Example textual analysis of one shot in 'The Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be' music video

Artist/Song: The Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be

Director: Michel Gondry

Year:1999

The overexposed medium shot of seven dancers holding up increasingly sized printed cardboard cut-outs one of the dancers' faces illustrates a post-modern simulation of character, and an homage to Andy Warhol's 'Campbell's Soup Cans' where repetition is used for conceptual artistic effect. The copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy style is one of Gondry's favourite effects in his works, also reminiscent of Kylie's 'Come Into My World' music video (intertextual reference) where doppelgangers of Kylie appear on a carousel-like repetition of the same sequence with slight alterations. The audience appreciates the whimsically absurdist spectacle that Gondry specialises in. Gondry may be an acquired taste and not every audience member will appreciate his style, but it is clear that he has cult appeal in counter-cultural institutions, for a distinctive aesthetic and ambitious use of props and staged mise-en-scene.