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Music Video

Turntables, Janelle Monáe (2020)

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 1

Overview

Effect of the video's rapid montage editing, effect of mixing black-and-white archive with colour footage and monáe's characteristic styling and what it signifies.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

For which documentary was Turntables written?

Key term

What does the title Turntables refer to?

Numbers

Which election provides the immediate political context for the video?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    For which documentary was Turntables written?

    Model answer

    Turntables was written for All In: The Fight for Democracy, released in 2020. The film examines voter suppression in the United States.

  2. 2

    What does the title Turntables refer to?

    Model answer

    The title Turntables points to the idea that the tables are turning. Monáe frames political change as overdue rather than sudden.

  3. 3

    Which election provides the immediate political context for the video?

    Model answer

    The 2020 United States presidential election provides the immediate context. Debate about access to the ballot dominated that campaign.

  4. 4

    Which events of 2020 does the video respond to?

    Model answer

    The video responds to the killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed. Black Lives Matter demonstrations spread across the United States that summer.

  5. 5

    How does the video use archive footage?

    Model answer

    Archive footage of the civil rights movement is cut against contemporary protest images. The editing argues that the present struggle continues an older one.

  6. 6

    What is the effect of the video's rapid montage editing?

    Model answer

    Rapid montage builds urgency and pressure across the running time. The audience is given no settled image to rest on.

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