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Analyzing and Discussing Pop Culture Through Music Videos, and Thinking About What Makes Up a "Media Landscape"
Analyzing and Discussing Pop Culture Through Music Videos, and Thinking About What Makes Up a "Media Landscape"
In this lesson for an intermediate class, I sent students on a journey in a time machine by assigning a handful of various music videos from the 90s for students to watch at home. I asked them to answer a few questions in preparation for class in a forum post, to which other students had to reply. Providing the lyrics in German for better understanding allowed them to focus more on the visual dimension of the often funny videos.
At the end of the class, students came up with a concept for their own music video. Since this lesson was a lot of fun for everybody, including myself, I could see myself expand this individual session into a more complete teaching unit as part of a portfolio-based teaching concept.
I started the lesson priming students for our discussion by having them discuss their current music preferences in small groups, and talk about where they listen to it, whether they like music videos, and whether they think the visual component is important for the music. They also shared their impressions from the homework with one another.
I also gave students an overview of German television, with its various public and private stations, discussing what makes up a diverse media landscape, while drawing comparisons to the situtation in the US.
Discussion questions for our warm-up activity.
Diedrich Diederichsen is a fascinating author, whose essays I have also incorporated in my double lesson on the German electronic music formation Kraftwerk.
I then gave students a quotation by pop theorist Diedrich Diederichsen, who makes the powerful claim that "pop music" isn't "music at all," but rather a "background for cultural signals," a hybrid between "wishes, imaginations, and promises" made by modern society, where taboos and social contracts are contantly being renegotiated. Students found this perspective perplexing, but also inspiring, gaining awareness of the fact that pop is a serious cultural phenomenon, worthy of our attention and serious study.
The next step was to introduce the class to the German counterpart to MTV, namely a TV station dedicated almost exclusively to airing music videos. It not only primarily addressed a young audience, but its moderators were also (notoriously and to some ridicule of commentators) much younger than was then normal for television. This gave young a people a representation on the screen they had previously not enjoyed, and a station catering to their very own tastes and interests.
Guided and collaborative analysis of the music videos allowed for a deeper understanding of the themes and ideas present in the artworks discussed.
The core of the lesson was the structured analysis of the chose music videos. Just like in my other video analysis components in my beginner and intermediate classes, I want students to analyse each layer (visual, auditory, textual, and thematic) independently, before synthesizing the gained insights into a coherent critique. Since I value group work as a tool to make my classes more engaging and inclusive, I asked students to summarize the story told by the video together by writing 2-3 sentences about it. Then, I had the students distribute the work of analyzing image, sound, and text among each other, and share their results with the one another, and the whole group afterwards. This collaborative approach
As a finishing activity, I asked to students to form groups once again, and come up with a concept for their own music video! Guiding prompts consisted in asking what the theme might be, whether the video would tell some sort of story, what characters would be in it, and what genre it should be. They were also encouraged to come up with a preliminary mock-up, such as a drawing of a still frame, or even a melody or refrain for the lyrics.
I believe for the future, this activity could become the basis for an extended, portfolio-based project for an actual music video. With modern video editing technologies, this is easier to do than ever, without needing a full studio of equipment.
The Music Videos We Watched
The Music Videos We Watched
Perhaps the most "90s" video of them all, Zu Geil für diese Welt (1993) by Die Fantastischen Vier was the first song ever played on VIVA, providing a fitting Auftakt for Germany's first music TV station, made by and for young people.
Ich Find Dich Scheiße (1996) by the multi-racial, all female pop trio Tic Tac Toe is a funny, irreverent song about about class differences, but also about gender roles.
Schrei nach Liebe (Arschloch) (1993) by the punk band Die Ärzte is a powerful song against Neonazis, exposing the latter's emotional insecurities.
Alles nur geklaut (1993) by Die Prinzen is a parody of the music industry itself, and a collage of hommages to other famous music videos, such as I Want To Break Free (1984) by Queen.
Der Wurstfachverkäuferin (1997) by Helge Schneider spoofs Germany's obsession with sausages and other meat-related products. Helge Schneider's characteristic, absurdist humor is on full display here, but nevertheless gives many insights into the German soul.
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