The specials - Ghost town

The Specials - Ghost Town: Blog tasks

Reading and questions

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?

The writer links the song to cinematic soundtrack because it gave a social movement to the song.

2) What subcultures did 2 Tone emerge from in the late 1970s?

The two subcultures that 2 Tone emerged from the late 1970s were 'mod and punk'.

3) What social contexts are discussed regarding the UK in 1981?

The social contexts that are discussed in the uk in 1981 were the recession that England faced and the rising riots in urban parts of England.

4) How can we apply cultural critic Mark Fisher’s description of ‘eerie’ to the Ghost Town video?

He stated that in the 'Ghost town's music video they're taking the video in the east end London which means there should be people around but it's just a ground of young men in a depressed environment when it should be a engaging environment. 

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 stated that "Protest music has made a serious comeback over the past five years. This article is the first in a series featuring Songs of Protest from across the world, genres and generations." This means that the meanings created in this video symbolise the darkness in which the poor young black and white youth face  and they're fighting injustices through this movement of protests 

Now read this BBC website feature on the 30th anniversary of Ghost Town’s release. 

1) How does the article describe the song?

The article describes the song as "Specials' classic Ghost Town, 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?

In Britain 1981 there was civil unrest due to increasing riots across England between police and young people also there was economical crisis and high in unemployment.

3) How did The Specials reflect an increasingly multicultural Britain?

The specials reflected multicultural Britain through the use of different music genre interwoven with their music such as fused ska, reggae and new wave.

4) How can we link Paul Gilroy’s theories to The Specials and Ghost Town? 

We can link Paul Gilroy's theory to The specials and Ghost Town as “liquidity of culture”.This means that black culture is infused with the travel and hybridity through music especially as The specials are the representation of Ska.

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?

John Barry was a famous composer because he was the composer for the 11 of the James Bond series, Goldfinger and Out of Africa.


Close-textual analysis of Ghost Town

Watch the video several times and make bullet-point notes of your close-textual semiotic analysis using the following headings:

1) Mise-en-scene: Setting, Lighting, Colour, Actor/performer placement and movement, Costume and props. How are some of these aspects used to create meanings?

The mise-en-scene for 'Ghost Town' was very well structured and articulate in terms of the synergy of the video and the music. This means that it was filmed in East end London with the members in a Vauxhall Cresta which was produced in 1954 and 1972 which was their props. The specials members who are Neville Staples, Lynval Golding and Terry Hall. They are all lip-synching in the car. This creates the 'eerie' atmosphere which links to their subject of the song. The lighting for this music video is really dim and low which could the macguffin for the video as it talks about riots and is poetry for the protests.

2) Cinematography: Camera shots and camera movement.

In 'Ghost Town' the camera shots would normally contain medium shots, long shots and the lightning is dim and the camera movement fits with the scence as when the driver in the car is moving hecticly the camera also moves with it.

3) Editing: Pace, juxtaposition, timing. 

The pace of the editing is slow and gives it a cinematic effect as it was produced in the 80s so the quality is vivid and gives it a pop effect too.


Now apply media theory to the video - perhaps by considering whether Ghost Town reinforces or challenges some of the media theories we have studied. Make bullet-point notes on the following:

1) Goodwin’s theory of music video.

- Ghost town complents Goodwin's theory as there us a direct between the lyrics and music video.

2) Neale’s genre theory.

- Ghost Town challenges Neale's genre theory as it's a new form of media as it was produced in 1981. This means it uses many typical genre conventions such as film but difference would be hard to place.

3) Gilroy’s diasporic identity/postcolonial theory.

- reinforces Gilroy's music video theory as the representation in the music video is racially diverse.

4) Bricolage and pastiche.

- Ghost Town can be seen as reinforcing through difference referencing especially with the contextual environment in the 80s in England and the riots.

5) Strinati’s definition of postmodernism.

- Ghost town can be seen as  an experimental combination of narrative (the journey), performance and concept – means that the video can be read through a postmodern approach with reference to intertextuality and hybridity. This means it can be seen as reinforcing the postmodernism theory.