MUSIC VIDEO QUESTIONS - 9 markers

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How does Common ft Bilaal's; Letter to the Free use media language to make suggestions about the political context?

Apply Steve Neale's theory to your CSP's.
Steve Neale's theory states that genre is instances of repetition and difference. In Letter to the Free, Common and Bilaal go along with Neale's theory by not following along with the music video genres characteristics. Their music video doesn't have an element of performance within it. For example in the video there is no dancing or much movement, the artists stand still whilst lip-synching yet not looking towards the camera. Furthermore, in Letter to the Free there aren't any high fashion costumes or outfits, all of the cast are wearing normal dark coloured clothes that would be seen on the average person. However, in Letter to the Free they do follow the genre conventions when it comes to the setting and visuals of the music video matching the lyrics. 
In Billie Jean, Micheal Jackson follows the conventions of the music video genre. He does this by lip-synching into the camera to show his importance and status, he also has his performance interwoven into the narrative of the video. He shows this by exaggeratedly dancing in the street away from the Paparazzi. Moreover, Jackson wears a high-fashion costume (of the time) to further emphasis his importance and power. Billie Jean shows a large relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, for example, when Jackson speaks about his eyes they camera will zoom into them and there will be a freeze frame of them. 
How does Billie Jean represent Michael Jackson as an artist? What does this have to do with historical context?
In Billie Jean, Jackson is presented as an untouchable, powerful figure. This is due to him never being caught by the Paparazzi and the camera always being focused onto him instead of any other characters, the few others there are. The fact that when he walks the ground lights up suggesting that things get better when he arrives, this can then be emphasised when he gives the homeless man a coin the man becomes well dressed and meets a women. It can also be emphasised by the fact that his cloth turns into a tiger just because he touched it. He is also represented as a sought after musician, this is because the paparazzi are constantly following him around wanting to know his every move. However, Jackson is also represented as having done something wrong. This is also because the paparazzi are constantly following him around, as if they're trying to prove he's done something. This links to the historical context of the video as Billie Jean was the first music video by a black man to be played on MTV, so the thing that Michael have done wrong in the video could be being played on MTV. 
To what extent is Michael Jackson's Billie Jean an example of intertextuality?
Michael Jackson's video for Billie Jean 
How do theories of postmodernism apply to Billie Jean? 

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