Post Modernism in Music Promos: 'I Believe in a Thing Called Love'

The music promo ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ by The Darkness is a post-modernist video, as seen by how it uses elements from the cult film ‘Barbarella’. This is intertextuality as it is influenced by and reflects another text. It can be said to remodel and satirise the past, and also to transform iconic images by how it spoofs the film.

One of the main ways we can see that the promo is parodying the film is from the mise-en-scene; the set and costumes in particular. 'Barbarella' is a futuristic sci-fi film set in outer space and inside spaceships. ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ uses the same idea, as most of the video takes place in and around a spaceship. The pictures show the set in the music video, and a poster for Barbarella showing the themes and psychedelic atmosphere of the film.

The lead singer of The Darkness is seen the most in the video. He wears a white all in one jumpsuit that is open at the front. The character Barbarella wears a number of different costumes which are all quite revealing and strange. Although the costumes from the music promo are not exactly the same as what Barbarella wears in the film, it does have the same otherworldly nature to it, as it is unlike what people regularly wear in everyday life so it gives an alien feel.

 

The post-modernist music video uses intertextuality from this cult film, and out of the three options of parody, pastiche and homage I would say that it falls into the first category. Pastiche is when it celebrates another art form rather than mocking it, and homage is when another art form is being treated with a lot of respect as if this is what should be achieved. This music video seems to reference ‘Barbarella’ in a light-hearted way as the singer parades about and pulls exaggerated faces. Later on in the video the band are seen trying to defend themselves against a giant octopus, with the use of their guitars. This does seem to be lampooning maybe not only this film, but the science fiction genre itself. The song is also quite upbeat and optimistic which highlights the easy-going nature as opposed to a more serious homage or pastiche.