The Specials - Ghost Town
The Specials - Ghost Town: Blog tasks
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?
Written in E♭, more attuned to “mood music”, with nods to cinematic soundtracks and music hall tradition, it reflects and engenders anxiety.
2) What subcultures did 2 Tone emerge from in the late 1970s?
2 Tone had emerged stylistically from the Mod and Punk subcultures.
3) What social contexts are discussed regarding the UK in 1981?
England was hit by recession and away from rural Skinhead nights, riots were breaking out across its urban areas. Deprived, forgotten, run down and angry, these were places where young people, black and white, erupted. In these neglected parts of London, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool the young, the unemployed, and the disaffected fought pitch battles with the police.
4) Cultural critic Mark Fisher describes the video as ‘eerie’. What do you think is 'eerie' about the Ghost Town video?
I think what makes the video eerie is the setting which is very run down and abandoned. It makes it creepy to see a location so empty. It also makes it eerie because it uses very lowkey lighting which gives it an aspect of horror.
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?
The writer suggests that it’s just a cry out against injustice, against closed off opportunities by those who have pulled the ladder up and robbed the young, the poor, the white and black of their songs and their dancing, their futures. Drive round an empty city at dawn. Look at the empty flats.
Now read this BBC website feature on the 30th anniversary of Ghost Town’s release.
1) How does the article describe the song?
It is describes as a depiction of social breakdown that provided the soundtrack to an explosion of civil unrest.
2) What does the article say about the social context of the time – what was happening in Britain in 1981?
The article says that in 1981, industrial decline had left the city suffering badly. Unemployment was among the highest in the UK. Britain's streets erupted into rioting almost three weeks later.
3) How did The Specials reflect an increasingly multicultural Britain?
With a mix of black and white members, The Specials, too, encapsulated Britain's burgeoning multiculturalism.
4) How can we link Paul Gilroy’s theories to The Specials and Ghost Town?
We can talk about Gilroy and how he talked about cultural conviviality, which is the racial harmony that most people experience on a day to day basis. We can link this to Ghost Town because of the band members all having different backgrounds.
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?
British composer who provided the musical scores for more than 100 motion pictures and television programs. He worked on films such as The Lion in Winter - pictured, Midnight Cowboy, Born Free, and Somewhere in Time.
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?
The mise-en-scene of the Ghost Town video uses the styles of British social realist films. This genre is characterised by sympathetic representations of working-class men, the highlighting of bleak (often urban) environments and a sense of hopelessness.
2) How does the lighting create intertextual references? What else is notable about the lighting?
In the car, the band are lit eerily by a limited interior light source and what looks like a handheld torch to light the faces of those in the back from a low angle. This is a highly effective low budget filmmaking technique suited to the aesthetic. The lighting design makes a virtue of available ‘natural’ sources, such as the harsh yellowy reflections of the lights in the tunnel on the windscreen as they pass over the band members, the grey skies and dark streets.
3) What non-verbal codes help to communicate meanings in the video?
The singing of the song with expressionless faces and direct mode-of-address with zombie-like, stiff body movements are suddenly relaxed in the manic middle section.
4) What does the factsheet suggest regarding the editing and camerawork? Pick out three key points that are highlighted here.
The use of editing and camera work distorts our sense of day and night. This is reinforced by handheld, disorienting camerawork with whip pans and canted angles. The sequence near the start consists of a series of establishing shots and low angle shots which make the scenery loom in an intimidating way. The video ends with superimposition of a long cross-dissolve of the tunnel lights to
the stone-throwing shot, to unsettling effect.
5) What narrative theories can be applied to the video? Give details from the video for each one.
We can apply Todorov's theory to this video. The equilibrium could be the band going on their journey looking for something to do. The disequilibrium could the empty roads that they come across. And the new equilibrium could be them finally getting out of this 'Ghost Town' by finding a river as they don't have anything else to do.
6) How can we apply genre theory to the video?
We can apply the narrative style as it may follow a story that the group are looking for somewhere to go out but are thwarted and end up throwing stones into the river.
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?
In this sense, the song and video nurture a sense of male collective identity, and shares the experience of trying to negotiate identity. This means that the text offers a place for men to see their problems
being enacted and perhaps compare them with their own lives in what was a time of economic deprivation for many when many traditionally masculine jobs were disappearing.
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?
Post-colonial theorists also use the idea of in-groups, who are the people who have power and influence in society and are often the greater number and out-groups tend to have less power. The video challenges the notion of in-groups and out-groups by mixing ethnicities and focusing more on social class and the bonding potential of music.
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?
Written in E♭, more attuned to “mood music”, with nods to cinematic soundtracks and music hall tradition, it reflects and engenders anxiety.
2) What subcultures did 2 Tone emerge from in the late 1970s?
2 Tone had emerged stylistically from the Mod and Punk subcultures.
3) What social contexts are discussed regarding the UK in 1981?
England was hit by recession and away from rural Skinhead nights, riots were breaking out across its urban areas. Deprived, forgotten, run down and angry, these were places where young people, black and white, erupted. In these neglected parts of London, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool the young, the unemployed, and the disaffected fought pitch battles with the police.
4) Cultural critic Mark Fisher describes the video as ‘eerie’. What do you think is 'eerie' about the Ghost Town video?
I think what makes the video eerie is the setting which is very run down and abandoned. It makes it creepy to see a location so empty. It also makes it eerie because it uses very lowkey lighting which gives it an aspect of horror.
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?
The writer suggests that it’s just a cry out against injustice, against closed off opportunities by those who have pulled the ladder up and robbed the young, the poor, the white and black of their songs and their dancing, their futures. Drive round an empty city at dawn. Look at the empty flats.
Now read this BBC website feature on the 30th anniversary of Ghost Town’s release.
1) How does the article describe the song?
It is describes as a depiction of social breakdown that provided the soundtrack to an explosion of civil unrest.
2) What does the article say about the social context of the time – what was happening in Britain in 1981?
The article says that in 1981, industrial decline had left the city suffering badly. Unemployment was among the highest in the UK. Britain's streets erupted into rioting almost three weeks later.
3) How did The Specials reflect an increasingly multicultural Britain?
With a mix of black and white members, The Specials, too, encapsulated Britain's burgeoning multiculturalism.
4) How can we link Paul Gilroy’s theories to The Specials and Ghost Town?
We can talk about Gilroy and how he talked about cultural conviviality, which is the racial harmony that most people experience on a day to day basis. We can link this to Ghost Town because of the band members all having different backgrounds.
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?
British composer who provided the musical scores for more than 100 motion pictures and television programs. He worked on films such as The Lion in Winter - pictured, Midnight Cowboy, Born Free, and Somewhere in Time.
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?
The mise-en-scene of the Ghost Town video uses the styles of British social realist films. This genre is characterised by sympathetic representations of working-class men, the highlighting of bleak (often urban) environments and a sense of hopelessness.
2) How does the lighting create intertextual references? What else is notable about the lighting?
In the car, the band are lit eerily by a limited interior light source and what looks like a handheld torch to light the faces of those in the back from a low angle. This is a highly effective low budget filmmaking technique suited to the aesthetic. The lighting design makes a virtue of available ‘natural’ sources, such as the harsh yellowy reflections of the lights in the tunnel on the windscreen as they pass over the band members, the grey skies and dark streets.
3) What non-verbal codes help to communicate meanings in the video?
The singing of the song with expressionless faces and direct mode-of-address with zombie-like, stiff body movements are suddenly relaxed in the manic middle section.
4) What does the factsheet suggest regarding the editing and camerawork? Pick out three key points that are highlighted here.
The use of editing and camera work distorts our sense of day and night. This is reinforced by handheld, disorienting camerawork with whip pans and canted angles. The sequence near the start consists of a series of establishing shots and low angle shots which make the scenery loom in an intimidating way. The video ends with superimposition of a long cross-dissolve of the tunnel lights to
the stone-throwing shot, to unsettling effect.
5) What narrative theories can be applied to the video? Give details from the video for each one.
We can apply Todorov's theory to this video. The equilibrium could be the band going on their journey looking for something to do. The disequilibrium could the empty roads that they come across. And the new equilibrium could be them finally getting out of this 'Ghost Town' by finding a river as they don't have anything else to do.
6) How can we apply genre theory to the video?
We can apply the narrative style as it may follow a story that the group are looking for somewhere to go out but are thwarted and end up throwing stones into the river.
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?
In this sense, the song and video nurture a sense of male collective identity, and shares the experience of trying to negotiate identity. This means that the text offers a place for men to see their problems
being enacted and perhaps compare them with their own lives in what was a time of economic deprivation for many when many traditionally masculine jobs were disappearing.
9) How can gender theorists such as Judith Butler be applied to Ghost Town?
Butler suggested that gender was not defined by the sex we are born with, but is a collection of behaviours by members of a biological sex often based on attitudes and expectations held by
society. She referred to these as a ‘performance’. These musicians seem to be ‘performing’ the structures of patriarchy which include brotherhood, camaraderie and male solidarity.
Butler suggested that gender was not defined by the sex we are born with, but is a collection of behaviours by members of a biological sex often based on attitudes and expectations held by
society. She referred to these as a ‘performance’. These musicians seem to be ‘performing’ the structures of patriarchy which include brotherhood, camaraderie and male solidarity.
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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