied and disrespected, the song shows how they felt during this time.
A confident and intelligent essay Candace, in which you are particularly strong on the contextual elements of the video- the EU referendum and refugee crisis. You also understand and discuss intertextual references. You could draw on more specific examples of shots, lyrics and editing so illustrate, and which also shows off your media language. V
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