Goodwin Theory

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

1. Music videos demonstrate gene characteristics/conventions (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band)

The “Streets of Philadelphia” is written and sung by one person so the conventions within the music video reflect this, as it shows the singer, who is on his own, walking down the street. The clothing and imagery that are used are typical of the 1990s and help to set the scene for the tone of the song.

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)

The visuals in the music video "Streets of Philadelphia" both illustrate and amplify the lyrics. An example of when the visuals illustrate the lyrics, can be seen around 2.13 as the lyrics say "Night is falling", whilst the visuals show daytime turning to night. Another example of this can be when the lyrics say "I walked the avenue", and it shows Bruce Springsteen walking down an avenue. Also, the majority of the lyrics are being sung on screen by Bruce Springsteen, which can be used as a way of amplifying the lyrics as they are not only being heard, but are also being seen by the audience. Since the song is about the "Streets of Philadelphia", every shot features the streets of Philadelphia as a way to emphasis the meaning of the lyrics.

3. There is a relationship between the music and visuals

The visuals in the music video "Streets of Philadelphia" are either illustrating or amplifying the music. For example, there is a very distinctive bass line in the song and it corresponds with the visuals, i.e. in some scenes, the beating of the drum is in time with Bruce Springsteen’s footsteps as he is walking along the street. Also, when there is no singing in some parts of the song, the camera moves away from him and shows shots of parks and schools in Philadelphia as though trying to emphasise that there is no singing at this stage of the song.

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artists and the artist may develop motifs which reoccur across their work (a visual style)

In the music video, the majority of the shots are medium close-ups of the singer as he walks along the street. Most of the shots in the music video are quite dark and they show a lot of run-down areas of Philadelphia and this is reflected in the album cover as it only features Bruce Springsteen and the colours are dark, which reflect the sombreness of the song.

5. There is frequent reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes etc and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body)

In this music video, there are no main female characters as the protagonist is the singer, Bruce Springsteen. However, there are shots of females in the background yet they are not filmed in a sexually suggestive way or in fact wearing any sexually suggestive clothing as this does not really fit in with the genre of the music video. During some shots, Bruce Springsteen looks directly into the camera and this allows there to be a more intimate relationship with the audience as it seems that he is singing to them.

6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc)

The costumes used in the music video are typical everyday clothing that was worn during the period that the music video was filmed, which is the 1990s; the song was released in 1994.