https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i3.072
Shaping the Collective Cultural Consciousness Through Music Videos: A Case Study on Music Videos of Hyderabad City
CHENNA CHAKRAVARTHY
Research Scholar
Department of English, Pondicherry University
Abstract: When music videos featuring a specific city as their emphasis get viral on social media, they end up becoming an anthem of that city. The effect that music videos bring along with them is huge. They transform the content consumers into cultural ambassadors. As music videos are gaining grounds because of their thematic approach in representation, they grab the attention of the consumers very easily. Stuart Hall in Encoding and Decoding in the television discourse suggests that the meanings and messages in the discursive production are systematised through the operation of ‘codes’ within the framework of language. Apart from the lyrics, all units/ textual elements that contribute to meaning making and hold the power of signification are relevant in creating an impact that they intend to.
This is an attempt to investigate the representation of people, places, culture and food in music videos of ‘Hyderabad Song – Girl in the City’, ’Hyderabadi Poradu’ and ‘V6 Special Song On Hyderabad City & Culture’ whose main focus is the cityscape of Hyderabad, and to explore the capacity of these texts as dynamic modes of imaginative articulation. By adopting different semantic theoretical approaches, this paper tries to explore the ability of the texts as lively entities that have a narrative that needs to be tackled by the consumer by the syntagms structure and order of signs.
However, this paper goes in a complete contradiction to the concept of the Flaneur and sees how instrumental these music videos are in shaping the collective cultural consciousness of the consumers and make them the cultural ambassadors of the cityscape. It tries to comment on how these music videos can be used as the soft power to enhance the representation of a city in the global village.
Keywords: Music Videos, Popular Culture, Semiotics, Cityscapes, Representation
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