Applying Goodwin's Theory to Gold Digger

When looking at Goodwin's theory of music videos I looked at the music video Gold Digger by Kanye West Ft. Jamie Foxx, which was released in 2005 by Rock-A-Fella Records. I looked at Goodwin's six features and applied it to this music video, listing them below:

1. The lyrics are linked to the visuals:

In the music video when Kanye West is rapping he says "18 years, 18 years, she got one of your kids got you for 18 years, I know somebody paying child support for one of his kids." As he raps this part of the song a little boy appears on screen in a red/pink devil costume. This use of mise en scene is representative of evil.

2. The music is linked to the visuals:

At the beginning of the video, the editing is more fast paced and the tempo is more upbeat, creating a booming earthquake sort of effect. As this occurs a collection of images of women with minimal clothing come up on screen and are shown really quickly as there are a number of the images. One of the images is of a woman's eyes and she is wearing green eyeshadow, which symbolises envy and wealth. The fact it symbolises wealth emphasises the fact that Kanye West is rapping about "gold diggers,"- people who scrounge off others for their money.

3. Genre characteristics are established by music videos:

The genre of "Gold Digger" is R&B/Hip Hop, but more on the side of R&B, as you can tell by the rapping and the style of singing. The conventions of R&B is associated with parties and dancing, women and their body parts, and sexual references.

4. Intertextual reference:

Throughout the music video, clips of all the women on the front of male magazines are shown frequently in between Kanye's rapping.

5. Demands of the record label:

In the music video Kanye West can be recognised through other media outlets as at one point you see a mid shot of him dancing and you see that half of the white shirt he is wearing is tucked into his trousers and half of it is hanging out. He does this in a lot of his music videos and this shows that he can be noticed.

6. Notions of looking:

In this music video women are used as a sexual reference and used as a symbolism of sex which aims to increase the promotion of the music video to a male audience.