Research: Intertextuality

In order to understand the importance of intertextuality and the relevance of it, I carried out some research into it.

On Wikipedia it is described as a literary device that creates an 'interrelationship between texts' and generates related understanding in separate works. This shows that it is used to show that the texts have common ground within their subject manner or genre somehow which a reader/viewer can point out and understand.

Intertextuality is also described as the relationship between different texts, specifically literary ones. Intertextuality is an important stage in understanding a piece of literature, as it is necessary to see how other works have influenced the author and how different texts are employed in the piece to convey certain meanings. This indicates that utilizing intertextuality will express certain meanings within the text that may not be clear without it.

An article online said in the 1980s that the semiotic notion of intertextuality introduced by Julia Kristeva is associated primarily with poststructuralist theorists. Kristeva referred to texts in terms of two axes: a horizontal axis connecting the author and reader of a text, and a vertical axis, which connects the text to other texts. Uniting these two axes are shared codes: every text and every reading depends on prior codes. Kristeva declared that 'every text is from the outset under the jurisdiction of other discourses which impose a universe on it'. She argued that rather than confining our attention to the structure of a text we should study its 'structuration' (how the structure came into being). This involved siting it 'within the totality of previous or synchronic texts' of which it was a 'transformation'.

This research has showed me that when trying to use intertextuality within my work, I must consider the relevance of it, and ensure that it provides further meaning to the video that may not have been made clear before.