TAYLOR SWIFT S UNCONVENTIONAL COUNTRY MUSIC THEME IN HER MUSIC VIDEOS YOU BELONG WITH ME AND MEAN THESIS Submitted as a partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Sarjana Degree in English Department Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts by Fida Aryani C1307039 ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY SURAKARTA commit 2015 to user i
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MOTTO Work hard, Be kind, and amazing things will happens ~Conan O Brien~ People haven t always been there for me but music always has ~Taylor Swift No matter what happens in life, be good to people. Being good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind ~Taylor Swift~ v
DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to: My Beloved Papa and Mama My only brother Chandra vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENT My biggest praise for Allah SWT, I can complete this thesis as the requirements to accomplish the Undergraduate Degree of Sarjana Sastra. I wish to give my gratitude for : 1. Drs. Riyadi Santosa, M.Ed, Ph.D. The Dean of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts of Sebelas Maret University, for approving the thesis. 2. Drs. Agus Hari Wibowo, M.A, PhD. The Head of English Department Non Regular Program of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts, Sebelas Maret University. 3. Drs. Susilorini, my thesis consultant. Thank you for your great guidances during the process of making this thesis. 4. Drs. Mugijatna, M.Si, Ph.D, my academic consultant. Thank you for your kindess. 5. All the lecturers of English Department who share knowledges anytime. 6. All my beloved family, dad, mom, brother who always stay beside me in my hard time. Thank you for all your concerns. Stay healthy mom and dad. 7. My friends, Ephu, Bibi, Mba Puri, Eri, Dian, Kezia, Novinda as my classmates in american studies mainstream. vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS Title... i The Approval of Consultant... ii The Approval of the Board of Examiners... iii Pronouncement... iv Motto... v Dedication... vi Acknowledgement... vii Table of Contents... viii Abstract... ix CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION... A. Background of the study... 1 B. Scope of the Study... 3 C. Research Question... 3 D. Objective of the Study... 3 E. Benefits of the Study... 4 F. Research Methodology... 4 G. Theoretical Approach... 5 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW commit to... user viii
A. Country Music and Country Pop Music Characteristics... 8 B. Taylor Swift Bibliography... 10 C. Semiotic and Music Video... 14 D. Cinematographic Elements... 17 CHAPTER III: ANALYSIS... A. Nerd theme in music video You Belong with Me... 25 B. Bullying theme in music video Mean... 33 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION & RECCOMENDATION... 44 BIBLIOGRAPHY... 46 APPENDICES... 49 ix
ABSTRACT Fida Aryani. 2015. Taylor Swift s unconventional Country Music Theme in Her Music Videos You Belong With Me and Mean. Thesis: English Department, Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta. Taylor Swift is one of country pop music singers who brings new idea of country music. In order to make country music more popular, Swift uses different theme to represent her music. Swift s music videos You BelongWith Me and Mean are interesting music to become the subject of this research. These two music videos include themes which are considered different than country music theme in general. This research is descriptive qualitative research that takes two music videos of Taylor Swift as its source of data. The main data consists of lyrics, music and moving images. The supported data are taken from several articles that related with Taylor Swift. This research is American Studies framework which incoorperates various disciplines in forms of theories and approach in analyzing music videos. The objective of the research is to describe what are the unconventional themes in Taylor Swift music videos. The research also apply semiotic theory and sociocultural approach. After conducting the research, it is found that in Taylor Swifts music videos consist a concept that considered as unconventional in country music, they are nerd theme that depict alot in the music video You Belong With Me and bullying theme which contain in the music video Mean. Keyword : nerd, country music, bullying, taylor swift x