Music video as party political communication
Opportunities and limits
Relations between political parties and music are fraught with issues over effectiveness,
limitations and opportunities. On the one hand, political parties and movements use the appeal of popular
music to attract audiences who otherwise may not be attentive to their views. On the other hand, mixing the
two has seen music and politics “reduced to their lowest common denominator” (Street 1988, 50). Here, I examine how political parties employ popular music to
articulate party specific discourses. Leaning on Multimodal Critical Discourse Studies and musicology, I
analyse the lyrics, visuals and musical sounds of musical advertisements prepared for two Turkish political
events: A parliamentary election campaign and a presidential referendum campaign. Through a detailed analysis
I reveal the discourses articulated, how these are articulated and the strengths and shortcomings of musical
advertisements as a means of communicating party political discourses.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Political context
- 3.Sample and approach
- 4.Analysis
- 4.12011 election campaign video
- i.National unity in lyrics
- ii.Exclusive Turkish nationalism articulated multimodally
- iii.Positivity around the economy and AKP in musical choices
- iv.Erdoğan as leader in visuals
- 4.22017 referendum campaign video
- i.A united nation in lyrics and visuals
- ii.A conservative, male-dominant nation in visuals and musical sounds
- iii.Support for the referendum and one man rule articulated multimodally
- iv.Positivity for AKP and Erdoğan in visuals
- 5.Conclusion
- Notes
-
References
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Cited by
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Ó hÍr, Liam & Louis Strange
2021.
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Social Semiotics 31:3
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