Goodwin’s Theory Adele- ‘Rolling in the Deep’

Goodwin’s theory is based on 6 main principles:

¢Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, for example, strange performance in a metal video, dance routine for a boy/girl band, etc.

¢There is a relationship between music and visuals. This could either be illustrative, amplifying or contradicting.

¢There is a relationship between music and visuals which could be illustrative, amplifying or contradicting.

¢The demands of a record label will include the need for many close-ups of the artist which may develop motifs which recur across their work (visual style).

¢There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

¢There is often intertextual reference to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc.    

Lyrics and Visuals:

Goodwin suggests that lyrics will make constant references to visuals on screen. An example of this is seen in Adele’s video in ‘Rolling in the Deep’. The lyrics depict a beautiful love that has shattered. It seems that this relationship has gone through destruction, heated fights, which has hurt her. She expresses the loss of their love and how they could have been something special as she loved him deeply as suggested when she says, “We could've had it all”. After all the pain and chaos, she realises the type of person he is and at the same time she is saying this, the audience is shown a medium close-up of glasses that are full. The fact that we are shown this could be because she wants to convey the audience that everything is ‘crystal clear’ to her giving us a literal and visual example. This therefore exemplifies the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals are illustrative as the audience is involved a lot more as you not only hear how the singer feels but also see it for yourself making it easier to understand. 

     

  “Finally, I can see you crystal clear”

Music and Visuals:

Goodwin suggests that there is a relationship between the music and the visuals. In Adele’s video, an example of this would be when we are shown a medium wide shot of the glasses filled with water. When the beat starts, the water inside the glasses ripple in time with the beat which could represent Adele’s heart beat. Before this, we are shown a man about to play the drums. You could say that this man is controlling her heart beat as she was in love with him. The fact that this beat is constant throughout the video, it could symbolise her anger as it gets louder and faster. Each glass has its own ripple which could represent her individuality as a person. She is showing her strength as a person as it is her music that is giving these glasses their ripple effect; this could furthermore convey that in her own experiences, through music she plans to release others, her being the sound and the glasses being others.  

 

Demand of the Record Label:

The record label has a control over the artist they sign to a certain extent. Ultimately, it is up to the record label to decide what the artist should be represented as. For example, usually for women, the label requires them to come off as ‘sexy’ in order to appeal to men and reach that target audience. However, Adele has been represented in a different way as she is not shown as people would stereotypically expect. She is represented with a lot of emotion and class which relates to all women as it is more realistic. This is clear from the way she is dressed in her videos seeing that she wears simple clothes. In her videos, she wears mostly dark colours which could symbolise her pain and loss as her songs are based around that. Also, the demand of the record label includes the need for many close-ups of the artist which develops motifs which recur across her work.

Notions of Looking:

The notion of looking at the camera allows the audience to engage with the artist as you feel part of the video. However, in this music video there is no notion of looking as the artist does not look at the camera at all. One could say that the audience does not feel part of the video but it seems as if Adele does not want the audience to go through the same pain she went through. You could also say that she is too hurt and ashamed of her situation and is not able to look into our eyes to connect with the audience.

Voyeurism refers to the idea of looking in order to gain sexual pleasure. In this video there is no link to voyeurism as the artist is sitting down throughout the whole video.

Intertextual Reference:

One of the pleasures that audiences experience in the consumption of media texts is the joy of recognition. One form of this pleasure comes in recognising the reference in one media text to other media texts. This process of referencing is called intertextuality. In this video, there is no link to intertextuality.