Intertextuality To learn about the concept of intertextuality

Intertextuality To learn about the concept of intertextuality and how it works.

What do you think the term means? • Inter • Textuality

What they mean • Inter: a prefix from Latin, where it meant “between, ” “among, ” “in the midst of, ” “mutually, ” “reciprocally, ” “together, ” “during” • Textuality: all of the attributes that distinguish the communicative content under analysis as an object of study

Intertextuality • the shaping of a text's meaning by another text. • Intertextual figures include: allusion, quotation, calque, plagiarism, translation, pastiche and parody. • An example of intertextuality is a writer’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text, and incorporating an aspect of it in a new text.

Definition The shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. • Notion introduced by Julia Kristeva. • Kristeva argued against the concept of a text as a isolated entity which operates in a self-contained manner and states that: "any text is the absorption and transformation of another"

Definition Where a text alludes to, or references, another text • Every text (and we can insert any cultural object here: image, film, web content, music etc. ) is a mosaic of references to other texts, genres, and discourses.

Intertexuality • Some texts refer directly to each other – such as in 'remakes' of films, extra-diegetic references to the media / society in the animated cartoon The Simpsons, and many amusing contemporary TV ads. • The interpretation of these references is influenced by the audiences’ prior knowledge of other texts.

Audience Pleasures • This particularly self-conscious form of intertextuality credits audience with the necessary experience to make sense of such references and offers the pleasure of recognition. • By referring to other texts and other media reminds us that we are in a mediated reality. This runs counter to the dominant 'realist' tradition which focuses on persuading the audience to believe in the on-going reality of the narrative.

Intertextuality and Genre • There are intertextual frameworks (references) at work that are less obvious or direct. • The assignment of a text to a genre provides the audience of the text with a key intertextual framework. • Each example of a genre utilises conventions which link it to other members of that genre. • Such conventions are at their most obvious in 'spoof' versions of the genre.

Intertextuality - Simpsons • Almost every episode of The Simpsons contains at least one film reference to a famous film scene. • The Simpsons also contains intertextual references to politics, religion – nearly every aspect of social, political and cultural life. • The grabs on the following slides are from an episode where the Simpsons referenced Psycho

Intertextuality - Simpsons

Theory • In 1968 Barthes announced 'the death of the author' and 'the birth of the reader', declaring that 'a text's unity lies not in its origin but in its destination' - in other words there is no longer such a thing as an original text – very postmodern. • This highlights how interpretation lies with the audience – that it is subjective - it is the audience that creates meaning.

Something Else to Consider • The notion of intertextuality problematizes the idea of a text having boundaries and questions the separation of 'inside' and 'outside': • Where does a text 'begin' and 'end'? • This is postmodern