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Description

If we were to take the launch of MTV as the beginning of what we know as music video, we could affirm that the dialogue between this medium and the fantasy genre has been a constant to this day.

The first and most evident case of this synergy was found in 1983 with an experiment driven by CBS to demonstrate the commercial impact of music videos on record sales. In Billy Jean (Barron, 1983) and Thriller (Landis, 1983), fantasy narrative is presented from two different approaches. Michael Jackson stars in both music videos. The first one provides a social critique of the decadent situation of North American cities during the Reagan era, portraying Jackson as a kind of redeeming magician with transmutation powers and the ability to become invisible. Thriller is one of the most famous and high-budget music videos in history. It combines a classic horror story about werewolves with a revision of George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968). Despite initial rejections from the record company, Jackson convinced CBS, which invested nearly a million dollars in the 15-minute short film. The result was an additional 8 million records sold shortly after its broadcast on MTV. From this turning point, after confirming the commercial benefits of the format, budgets for music videos increased significantly, and, more interestingly, record labels began to trust directors and musical artists, giving them greater creative freedom and reducing project oversight. This marks the beginning of the golden age of the format. The consequences also extended beyond the boundaries of the music industry, as the narrative style of Thriller transcended the music video and influenced films like Wes Craven’s Scream (1996) due to its genre mix and pacing changes (Panera, 2009). In Spain, the impact of the music video is infinitely smaller, much later, and comes with a lower investment, and therefore, more modest results. Nevertheless, the music video scene starts with two pieces equally permeated by fantasy. In the following paragraphs, we will analyze how fantasy has been related to music videos in our country since its inception, emphasizing a particularly fruitful period that spans part of the second and third decades of the present century.

ISBN

978-84-1091-012-6

Publication Date

11-2024

First Page

129

Last Page

145

Publisher

Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca

City

Salamanca

The fantasy genre in spanish music videos

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