Hester Prynne

The deathcore band "As Blood Runs Black" wrote a song called Hester Prynne. It talks about the main character in The Scarlet Letter by  Nathaniel Hawthorne.

HESTER PRYNNE

Your vision of a new life was impure
Gave into temptation and threw away what you believed
Your immaculate state of mind was only temporary
Your faults your flaws got the best of you

Your commitment, your pledge to another human being
Was destoryed through curiosity
Your goal in life is far out of reach
You'll find yourself out of luck

Branded into your chest - domestic livestock
Society kept track of your defiance
Branded into your chest - domestic livestock

Terror embedded into your thick mind
Bearing your emblem with pride
Plagued by its purpose in genesis
Subsequently flaunting its meaning

Your vision of a new life was impure
Gave into temptation and threw away what you believed

Infestation

Roc-a-way

Your immaculate state of mind was only temporary
Your faults your flaws got the best of you

Your guard was let down
Your past turned against you

My Precious

Watch the following video:

Did you find the intertext? If you did not, chek this:

..

Fedex Commercial

To understand this commercial one has to turn to previous knowledge. Someone who hasn’t seen Cast Away film (2000) won’t be able to see the humor as much as someone who has seen it. Now, explain the package reference made in this commercial. How is this commercial related to the movie Cast Away?

Practice

Practice

Forrest Gump is a well known movie full of intertexts; even if you haven’t seen the film, you can find plenty of intertextuality in the trailer.

Name at least 3 intertexts seen in this trailer. Remember to observe the surroundings, the characters’ clothes, etc.

Written intexters

We can find intertexts in different types of readings.

The first type of reading is the written one, which refers to stories, essays, articles, and poems.

A good example of this is: 

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Peter Quince at the Clavier

BY WALLACE STEVENS

I

Just as my fingers on these keys

Make music, so the self-same sounds

On my spirit make a music, too.

Music is feeling, then, not sound;

And thus it is that what I feel,

Here in this room, desiring you,

Thinking of your blue-shadowed silk,

Is music. It is like the strain

Waked in the elders by Susanna;

Of a green evening, clear and warm,

She bathed in her still garden, while

The red-eyed elders, watching, felt

The basses of their beings throb

In witching chords, and their thin blood

Pulse pizzicati of Hosanna.

II

In the green water, clear and warm,

Susanna lay.

She searched

The touch of springs,

And found

Concealed imaginings.

She sighed,

For so much melody.

Upon the bank, she stood

In the cool

Of spent emotions.

She felt, among the leaves,

The dew

Of old devotions.

She walked upon the grass,

Still quavering.

The winds were like her maids,

On timid feet,

Fetching her woven scarves,

Yet wavering.

A breath upon her hand

Muted the night.

She turned —

A cymbal crashed,

Amid roaring horns.

III

Soon, with a noise like tambourines,

Came her attendant Byzantines.

They wondered why Susanna cried

Against the elders by her side;

And as they whispered, the refrain

Was like a willow swept by rain.

Anon, their lamps' uplifted flame

Revealed Susanna and her shame.

And then, the simpering Byzantines

Fled, with a noise like tambourines.

IV

Beauty is momentary in the mind —

The fitful tracing of a portal;

But in the flesh it is immortal.

The body dies; the body's beauty lives.

So evenings die, in their green going,

A wave, interminably flowing.

So gardens die, their meek breath scenting

The cowl of winter, done repenting.

So maidens die, to the auroral

Celebration of a maiden's choral.

Susanna's music touched the bawdy strings

Of those white elders; but, escaping,

Left only Death's ironic scraping.

Now, in its immortality, it plays

On the clear viol of her memory,

And makes a constant sacrament of praise.

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It references Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream"

Intertexts in videos

Videos also contain intertexts.

 In fact, every parody is a set of intertexts with a comical focus.

Intertexts in Images

It is important to take into account that texts are not only written, but they may also be graphic representations of ideas, like drawings or pictures.

Some examples of this are the following:

What can you interpret from these pictures?

Words are not necessary to identify intertexts, like in the first billboard. Or simple keywords may be enough, like in the second one.

Intertexts in lyrics

Song lyrics are another example of written intertexts because the intertexts are found in the words and not in the music.

One example of this is Little Red Riding Hood, which refers to the story that was made famous by the Grimm Brothers, with the same title.

Li'l Red Riding Hood

by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs

Hey there little red riding hood
You sure are looking good
You're everything a big bad wolf could want

Little red riding hood
I don't think little big girls should
Go walking in these spooky old woods alone

What big eyes you have
The kind of eyes that drive wolves mad
Just to see that you don't get chased
I think I oughta walk with you for a ways

What full lips you have
They're sure to lure someone bad
So until you get to Grandma's place
I think you oughta walk with me and be safe

Gonna keep my sheep suit on
'Til I'm sure that you've been shown
That I can be trusted walking with you alone

Little red riding hood
I'd like to hold you if I could
But you might think I'm a big bad wolf so I won't

What a big heart I have
The better to love you with
Little red riding hood
Even bad wolves can be good

I try to keep satisfied
Just to walk close by your side
Maybe you'll see things my way
'Fore we get to Grandma's place

Little red riding hood
You sure are looking good
You're everything a big bad wolf could want

Little red riding hood
I don't think little big girls should
Go walking in these spooky old woods alone

What big eyes you have
The kind of eyes that drive wolves mad
Just to see that you don't get chased
I think I oughta walk with you for a ways

What full lips you have
They're sure to lure someone bad
So until you get to Grandma's place
I think you oughta walk with me and be safe

Version sung by Amanda Seyfried:

Intertexts Definition

Intertextuality 

Intertextuality is a term first introduced by French semiotician Julia Kristeva in the late sixties.
 

Intertextuality is, thus, a way of accounting for the role of literary and extra-literary materials without recourse to traditional notions of authorship.

Any text is a new tissue of past citations.

 

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