Intertextuality

References (visual, mise en scene, camerawork, etc) to other media texts e.g. TV, film, adverts etc…

Idea/image borrowed and repackaged from other texts.

Can be used for humorous or serious effect.

Privileges part of the audience (in on the joke) but text can still be understood by others unaware of intertextual references.

John Stuart believes that the music promo ‘incorporates, raids and reconstructs’, therefore incorporating other texts, raid them and use them to their advantage, and reconstruct them to make them their own whilst still keeping to the same concept.

Julie Kristeva ‘any text is the absorption and transformation of another’.

Intertextuality in Californication – Red Hot Chilli Peppers:

The video (left) starts with this winged horse  (Pegasus) coming out of a blue sky background, which refers to the TriStar production company’s international film ident (right). This intertextual reference is used to foreshadow what is going to happen in the music video due to the upcoming extravagant use of references to different films through the happenings of the music video.

This video game concept that refers to different famous films through the use of intertextual references is very clever. In this image, the game-style video clip is referring to the mine cart scene in ‘Indiana Jones’s Temple of Doom’. This is a fairly famous scene in the movie world and the lyrics of the song go on to talk about coming to the end of the line, fitting in with the happenings of the music video in reference to what is going to happen next in this particular scene.

This scene in the music video has an intertextual reference to the film ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, a film produced in Hollywood in California. This link to where the film was produced could link to the title of the song ‘Californication’ and may be the reason why there is a reference to this particular film within the music video.

This clip of the music video is referring to the ‘Star Trek’ franchise judging by the images on screen. Also, this is highlighted by the lyrics which at the time say ‘Space may be the final frontier’, portraying that intertextual link to Star Trek too.

 

To summarise, this song is talking about the idea of the world becoming plastic and made-up, simiar to the stereotypical view of Califronia being the ‘movie star’ and ‘plastic’ life of fame and fortune. This song portrays this through the use of video game graphics in order to make intertextual links to films that are fake and unrealistic, symbolising that idea of ‘fake’ life in modern day society.