Intertextuality in Afrika Shox

Media Language: Goodwin's Theory of Music Videos

The 'Afrika Shox' music video could be an intertextual reference to Blade Runner, as the replicants in the film are portrayed as slaves, and are non-human characters. The black man in the video is seen as a stranger or an 'alien' and therefore this relates to the the replicants in Blade Runner.

At the end of Blade Runner there are flashing lights on the cars, which are also used around New York city in 'Afrika Shox' through the use of traffic lights and police cars. This also adds the to the electro genre of the music.



Claude Levis Strauss's narrative theory of binary opposites

Within 'Afrika Shox' the black man is portray as a binary opposite to the white people. The high angle shot of the white man suggests that he has high class and the black man has low class. This is also portrayed by the way that the black man staggers and stumbles through the streets unlike anybody else in the video.