BURN THE WITCH HOMEWORK

Intertextuality and media languageand its representations on social groups

There is a lot of intertextuality in Burn The Witch which all combined is a metaphor for the refugee crisis in Britain 2016 a month before the EU referendum where xenophobia and racism took an up rise due to false advertisement that Britain would be overpopulated due to immigration.

Initially,we encounter a nervous mayor looking down at his watch nervously and then there is a band playing music to put on a facade, setting the idea that the village is a loving graceful community. We know this is a facade as the mayor brings the congregation and instructs them on how to behave, and we know this by the hand gestures. The lyrics playing are 'stay in the shadows' and this suggests that the village should remain quiet or low key so it isn't noticed. This may mirror how the UK looks to the rest of the world. It looks a very welcoming friendly country and also very peaceful on the exterior but internally and those familiar with the UK it may appear a hostile environment where new people and foreigners are discriminated against.

We then hear the words 'cheer at the gallows' which creates a sinister mood denoting that they are happy to watch criminals get hanged. This may connote however, the verbal abuse immigrants get and the fact that there is no remorse from their oppressors which happens alot. For example, in 2018, there was a day called 'punish a Muslim day' where attackers gained points and where cheered on for inflicting abuse against Muslims. The bigger the abuse the more points. This reinforces the idea of hostility. The cheering at the gallows can be interpreted as intertextuality from the Bible or even medieval times where people would watch criminals being punished in the form of hanging or being stoned to death as a method of entertainment and the audience gained some sort of gratification from watching it. This form of intertextuality is ironic however, as it goes against the name of the village 'MODERN VILLAGE.'

The whole music video uses characters from Trumpton, a childhood tv programme which was relaxing for kids and intriguing for them. This, idea therefore may come across as unsettling as such an ideal town is adapted into this evil place where everything is just a pretence. A place which separates it self from the world and  is very nationalistic thinking its ahead of the times of the rest of the world hence the village being called 'MODERN VILLAGE.' Which is some reasons why Britain wanted to leave the EU. A lot of the Euro sceptics did not see themselves as European but infact just a separate island with their own currency unlike the Euro used for the rest of the countries in the EU. The use of the programme Trumpton could be in relation to Donald Trump who became president in 2016 and one of the biggest laws he tried to impose after stepping into power is the travel ban which again shows hostility to other countries and a dislike for other countries.

As the inspector walks around he sees a see-saw with a suspected witch in a dunking chair. This is reffering to historical times where people weren't as educated and believed people were guilty until proven innocent hence the punishing of suspected witches. If the woman drowns shes a witch and if not then she was human. This reiterates xenophobic behaviour that natives are scared of what they don't know. As all women drowned they were not witches and punished when they were innocent and this just implies that foreigners are prejudged and abused when they are really just common people like the natives. This reinforces the idea of discrimination of what is new or unfamilliar.