Key Text Paper 1 Section A: Dream Music Video

Analyse  the content of the music video for Dream , using the technical codes ( use of camera, lighting, props , costume, iconography etc )

The establishing shot of the Dream music video by Dizzee Rascal is an intertextual reference to Muffin the Mule playing the piano who is a character from a 1950's children show. Already, this is quite unconventional for a grime video as it would usually be a black male.  Less than 30 seconds into the video this media text has already subverted Steve Neale's genre theory as the audience of grime (which is predominantly the youth) would not be familiar with this white middle class woman. However Dizzee emerges from a box on top of the piano suggesting that he is insignificant which connects to the cultivation theory by George Gerbner as this links to a repeated representation of black people playing minor, irrelevant roles in the media and film industry such as a servant. However the camera does give the audience a close up of Dizzee  when he comes out of the box indicating he is important to this video. He looks like a typical urban man in a tracksuit and a hoodie although he is puppet sized which is quite small compared to the woman playing the piano. The hoodie could be an intentional reference to what was going on at the time of the video's release as in the early 2000s there was a widespread debate as to whether young people should be allowed to wear hoodies in public places such as town centres.  Some venues even banned the item of clothing so to have an artist wear one in his video initiates his perspective on the argument as he suggests that he doesn't agree with the ban. Initially both characters are binary opposites as they are from two completely different backgrounds and they represent different things. Dizzee is a product of his urban environment which is evident in his speech as he has an East London accent with some slang talk (i.e 'gonna' and 'reppin') whereas the middle class woman represents old, traditional Britain. Additionally, she speaks with received pronunciation which contrasts with Dizzee's slang. Another binary opposite that is portrayed in this videois the youth vs the elderly. Clearly there is an age gap between Dizzee and the woman which would be a logical explanation as to why she is presented as human size in the video. It also has connotations of the older generation looking down on the youth as she does several times in the video. On the other hand this could also symbolise society in the 1950s as the white middle and upper classes looked down working class and ethic minorities. By making the woman the first character that the audience sees implies that she has the power of allowing Dizzee to come out of his box entertain us for a bit and go back in. Likewise during the slavery era in the Americas (1619-1865) the colonial masters had the power to allow the black slaves to be seen whenever they wanted to. Another intertextual reference in the video is at one minute and thirty seven seconds with a brief image of two gollywogs before it cuts back to Dizzee. Gollywogs are a racial

Although this video in many ways does conform to that of a typical grime video allowing it to align with Stuart Hall's representation theory to some extent. For example the group of black men standing outside the off license store. Or the scene of the policeman beating the young black men. Along with the lyrics of Dizzee explaining his come up from the streets (i.e 'we used to hang around...reckless with no shame', 'I started doing hotspots'). These are all affiliated with the genre of grime therefore conforming with George Gerbner's cultivation theory as it is a repeated representation of black males in all forms of media. The policeman beating up the black males could symbolise institutionalised racism which has become quite a prominent debate in today's society. The puppets indicate that young black people lack independence and freedom. From a sociological perspective you could argue that they are trapped in their own mindset as they are working class and they value being in a group rather than succeeding as an individual also known as collectivism. Unlike his counterparts Dizzee challenges this stereotype as even though he did follow the crowd at some point he did change his life around which is demonstrated towards the end of the video when he raps about his success and the female character nods towards him suggesting she approves of his success. The last scene of everyone dancing connotes the idea that music overcomes all barriers of race, age and class.