How an idea spreads
when i was doing my MA in culture industry, my dissertation was about music in the digital realm and what that means. of course it means different things to different people, but one of the most important part of any cultural sector is the understanding that most things aren’t totally original: the best ideas come from other great ideas.
enter beyonce’s single ladies. i used this video/song in two different uni assignments to highlight different things. i will put aside the idea of female singleness now to talk mainly about how this video is part of something much bigger, to which it largely contributed.
this is a video of a bob fosse dance sequence set to unk’s semi-hit song “walk it out”. whoever made this found an innovative way to put some really old dance to a modern song in a way that caught the attention of millions of people on youtube.
beyonce’s single ladies video obviously drew from this mashup and became a massive hit. liza minelli even covered the song in sex and the city 2.
it continues to be an influence on culture, three years after it came out. with over 33 million hits on youtube, this is such a great example of how ideas flow everywhere in the digital space. see the above post for thom yorke dancing around to beyonce’s hit… it all goes back to fosse, yall.
