Generic paradigms and intertextual relay in the dress-up montage of San Junipero

 Intertextual relay and the dress up montage

Intertextual relay refers to the ‘give and take’ that audiences engage with when consuming a media product. San Junipero encourages the audience to negotiate a wide variety of responses based on intertextual relay. Some audiences will instantly ‘get’ the references, and will engage with the narrative on a deeper level. However other audiences may simply see the use of music and iconography in this scene as referring to the 1980s, which increases their immersion in the scene. 

• The selection of the song Girlfriend In A Coma by The Smiths was included at great expense. This depressing indie pop song was selected, partly because it reflects themes of depression partly because of The Smiths enduring fan base, but perhaps most of all because the song functions as a hermeneutic and proairetic code, informing the audience of later plot twists. This deeply ingrained easter egg encourages audiences to watch and rewatch the episode to experience a range of negotiated readings. This is only possible due to the highly unconventional use of genre. 
• Yorkie’s second costume makes explicit reference to The Breakfast club, with the film’s theme song ‘Don’t you forget about me’ booming over her pulling expressions. Not only does this make explicit reference to the ‘weird girl’ character in this film, audiences unfamiliar with this film will instantly understand the convention of the dress up montage, and that yorkie is trying different personalities, here,. The ‘weird but hot girl’
• The use of genre in this sequence is highly unexpected. Making reference to a wide variety of different films and music videos from the 80s, the sequence suggests that our identity comes from how we dress, and the media that we consume. Our identity is constructed from a set of fractured images, and as young people, we struggle to work out our own identity. Therefore this sequence draws attention to a very real issue and conflict that exists in our society. 
• The dress-up montage is a convention of the teen comedy/romance genre. It was particularly popular in films of the 80’s, and remained popular to this day. The trop of the nerdy girl who takes off her glasses and becomes beautiful is a parametric feature that is frequently used and spoofed in other teen movies. The warm lighting and the bedroom setting are clear conventional aspects. The dress up montages allow the audience to understand the personality and identity of the protagonist. It also functions as a proairetic code, as Yorkies figure out how to impress and seduce Kelly. 
• An easter egg is a hidden element that targets an active audience. It can be used to convey meaning, meaning they often function as a symbolic code. Easter eggs and other hidden elements encourage fans to watch and rewatch the episode, and to engage with every new detail.
• In her penultimate costume, Yorkie dresses as a backing dancer from the video to Addicted to Love by Robert Palmer. The use of the MES of startling bright red lipstick, forming a diametric opposition with the unnaturally pale foundation, functions as a symbolic code, symbolic of love, passion. In the music video, the backing dancers are clearly positioned in such a way as to appeal to the heterosexual male gaze, and are dancing and behaving like robots or mannikins. This voyeuristic and fetishistic mode of address that Yorkie adopts actively fetishizes herself, and reduces Yorkie to a sexual object. Yorkie assumes that this identity will attract Kelly. The voyeuristic mode of address that we as an audience are positioned in forces us to confront the sexualisation of women in music videos, and also how we construct our identity from a vast range of different media products.