Abstract

This chapter is about intertextuality. Here you will find a definition of intertextuality, the concept of it, and some examples to help you better understand its meaning. While understanding the concept of intertextuality through its definition and examples provided, you can also find ways that intertextuality can benefit you. This can be used throughout your writing for a wide range of courses, in your creative endeavors, as well as through spoken text, for lack of a better word. This chapter concludes with how intertextuality can be used in a positive way as well as negatively.

What is Intertextuality?

Intertextuality is one of those things that you have never heard of but have run into at least once in your life, especially in the academic realm. But it is not limited to academics. You can see intertextuality at play in your favorite books, TV shows, movies, songs, and even memes. Even you have definitely used intertextuality at some point. So what is it exactly? Intertextuality, to put it simply, is when an author or writer references another work as their own. But there are levels to it. It can either be a reference that is entirely based around that other work, or it could simply be mentioning the reference once in the whole work. It is up to the author which part of the intertextual scale they choose to follow.

Examples of Intertextuality

Now that intertextuality has been defined, let’s get into some examples of it at play. A great example of intertextuality in film is in the ‘Shrek’ movies. ‘Shrek’ incorporates a lot of those fairytale characters children learn about in books or movies and reimagines them. Even though ‘Shrek’ has its own storyline with Princess Fiona, Donkey, and, of course, Shrek, they bring up those other fairy tales like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Prince Charming, Princess and the Frog, and the list goes on and on. What is different about ‘Shrek’ and what makes this intertextual is that the film does not just include the exact same thing those stories include. For example, take the character Pinocchio. In ‘Shrek 2’ (the best Shrek movie), they poke fun at Pinocchio’s character by having him say, “I’m wearing ladies’ underwear” and his nose does not grow implying that he is in fact wearing ladies’ underwear. Now obviously, in the actual Pinocchio story, he does not wear ladies’ underwear, but the writers want to use Pinocchio’s “curse” in a humorous way. So here they still use those characters that are known by many and rebrand them in the movie.

Another example of intertextuality, this time in a musical, is the Broadway play ‘Hamilton.’ There are so many examples of intertextuality used throughout the play. The biggest is Hamilton’s story. Lin Manuel Miranda references a lot of events that happened in Alexander Hamilton’s life and how he portrays him, but not all of it is historically accurate. It is just a way to make the plot work and be more engaging for the audience. Another intertextual example in ‘Hamilton’ works through the songs. One example is in Cabinet Battle #2, when Thomas Jefferson says, “If you don’t know now, you know, Mr. President,” which references the line in The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy.” There are other speculated references to other hip-hop songs, but because they are not confirmed by Miranda directly, they will not be included in this example.

The last example that will be used for intertextuality in this chapter (brace yourselves) will be the book “Fifty Shades of Grey,” sparing all of the explicit details, of course. Not many people may know, but this book was actually originally a fanfiction based on the movie ‘Twilight.’ Plus the downfall of Ellen DeGeneres, but those details will also be spared. The characters Anastasia and Christian Grey were made to portray Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. As many fanfictions do, they tend to use the characters from a movie, show, book, etc. and create an entirely new story with them while using attributes from those characters in the new work. When “Fifty Shades of Grey” became its own book, they did, however, change the character names from Bella Swan and Edward Cullen to Anastasia and Christian Grey, yet the inspiration and storyline stayed the same.

These three examples were used to show the ‘intertextual range’ as mentioned earlier. ‘Shrek’ has direct ties with fairy tale stories. ‘Hamilton’ references history and lines from popular music. “Fifty Shades of Grey” took inspiration from “Twilight.” Each were created at different intertextual degrees, but still include intertextuality nonetheless.

Intertextuality for You

Almost all forms of media take some inspiration from past works, which makes intertextuality so useful. Even memes can use some form of intertextuality. But why is intertextuality so important? As a student, intertextuality can be used as evidence to support or defend your argument. When writing a paper, how many times have you referenced outside works to support your claims? It happens more often than you would think. Using intertextuality in the correct way can also show that you understand the topic or argument you are trying to defend. When you bring in a reference or an outside source, it can show your audience that you have a good grasp of the concepts being used. So not only can it help your audience, but it can also help you!

The examples that were used above are not only examples of intertextuality in media, but there is quite literally intertextuality at play in this chapter itself. By referencing examples of intertextuality, this chapter uses the art of intertextuality to explain the concept of it. It is this interesting meta concept that will break your brain if you think about it hard enough.

Have We Lost the Plot?

Some believe that intertextuality creates a lack of uniqueness or originality since any “new” works are related to or based on past works. Although it may seem that way or be an easy way to remember what intertextuality is, there is something truly beautiful about being inspired by something and, in turn, creating a work of art as a result of that. By describing intertextuality as a “lack of originality,” it gives it a negative connotation. When you put into perspective how far society has advanced, especially how long written art has been around, it would be fairly difficult to create something completely new, but that does not mean the idea is not unique in itself. Human beings are unique, and not everyone thinks the same way. You can have a group of people listen to a song and tell them to create a story based on that song, and each story will be different in some way. Sure, there might be some elements in each story that are similar, but the stories themselves are different, and that is where they are unique.

Nowadays, though, it seems like an easy way for people to rebrand old works. This is where it becomes laziness and appears to be a cash grab. Companies now do not want to create anything new, whether it is because of cost or laziness, but that is where intertextuality could appear as a bad thing. It is when people truly use intertextuality to create something that makes the audience feel inspired, which means they did something the right way and for the right reasons. Constantly recreating old movies or shows, specifically for “nostalgia” or whatever the film companies want to call it, can be done in a way that is good, but it feels like that is all we see now.

Something interesting and worth thinking about is how intertextuality will play out in the future. Who knows whether or not we will stray from the current remakes as it seems to be the new norm. Whether that happens or not, it is worth using intertextuality in a way that benefits you.