—Genre as applied to Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night is quite self-explanatory. Genre in itself is a historical concept which has been utilised since the ancient Greeks “Greek literature was divided into well-defined literary genres” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_literature.
—However Genre has evolved substantially since then and now depends on the various media it applies to. In Pop Music Videos Intertextuality is well-used and Katy Perry's music video is no different as it makes reference to Rebecca Black’s song Friday and the commonly used phrase ‘TGIF’
—Katy Perry is a Pop singer; therefore the Genre of this music video is also Pop. The Pop page on Wikipedia says that “‘pop music’ may be used to describe a distinct genre, aimed at a youth market, often characterized as a softer alternative to rock and roll”. This is true of the Music video as the classic American-teen house party stereotype is fulfilled strongly throughout this video. Almost all the characters within this video are teenagers apart from Katy’s parent and her ‘uncle’ Kenny.
—Goodwin’s theory on Music Video Genre is also satisfied on more than one point. Firstly there is a correlation between the screen visuals, the music and the lyrics and this makes the song very straightforward, applicable to teenagers/young people (the target audience) and therefore easy to understand unlike Indie or Rock bands which focus entirely on performance and have hidden ‘deep’ meanings within their songs.
—Secondly, the colours theme and concept of the music video are highly relatable to the pop genre as it always centers on young people having a good time partying or going out and meeting other young people. Voyeuristic treatment of the female body is openly explicit as a part of society’s ideology in this video as the ‘jock’ squeezes Kathy’s bum. Close-ups of the female body are very explicit as it has become a well-known part of Musical genre.
