Page 141 - Communication Cultural and Media Studies The Key Concepts

INTERTEXTUALITY

understood as ‘hailing’ (as in ‘Oi! You!’), the question of what or who
is calling must sooner or later arise. If the answer is ‘ideology in
general’ we certainly avoid conspiracy theory, but this does not take us
far in understanding specific ideological operations.
However, interpellation can be useful as a concept when applied to
specific discourses, rather than to the operation of transhistorical
general forces on abstract subjects.. For example, Laclau writes of a
struggle between discourses in pre-war Germany, where the discourse
of ‘old Prussianism’ interpellated a ‘nationalist and authoritarian’
subject, while ‘in Nazi discourse . . . the interpellated subject was a
racial one’ (1977: 116–142). In this kind of usage, interpellation has
something in common with the concepts of mode of address,
orientation and preferred reading, with the added conceptual
advantage that it presumes the politics of discourse.

INTERTEXTUALITY

Best understood as the textual equivalent of cross-referencing, at a
semiotic level intertextuality refers to the use of a given sign in other
textual contexts. Postmodern theorists argue that intertextuality is
representative of the contemporary period of humanity where
meaning-making is possible only in relation to other texts. But the
term is more useful as a means of understanding howthe media make
meaning. Certainly the concept is central to contemporary forms of
media such as advertising and music video.
Intertextual properties of texts can include the following.

. Generic characteristics. Audiences attending a musical will bring with
them an expectation and a shared knowledge of the conventions of
the genre and will anticipate the inclusion of songs and dance
numbers, and be able to predict when the next one will start.
. Characters and the actors who play them, especially in film. In the film
Batman the character played by model Jerry Hall is given fewlines
to speak and comes over as rich, one-dimensional and not very
bright. But viewers are also expected to know Jerry Hall as a model
and from other texts such as tabloid magazines and the discourses
they employ, for instance in discussing her relationship with Mick
Jagger. Similarly, Arnold Schwarzenegger appears in films as a ‘sign
of himself’, as well as a given character. The ‘sign’ of
Schwarzenegger is that he is strong, professional and brave and
will usually come away bloodied, broken, but undefeated. Where

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