Background and cultural contexts
Read this Vox feature and podcast transcript on Lil Nas X and Old Town Road. Make sure you read the whole thing - including the podcast transcript - then answer the following questions:
1) What is the big debate regarding Old Town Road and genre?
If it’s country music or hip hop
2) What do you learn about the background of Lil Nas X and Old Town Road from the podcast transcript?
Lil nas x came from a poor background and it didn’t have billy ray Cyrus originally
3) What is the Yeehaw agenda?
Celebrating black cowboy culture
4) How did the story become a debate about race in America?
As hip hop was mainly black and country mainly white music
5) How does Charlie Harding sum up the whole thing in the final part of the podcast transcript?
That’s it’s not a country culture song but a internet generation
Now read this Salon feature on Lil Nas X and LGBTQ+ identity. Answer the following questions:
1) How did Lil Nas X announce his sexuality on social media?
Came out as gay in a series of twitter tweets
2) Why does the article describe Old Town Road as 'genre-blurring'?
As it had controversy if it was country or hip hop
3) How has country music demonstrated the social change taking place in American culture and society?
As old town road showed more technology and colours with pink outfits showing the change in America
Old Town Road textual analysis
Watch the video again and answer the following questions. Use your notes from our in-class analysis to help you:
1) How are narrative features used in the music video? Apply narrative theory here.
Prop: hero is lil nas x and side kick is billy ray cyrus
2) What examples of genre conventions and intertextuality can you find in the video?
It had concepts of country with horses and cowboy outfits but also hip hop with cars and being in the hood
3) How are technical codes used to create meanings in the video? Analyse camerawork, editing and mise-en-scene and make specific reference to moments in the video.
Mise en scene is shown through the setting, props and clothes to show the binary oppositions and the use of close up and long shots to show the setting and the clothes
4) How are representations of race and ethnicity constructed in the video?
The representations are shown through how different they are but they can all change as lil nas x in a cowboy outfit and then billy ray Cyrus changes into a pink outfit with new cars
5) What other representations can you find in the video? You may wish to comment on gender, sexuality or America/American culture.
The stereotype of cowboys are white as conflicted with lil nas x as a cowboy and lil nas x coming out at gay also conflicts with it
Old Town Road Media Factsheet
Finally, read Media Factsheet #262 - Old Town Road. You'll need to log in to Google using your Greenford Google account to access this. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:
1) Who are the celebrities that appear in cameos in the video?
Chris rock, haha Davis, Vince staples and rico nasty
2) Choose three of the key terms defined on the first page of the factsheet and write the definitions here. Focus on terms you are unfamiliar with.
3) How did Lil Nas X use social media to boost his own popularity and the success of the video?
He used twitter with an account following Nicki minaj, posted and tiktok and iCloud
4) Look at the video analysis on page 3. What conventions of the western can be found in the video?
The use of the setting of the Wild West, cowboy outfits and horses
5) How does the video begin?
In the Wild West with cowboys on horses chasing lil nas x
6) What does the factsheet suggest regarding the modern-day part of the video?
It describes the car race and the dance off as the modern day elements
7) How can the video be read as a reinforcement of capitalism and the American dream?
The maseratti car, dollar signs, flashy suits and high end sunglasses can reinforce this
8) How does the factsheet suggest the video creates a hyperreality?
It constructs the hyper reality of the American dream
9) How is masculinity represented in the video?
The idea of masculinity is shown through wasp white anglo Saxon Protestant
10) Look at the final page. What theories are suggested for this CSP and which do you think are the most useful?
Judith butler, David gauntlet, Paul gilroy and Stuart hall, I think David gauntletts identity theory is the most useful as the representations of gay, black cowboy and rap artists being accepted could create the idea for more artists
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