Music Video: The Specials - Ghost Town CSP

The Specials - Ghost Town:

Background and historical contexts
Read this excellent analysis from The Conversation website of the impact Ghost Town had both musically and visually. Answer the following questions

1) Why does the writer link the song to cinematic soundtracks and music hall tradition?

2) What subcultures did 2 Tone emerge from in the late 1970s?

3) What social contexts are discussed regarding the UK in 1981?

4) Cultural critic Mark Fisher describes the video as ‘eerie’. What do you think is 'eerie' about the Ghost Town video?

5) Look at the final section (‘Not a dance track’). What does the writer suggest might be the meanings created in the video? Do you agree?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Now read this BBC website feature on the 30th anniversary of Ghost Town’s release. 

1) How does the article describe the song?

2) What does the article say about the social context of the time – what was happening in Britain in 1981?

3) How did The Specials reflect an increasingly multicultural Britain?

4) How can we link Paul Gilroy’s theories to The Specials and Ghost Town?

5) The article discusses how the song sounds like a John Barry composition. Why was John Barry a famous composer and what films did he work on?

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Ghost Town - Media Factsheet
Watch the video several times before reading Factsheet #211 - Ghost Town. You'll need your GHS Google login to access the factsheet. Once you have analysed the video several times and read the whole factsheet, answer the following questions: 

1) Focus on the Media Language section. What does the factsheet suggest regarding the mise-en-scene in the video? 

2) How does the lighting create intertextual references? What else is notable about the lighting?

3) What non-verbal codes help to communicate meanings in the video?

4) What does the factsheet suggest regarding the editing and camerawork? Pick out three key points that are highlighted here.

5) What narrative theories can be applied to the video? Give details from the video for each one.

6) How can we apply genre theory to the video?

7) Now look at the Representations section. What are the different people, places and groups that are represented in the Ghost Town video? Look for the list on page 4 of the factsheet.

8) How can Gauntlett's work on collective identity be applied to the video?

9) How can gender theorists such as Judith Butler be applied to Ghost Town?

10) Postcolonial theorists like Paul Gilroy can help us to understand the meanings in the Ghost Town music video. What does the factsheet suggest regarding this?

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Bonus content! Ghost Town - Media Magazine feature
There is an interesting article on the Ghost Town music video in Media Magazine MM79. It includes an interview with one of the founding members of the group plus an analysis of the video itself.   

A/A* Extension reading: Music video and Ghost Town

There is so much excellent reading on The Specials and Ghost Town in particular. This Guardian feature by Alexis Petridis describes the social context and the band’s relationship superbly. 

Along similar lines, this is an excellent piece on music reflecting the mood of a country – written during the 2011 London Riots but linking back to Ghost Town in 1981.

Enjoy this phenomenal long read by GQ editor Dylan Jones who links the history of London since 1981, music, race relations and riots to Ghost Town and the Specials.

The career of the director of the Ghost Town video, Barney Bubbles, and his influence over graphic design in the 1970s is laid out in this website article that will appeal to any arts students.

This Rolling Stone article offers some industry context regarding how artists can make money from music videos.

Finally, here are some extracts from an academic research paper on Rock Against Racism at the time Ghost Town was released. It refers to Gilroy and other theorists and gives you a superb introduction to university-level reading. You'll need to login using your Greenford Google login to read it.