Much of the experience of contemporary Western societies is to some extent characterised by this saturation of the sign. The sign, penetrated by capital, no longer represents its reference in reality, but rather refers to other signs. Whereas the index has a reference and origin, the sign does not the sign is unlimited in its references and can be bought and sold ( 1996, p. Hal Foster, interpreting Barthes, identifies a historical transformation of the sign in relation to the conversion from a feudal society to a bourgeois society, associating the latter with the sign and the former with the index ( 1996, p. Signs and codes are created through myths which in turn serve to sustain those myths. This naturalisation arising from myth making can also be described as a process of reification in which society forgets the part played in the construction of myth ( 1972, p.
In Mythologies, Ronald Barthes discusses the manner in which signs become naturalised to represent popular myths: "things lose the memory that they once were made" ( 1972, p. There is a plethora of myths of origin and of signs of reality-a plethora of truth, of secondary objectivity, and authenticity.
ENTER THE NINJA MUSIKVIDEO FULL
Introduction When the real is no longer what it was, nostalgia assumes its full meaning. Keywords: Die Antwoord myth simulation authenticity appropriation "Fatty Boom Boom"ġ. Subjects: Art & Visual Culture Arts Cultural Studies Humanities Media & Film Studies Music Performance Theory Practice and Practitioners Theatre & Performance Studies Visual Arts Drawing specifically from "Fatty Boom Boom", the analysis centres on how the band satirises exoticised myths surrounding South African life.
Die Antwoord's lack of authenticity is investigated in relation to hip hop as well as the creation of a Zef counter-culture.
I read Die Antwoord's performance as an embrace of simulation (via Jean Baudrillard) which destabilises myths regarding authenticity. This paper investigates how the band uses culture as a "found object" and albeit problematically, subverts static conceptions regarding South African life. Soon the band signed with Interscope Records, a major label that reissued the band's regional 2010 debut "$O$.Enter the imperceptible: Reading Die AntwoordĪbstract: Die Antwoord (The Answer), a Zef-rap outfit from South Africa, have been criticised for their appropriation of cultural signifiers in their lyrics and the images which come to fore in their music videos.
It went viral, drawing more than 10 million YouTube views, and powerful fans such as pop star Katy Perry. They're conceptual artists before they're musicians, so they are thinking about the responses they provoke."ĭie Antwoord's early video "Enter the Ninja" had a disturbingly macabre feel, with rats crawling around Yo-Landi's bed and Ninja's neck, as well as a memorable turn by Leon Botha, a South African artist who suffers from progeria, a rapid-aging disease that makes his head appear unusually large. That's not something that a lot of music videos do, and there's value in that," adds David Marchese, a Spin senior writer who has written extensively about the band. "You might find their music videos offensive or off-putting or supercompelling, but your reactions to them are probably telling about some deeper feelings you have about race or rap or class or South Africa.