Weird Al Yankovic's Song And Music Analysis

Introduction Weird Al Yankovic’s song and music video for Like a Surgeon, relies on the cultural competences of a primarily American audience in regards to the expected behaviors and actions of medical specialists, such as stereotypes regarding professionalism, competence, and sexuality. These common codes related to doctors, nurses, surgeons etc. are then purposefully disregarded, violating the rule of exclusion in order to create a preferred humorous reading. The video paired with the song itself, also heavily relies on intertextuality and redundancy in an attempt to cement this preferred comedic reading. To prove this, this piece of media will be analyzed though a careful dissection of the signs and symbols used to convey the authors desired meaning, otherwise known as the semiotic method.
Analysis
Violation of the Rule of Exclusion The rule of exclusion, according to our course notes, is a kind of standardized formula for organizing signs that determines, relying on the basis of known rules and conventions, that some objects, actions, signs and situations do not belong together. Yankovic’s music video for Like a Surgeon violates this code regularly in both the imagery and the lyrics in an attempt to create a …show more content…
Yankovic’s character is often seen in surgical scrubs, performing surgeries on numerus patients with his hair poking out of his surgical cap. He uses power tools such as a chain saw and a large drill in these settings and at one point drops a heart meant for transplantation. All of these events connote, or imply his inexperience and/or insanity and lowers the videos modality, or connection to reality, further cementing the idea this piece is comedic. The concept of what a doctor is and should be does not belong with the character presented in the