Research: Intertextual References.

Intertextual references are basically references that relate or hint to something else that already exists. This can be anything from impersonating another artist or famous person to using a famous quote. This can go well and work in the artist gaining more popularity and recognition or the public or the specific person being impersonated can get quite offended. This could make an artist lose popularity, not make many sales or gain a bad reputation. A video that has an Intertextual reference is "Paris" by Jay Z and Kanye West. In the middle of the video, a scene from the film "Blades of Glory" is put straight in. Rather than the artists impersonating a person, they have just out in the original scene from the film. Another example of this would be All Time Low's "I Feel Like Dancin'". This video includes many impersonations such as Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. They have included quite mainstream artists to impersonate, this could be because the want to appeal to a wider audience, or simply because they are a jokey kind of band and their fans will find it funny that they dressed up as these people especially because they are men dressing as women. Another example of this could be "All the Small Things" by Blink 182, as they impersonate a boyband(Backstreet boys) in the "I Want it That Way" video. This song has become very popular, and even if people don't know the band, they will probably have heard of the song and seen the video. This may be because of the intertextual reference or it may not be. But a lot of people do notice that it is a reference as many people find it funny. A final example of this would be Alien Ant Farm's cover of "Smooth Criminal". Even though they have paid to cover the song they use a lot of intertextual references in relation to Michael Jackson such as holding the monkey in the nappy, the floor tiles lighting up when they are stepped on and the world famous "lean" from the original video. Intertextuality can help an artist become more established and popular, especially if they have chosen something quite popular to do an intertextual reference on. This kind of thing can go quite wrong if it is taken too far, though. This is because the artist may take it too far, thinking that people will see the funny side to it, while others may not. This could make an artist lose popularity which is defeating the purpose of what they intended to do.