Read this excellent analysis from The Conversation website of the impact Ghost Town had both musically and visually. Answer the following questions
1) Why does the writer link the song to cinematic soundtracks and music hall tradition?
It's used in a lot of movies. It's a form of mood music which is a nod to cinematic soundtracks and music hall tradition
2) What subcultures did 2 Tone emerge from in the late 1970s?
Mod and Punk
3) What social contexts are discussed regarding the UK in 1981?
Riots, fights against the police
4) How can we apply cultural critic Mark Fisher’s description of ‘eerie’ to the Ghost Town video?
"The sensation of the eerie occurs either when there is something present where there should be nothing, or there is nothing present when there should be something."
The deprived towns are now run by the people who were rioting, a sort of dystopian future. It;s scary because there is absolutely no control of the establishments whatsoever.
5) Look at the final section (‘Not a dance track’). What does the writer suggest might be the meanings created in the video? Do you agree?
It unifies those skinheads in a cause. A subject of protest and that this song attacks the injustice incited by society at the time.
Now read this BBC website feature on the 30th anniversary of Ghost Town’s release.
1) How does the article describe the song?
It starts with a siren and those woozy, lurching organ chords. Then comes the haunted, spectral woodwind, punctuated by blaring brass.
Over a sparse reggae bass line, a West Indian vocal mutters warnings of urban decay, unemployment and violence.
2) What does the article say about the social context of the time – what was happening in Britain in 1981?
Britain's streets erupted into rioting almost three weeks later - the day before Ghost Town reached number one in the charts.
3) How did The Specials reflect an increasingly multicultural Britain?
With a mix of black and white members, The Specials, too, encapsulated Britain's burgeoning multiculturalism. The band's 2 Tone record label gave its name to a genre which fused ska, reggae and new wave and, in turn, inspired a crisply attired youth movement.
They used a reggae beat as well as take influences from other cultures.
4) How can we link Paul Gilroy’s theories to The Specials and Ghost Town?
We can apply his Diasporic theory. He says that that black culture is forged through travel and hybridity, a “liquidity of culture”
There is a clear merging of reggae and pop/rock music so and this brought in working class culture.
5) The article discusses how the song sounds like a John Barry composition. Why was John Barry a famous composer and what films did he work on?
John Barry was very well known for the Bond films. He was well known for merging different cultures and sounds together such as Live and Let Die and Die Another Day with carribbean and asian cultures respectively. I particularly like The Man with the Golden Gun for his use of the slide whistle used in the car chase between Scaramanga and Roger Moore.
Close-textual analysis of Ghost Town
Watch the video several times and make bullet-point notes of your close-textual semiotic analysis using the following headings:
1) Mise-en-scene: Setting, Lighting, Colour, Actor/performer placement and movement, Costume and props. How are some of these aspects used to create meanings?
The setting is central London, a part of the country where most of the money is and where people should be employed and happy. Instead it's quiet and althoigh the grand buildings stand, nobody seems to be in them hence the title name 'ghost town'.
Low key lighting mainky as we go into the Vauxhall's interior, this suggests that this was a dark and uncertain time for the British public.
Actor placement is significant as there is a synergy between black and white people. They are there for the main reaggae element of the song as well as representing the diasporic community.
Costumes, the white actos are wearing suits which is a juxtaposition to the skinhead movement.
2) Cinematography: Camera shots and camera movement.
There is clear movement which is a convention of a music video. We see mid-close ups of the actor's faces and we see tracking shits of the car driving. At the end we see the mid-shot of the actors on a beach throwing stones as if they were in a protest.
3) Editing: Pace, juxtaposition, timing.
It's quite a slow build up. First the siren, then the chords cresendo to deliver this quite spooky chord. Not a fast paced video at all. The timing of the shots switching to each change in melody.
Now apply media theory to the video - perhaps by considering whether Ghost Town reinforces or challenges some of the media theories we have studied. Make bullet-point notes on the following:
1) Goodwin’s theory of music video.
- there's a link between the lyrics and the video as they are talking about riots and culture.
- they contain cultural references to reggae
- the video is concept based, if the riots stopped
2) Neale’s genre theory.
The video uses conventions from horror films so the fans have something to relate to
3) Gilroy’s diasporic identity/postcolonial theory.
This reflects its musical genre of ska, a style which could be read politically in the context of a racially divided country. Ska also blends reggae and punk rock which emphasises the cultural ties.
4) Bricolage and pastiche.
A merging of horror in the 80s and the use of mise-en-scene makes references to these films.
Reference to on the road movies which have no real goal or achievment.
5) Strinati’s definition of postmodernism.
An arthouse video style mixed with a popular music genre is an example of Strinati's definition of Post Modernism.
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