Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the shaping of texts meaning, by another text. This could be through homage, parody and pastiche. Some texts use explicit intertextuality where they refer directly to the other media texts. Examples of this is in The Simpsons, Family Guy and can very often appear in TV adverts, as this helps the audience to recognise the references and it makes them feel clever for knowing what the reference is from. However, in a media text like Family Guy where there are so many explicit references in order to gain pleasure from watching it you need to have watched the other media texts they are referencing in order to understand what is going on, otherwise some could find it confusing. If a text is referencing other texts but not in an obvious way so that it doesn't make sense, then it doesn't matter as much if you have or haven't seen it because you can still gain pleasure from watching it because it isn't as confusing. Intertexuality can be reflected in the fluidity of genre boundaries and in the blurring of genres.

After researching intertextuality I have decided that it isn't something I will be including in our own video, as although it is becoming increasingly popular and I like the features of it it is too complicated to include in our own work, as the references need to be understood by your audience.