Textual analysis (Alice Cooper's 'Poison' 1989)

Focus: Hall's reception theory.

The Dominant meaning gathered from Cooper's entrance is of gothic design. Gothic iconography is quite clear the shape of the door way and the dark colours with the light blue mist emphasising the dark colour of his own clothes.
However, his entrance is in opposition to the general pop genre of music prevalent in the 1980's and adopts a darker theme that is more common in the 1990's.

The Dominant meaning we might gather from Cooper staring directly at the camera is that he is imposing the macabre feeling of the video upon the audience as if seeping through the screen into the surrounding area.
This is in direct opposition of the typical 80's genre as it is directly opposed to the general dance-rock and pop-rock of that era.
A Negotiated meaning is that it could be one of the heralds of the 90's era of music which was more dark and centred around grunge and punk, due to it's close proximity to the 90's.

In this scene we see Cooper walking amongst chains in an almost dungeon like scenario, this could portray a sense of imprisonment and no escape as it's Dominant meaning.
This is in direct opposition with the general light, upbeat pop music of the 80's as it emphasises a dark, gothic style.

The Dominant meaning that can be taken away from this shot, and coopers posture, is a sense of hopelessness and despair as the strength to live wanes with loss.
This is in obvious opposition to the hyper, lively theme of the 1980s which emphasises bright happy music, which this is clearly not.


















It could be negotiated that this song is one that heralded the coming of 90's music with it's mixture of dark colours and setting, for example, despite the relatively light blue, in comparison to the other colours, used in the background, it still appears artificial and unnatural in nature.