Plan B// Ill Manors

“How Are Young People Represented In The Ill Manors Music Video?”

Plan B’s Ill Manors was written during the aftermath of the London riots of 2011. In the song Plan B talks about the way that the working class are repressed by the bourgeoisie and how class struggle is a result of this repression to see change in society; for example the London riots. However within the music video and the lyrics of the song Plan B subsequently portrays a widely stereotyped image of young people as dangerous, violent and delinquent.

Firstly; in the music video Plan B casts a lot of young children in black hoodies wearing clothes that make it very difficult to see their face; i.e. Balaclava’s. This fits a very widely believed stereotype that young offenders walk around in hoodies and commit petty crimes such as vandalism; however can also be believed to commit more serious crimes, mainly knife crimes, and Plan B shows this in the lyric:  “Oi look there's a chav, that means council housed and violent. He's got a hoodie on give him a hug, on second thoughts don't you don't wanna get mugged.” What Plan B is doing here is being ironic and using stereotypes, but talking about them as though they are fundamental and correct; in which he does throughout the song. This is effective as it shows the audience the common belief about these people; the effect it has upon the audience is that it makes them empathise with the kids and feel that the views society have upon them are unjust. For example every one of the viewers will know that every child they see in a hoody isn’t going to attack and mug them.

Secondly Plan B sites that ‘council estate kids’ or working class children are represented negatively in the press. This is shown in the lyric “Keep on believing what you read in the papers, council estate kids, scum of the earth”. This appears to be an attack on the middle and upper classes who are readers of such papers as the daily mail who give/ reinforce the working class kids’ negative stereotypes of all having ASBO’s and taking drugs among other common beliefs of council estate kids. Plan B is stating that the working class kids, him being one of them, don’t care about what is spread around about them by the media and the music video is almost a defence mechanism to try and employ a fairer playing field in the media, a fight back almost.

Likewise the lyric “we’re all drinkers, drug takers” uses another media generated stereotype in the frenzy of backlash towards the working class youths following the widespread riots originating in Tottenham late 2011. Although this was a wide spread stereotype well before the riots, it was rumoured that Mark Duggan (the victim who’s death sparked the riots) was a drug dealer, this was a false allegation. Therefore, the lyric used by Plan B intertwines with the riots as it uses a common stereotype thought of people who live in council owned houses and flats. It is also commonly believed that people live in accommodation such as this because of drug addiction; and that these people are living so close to the breadline because of their lack of money, which is due to it all being wasted on drugs, thereby creating an uncompassionate view of the working class. The affect Plan B’s use of this lyric and stereotype is that it will make the viewer realise how ridiculous the idea of this stereotype really is and that will, in turn, make the viewer question other stereotypes.

Another representation of youth in the video Ill Manors is that it creates an atmosphere of class warfare between the upper class and the working class. From a Marxist point of view this is a standard fact throughout societal history and Marxists would approve of this video as it shows revolt and class struggle to help bring about social change; like with the NHS and The Suffragette movement. This essence of class warfare is created within the music video by snippets of clips of rioting and revolt and showing the working class fighting with the police and attacking upper class, privately educated, politicians. One piece of cinematography that portrays this is the image of Cameron and Clegg stood arm in arm on a wedding cake, representing the coalition government; then a dog on a council estate eating the image and excreting them on to the pavement. This can be interpreted as the common view of the proletariat’s views of the government as a ruling power as a whole. This is why this imagery is effective; as it makes the viewer realise what the widespread view of the government and the way the country is being ran is.

Similar too this the lyric “politics, ain’t it all, smoke and mirrors, April fools” indicates that Plan B is attacking the politicians in the current government. The way this represents young people is that it gives the impression that young working class people are angry at the current government and that they have therefore given up on trying to cooperate with the government and want them gone, however can’t get rid of them as they  have too much power over them. The lyrics indicate that young people have no faith in their government as they are all liars and therefore can’t be trusted. The impact this has on the viewer is that it can either make the viewer empathise with the young people or resent them. This is because people will either agree or, at least, side with the kids that the government are liars and can’t be trusted or that the government aren’t liars and that the kids are the negative influences on society and that they are the undesirables in this situation.

The lyric “Give us free money and we don't pay any tax, NHS healthcare, yes please many thanks” is a reference towards successful benefits for the proletariat that Marxists would believe have only been earned through class struggle. This means that if it weren’t for the public suffering and fighting for some kind of benefit then it wouldn’t have been introduced in the first place. However Marxists believe that this is only used as a calming method and in England the NHS and the welfare system, the two things Plan B notes in the lyric, are slowly being taken away from the proletariat and have been since the leadership of Margret Thatcher in the 1980’s; which is what Plan B is referencing in his lyric; that the rewards of class struggle, i.e. the welfare system and the NHS, are being taken away. Plan B is also using irony to say that youths, in particular working class youths, enjoy the benefits of these rewards of class struggle without holding up their end of the deal, paying taxes and living off of the welfare state; because of this they are viewed negatively in the public eye and therefore people are more inclined to dislike them. Therefore Plan B’s lyric, like most, is to state that this is not the case and a gross stereotype. The reason Plan B has used this is to make the public realise the oppression and unfair bias against these kids and that they have difficult lives because of these stereotypes, the goal of this lyric in summary is to generate empathy from the viewer.

In conclusion young people are represented in a stereotypical way in the Ill Manors music video. Plan B cleverly takes stereotypes generated by media and politicians and creates a music video that almost makes a mockery of them. The reason Plan B does this is to try and show to the public how these stereotypes are not true and that young people are actually a lot different to what they are made out to be in an ironic way by mocking the stereotypes which then makes them seem silly and unrealistic. Also I feel that the music video is designed to generate some sympathy and empathy towards the young people of this country because of these stereotypes; which is then used to show people how damaging these stereotypes can be towards these young people’s lives; with the removal of housing estates, difficulty to find jobs and lack of things to do outside of school with the demolition of things such as community centres; as seen in the lyric “Who closed down the community center? I killed time there used to be a member, what will I do now 'til September?” Plan B’s music video is used as a defensive mechanism, to stand up for the young people represented in the music video who don’t have a voice in the way their country is ran; which is then used as another devise to create empathy from the viewer.

Why We Chose Fold//Fight Back

Why We Chose Fold.

In our group we decided on Fold because Fold are in a small minority in this current generation of musicians; by this I mean, that they have tapped into the zeitgeist. We feel that the band have used the mutual feeling the youth of our generation feel of oppression and irrelevance to the way in which the country is run; as well as feeling pushed aside by the government and the ever growing difficulty to socialise themselves within British society.

The track “Fight Back” isn’t the strongest of tracks for its technicality or strength as a song in its own right; however it is innovative and original, as well as being a very political, anti-establishment tune which will reconcile within the youths of Britain as is the age old story of young people standing up for a cause and not being like their “mum and dad”. The track is all about the education cuts of 2011 and links heavily with the “March for the Alternative” demonstrations of the same year. This allowed a lot of room for creativity and Fred and I were able to brainstorm ideas with great prowess and meaning as the track’s overall message reconciled within us as individuals due to its heavy links with standing up for the youths of this country.

The track puts a beat behind a post-cuts speech by Barnabie Rayne delivered articulately with great passion and makes Barnabie out to be the voice of a generation. With this in mind we felt as though the track would allow good grounds for us to do the same with our protagonist to be perceived as the voice of a generation “without saying a word”. We planned to do this by showing him as a stereotype of the young people of England today similar to the objectives of TV programme Skins which received widely renowned praise from its target audience of 16-21 year olds, amongst criticism from the parents of these kids watching, as well as Americans.

Fold//Fight Back Track

Examples of Negative reviews of Skins from Americans

Russell Brand V Jeremy Paxman

Jeremy Paxman- Russell Brand interview.

In the early months of last year Jeremy Paxman interviewed the highly opinionated, revolutionary Russell Brand. In the video Paxman enquires about the political stance Brand takes, very similar to a Marxist point of view, and begins to delve into Brand's views of revolution from the demeaning, bourgeois exploitation of the "disenfranchised, disillusioned underclass". 

This links to our music video as it highlights the exploitation the government carries out upon the public and apart of that public is the students. Brand points out the governments failure to tackle the problems at hand with the country and the world and points out the government's obsession with money by suing the EU over banker's bonus'. This is a problem highlighted by the Marxist William Chambliss who believed that laws are passed by the ruling class to benefit their economic growth. Likewise Laureen Snider believes that the ruling class are reluctant to create laws which will threaten economic growth, which monitor businesses. 

This greed and lust for money within the ruling powers of the British government is the reason that so many cuts have been made in education and the reason these cuts have been made are because of the huge debts caused by the recession. Therefore Brand is stating that the Capitalist society our society is based upon is no longer worth taking any interest in and the only way we can resolve the problems we have is stop living to gain profit and start living to help each other's prosperity; and that this is only achievable by revolution; starting by creating things like "March for the Alternative".

We took inspiration from this video as we felt it gave us great background knowledge and insight into the politics and political views of the modern day revolutionary. As our protagonist himself is a lonely revolutionary who takes part in rallies and protests, we felt as though Brand's views would give us an insight as to what our protagonist's views and behaviours would be like in order to then display this via our music video.     

Pitch

Pitch

For our music video project Fred and I decided that we'd like to make something politically profound, however that would also identify with our peers at an age range of 17-19 year old's. With this age demographic we felt that we could make a really strong piece as we are both young adults with aspirations of attending universities next year in our education. With this train of thought we felt it would be a good idea to do a piece that links to the student cuts in 2011 and thus had the idea of using a generic student character involved with the "March for the Alternative" movement.

The original idea was to film in London and join a protest movement of any kind to get our footage, however this seemed unachievable and highly dangerous as well as expensive and inaccessible. 

So with this in mind Fred and I decided to concentrate more of a "behind the scenes" look at what toll the cuts would have on the students. Therefore we decided to do a "day in the life" principle by showing a stereotypical teenage student who failed to gain entrance to a university due to the cuts and increasing expense to higher education which is commonly becoming a middle to upper class privilege. 

Therefore we decided that we would have one sole protagonist similar to videos such as "Bittersweet Symphony"; "The Day I Died" and "Sunday Morning Call". Our protagonist would be struggling with depression due to the crushing realization that he will forever be doomed to living his life wondering what might have been, had he been able to afford the opportunity to attend a university. His life has been intoxicated with alcohol and drug abuse, amongst violence and anger at the world surrounding him; our narrative follows the broken soul on his journey to trying to find himself, firstly by figuring out what to do with his future.

Image representing the worth of a degree in the modern world, the student is depicted as a homeless man begging for money. His hat is used as a collection tray and his degree is what one would expect the sign to say "money for food".

An Insight Into The History Of The Music Industry (Unfinished)

An Insight Into The History Of The Music Industry.

Blues: 

"The Blues" originated in the US in the late 19th century. It's basic principles were of 3 chord progressions in a 12/8 bar format. The Blues "scene" is predominantly considered an African-American sub-culture and threw a lot of African-American artists into the limelight of mainstream media. Notable artists could include Robert Johnson and Ray Charles.

Robert Johnson had little recognition for his works during his lifetimes, playing on street corner bars and at small social dances. It was only after his death that he came to prominence in the media. Although Johnson's life was poorly documented; his death at 27 was a revelation at the time, however, due to his relatively low profile during his lifetime, his cause of death was widely disputed, as it still is today. The media started to join in the speculation as to what caused this mysterious death to someone so young and early on in their career and one story states that Johnson, in fact, sold his soul at a cross roads to obtain the talent that he is now remembered for. Robert Johnson was the first musician to enter "The 27 club" a club of very high profile musicians that have died aged 27, a brain child of the media.

Ray Charles cam to prominence in 1947 and his style of music was seen as very controversial at the time. The world was still enjoying the "ground-breaking" new styles of music introduced to America, and subsequently the world, by the black community and the likes of Roger Johnson. Jazz, Swing and, of course, Blues were still relatively new forms of music in comparison to the several years of dominance of the genre we now know to be "classical" music. The black community was taking it's place in western society after the abolition of the slave trade and was fighting it's way towards equal civil-rights with the assistance of the black input to music. However Ray Charles' music was the next new thing to hit the world and, in some cases, can be seen as the most influential artist in making the link between Blues and Rock n Roll. However while Ray Charles was coming to prominance in the late forties and enjoying great success in the 1950's; so where others of a different genre...

Swing/ Big Band:

Bittersweet Symphony Case Study

 

Bittersweet Symphony// The Verve Applied To Goodwin’s Theory

Track Title: Bittersweet Symphony
Album: Urban Hymns (1997)
Genre: Brtipop, Alternative Rock
Release Date: 16 June 1997

The Verve were an English Alternative Rock band of the 1990’s, made famous mostly by their iconic singer/songwriter Richard Ashcroft and were an inspiration to many of the great bands to follow in the decade and were sited as such by iconic 90’s songwriters such as Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarn and Thom Yorke. The band were formed in 1990 in Wigan and are yet another great band to be produced by the north of England and were greatly inspired by  the troubles the north faced in previous decades mainly the 70’s and 80’s. They are often associated with such bands as The Stone Roses, The Smiths and The Happy Mondays, all cult legends of the Great British music industry and all, like the Verve, northerners. The band originally began with a psychedelic sound in the early 90’s inspired by such acts as Jimi Hendrix and a great example of their psychedelic sound is the track “She’s a Superstar” and the music video accompanies the original psychedelic sound appropriately; making it look like a video straight out of 1969. However Urban Hymns (1997) is where the group from Wigan achieved great commercial success; with the album becoming one of the best selling albums in UK chart history, and the single “Bittersweet Symphony” becoming a worldwide hit and is still commonly used today; most notably as the soundtrack for the opening title sequence for ITV’s coverage of the England international football games; which, I feel, demonstrates the nations affection to the song and symbolises it’s cult following as an unofficial national anthem similar to “Don’t Look Back In Anger”-Oasis or “We Are The Champions”-Queen. Soon after finding commercial success the group split in the April of ‘99 culminating a 6 year rollercoaster of; law-suits, fall outs and drug abuse. However the 6 years will forever be looked back upon as a magic 6 years of musical genius all created as the brain-child of Richard Ashcroft who will no doubt go down as a British Rock and Roll legend.

 However the journey didn’t end there as the band reformed in the new millennium touring, although they haven’t yet released a new studio album.

 

 

 "She's A Superstar" Official Video

"Bittersweet Symphony" Official Video

 ITV England International Football Title Sequence (2009)


The music video depicts lead singer Richard Ashcroft walking through a busy street in an unspecified English city. Ashcroft is the main focus of the camera throghout the video and he remains along a one way path.
A key point to highlight is the fact that Ashcroft is going at a much slower pace from the other people along the path way. From the songs lyrics one can connote that the track is about the long road of life; this can be seen from the lyric "I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down" the road expressed here is the road of life and is a methaphor used in the song and video respectively. The pavement Ashcroft is walking on is a metaphor for his path in life and is used to express his individuality, the people he crosses paths with are people he encounters in his life, some pass peacefully and others collide with him as seen from the people he brushes shoulders with and the people he barely acknowledges, the main connotation of this idea is that no matter who comes and goes within life, you always end up alone again and noone stays for long, this is the bittersweet nature of life which is where the song and video nicely intertwine with the title.