May 16 notes
Your
blogs…
I actually thought this was one of the most interesting sets
of blogs that you guys have written for me this term. I actually learned a
great deal about you guys. I decided that I would write a single response for
the class and paste it in as feedback for all of you.
First, you all have very eclectic music interests. I think
that really reflects the music industry in our itunes, digital, downloadable
world. A generation or two ago, there was less variety, because there were
fewer outlets for production, publication, and distribution. This creates a
sense of fragmentation that did not exist in the 60s and 70s as I was coming of
age.
Second, most of you talked about how your favorite songs
resonated with you—with some experience in your lives: love, romance,
relationships. Just as in the early stages of parasocial relationship building,
you talked about those aspect of a particularly song that you could identify
with. Should we be surprised by that? Could this have both a positive and
negative implication? Most of you talked about how the music you selected lead
you to reflective thinking, to being uplifted, to being empowered, to being
more calm, more self-confident, happy.
Several of you also mentioned that you didn’t initially pay
attention to the lyrics, but when you did, you did find some parts
objectionable. I’ve had that come
up in past classes. Why do you suppose that is?
Good job on the essays. We’ll have fun, I hope, in class
today.
Symbolic
Convergence Theory
Ernest Bormann, 1972
Basic foundational assumptions:
·
We live in a symbolically constructed world that
is the result of the stories we tell
·
Stories often take the form of a “drama” and not
only communicate general information but also create a shared group culture—what
Bormann calls a rhetorical vision.
·
To understand a group, we must understand its
shared rhetorical vision of the world. Group members come together, and create
an identity, because they share this vision.
·
The rhetorical vision allows us to identify how
the group sees itself, how it relates to its environment/world around it, its
motives, and what compels it to action.
So
how does Bormann “study” people and groups?
·
He goes out and listens to the “stories” that
groups tell, particularly those they tell about themselves.
·
He calls this fantasy theme analysis—he looks
for the themes, the root metaphors, the messages built into the narratives of
these stories. He recognizes that we use language to create meaning. That words
go beyond simple description; they denote deeper meaning.
·
He writes that a fantasy theme is essentially a
myth, a story “about a particular incident which is put forward containing or
suggesting some general truth.”
·
Themes, he says, often draw from very basic
archetypes: good vs. evil, David vs. Goliath, the powerful vs. the oppressed,
the goodness of “home,” the American Dream, etc.
·
He also looks at the characters within these
“dramas.” Who are the heroes and villains, who perform actions, and which of
these actions reflect the general truth a speaker or writer wishes to convey?
So,
what does Bormann specifically study? What can we analyze?
All media texts: newspaper articles, magazine stories,
speeches, press releases, corporate publications, advertisements, TV shows, films,
and, of course music.
We’re going to focus on music because of the powerful impact
it has had on shaping youth culture.
But to get us thinking, let’s start with an analysis of how
music is used in LDS culture.
Let’s take the lyrics to “Come, Come Ye Saints”
What are the basic themes, basic myths? Who are the heroes
and villains? What is the shared rhetorical vision that helps to define the
“group”?
Here are the lyrics:
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell -
All is well! All is well!
Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell-
All is well! All is well!
We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away, in the West ,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints, will be blessed.
We'll make the air, with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell -
All is well! All is well!
And should we die before our journey's through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we'll make this chorus swell-
All is well! All is well!
So
what does this have to do with effects?
Think Uses and Gratifications Theory
·
Active, goal directed media users
·
Media messages are malleable
·
Effects are individualistic and self-created;
they vary from media user to media user because of what each user brings to the
interpretive experience
Now think of Socialization Theory
·
One of the primary ways we “use” media is for
the purposes of developing a self-concept or identity
·
Music is a medium that accommodates this
process, particularly for youth
Did
popular music create a youth culture?
Let’s tackle these questions:
·
What was the role of music in creating the youth
culture of the 60s and 70s?
·
How music define the civil rights movement and
the protests against the Viet Nam war?
·
Could music have this same power or effect
today?
Let's start with the Civil Rights Movement....
The Times They Are A Changin’
By Bob Dylan
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
Abraham, Martin and John
By Dion
Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
You know, I just looked around and he's gone.
Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and he's gone.
Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked 'round and he's gone.
Didn't you love the things that they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
And we'll be free
Some day soon, and it's a-gonna be one day ...
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.
What about the Viet Nam War protests?
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
Could this also produce dangerous "sub-cultures"?
Take the example of Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution":
From Wikipedia:
The song "Suicide Solution" has been criticized for its lyrics that were alleged to be a direct cause in the October 1984 suicide of John McCollum, a nineteen year-old fan who shot himself while listening to Osbourne's song. The boy's parents sued Osbourne and CBS Records for "encouraging self-destructive behavior" in young persons who were "especially susceptible" to dangerous influences (McCollum et al. v. CBS, Inc., et al.). In court in his defense Osbourne said when the song was being written the words "Wine is fine but whiskey's quicker..." came to him suddenly and were a reflection not on the merit of suicide but on the death of AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott who drank cheap wine and whiskey until his death from alcohol-related causes just months before Blizzard of Ozz was released. Bob Daisley, who wrote additional lyrics, said he wrote the song about Osbourne's own abuse of alcohol and drugs.[10] The McCollums' complaint was dismissed on the grounds that the First Amendment protected Osbourne's right to free artistic expression.
The lyrics:
Wine is fine but whiskey's quicker
Suicide is slow with liquor
Take a bottle, drown your sorrows
Then it floods away tomorrow's
Evil thoughts and evil doings
Cold, alone you hang in ruins
Thought that you'd escape the Reaper
You can't escape the Master Keeper
'Cause you feel life's unreal and you're living a lie
Such a shame who's to blame and you're wondering why
Then you ask from your cask is there life after birth
What you sow can mean Hell on this earth
Hell on this earth
Now you live inside a bottle
The Reaper's traveling at full throttle
It's catching you but you don't see
The Reaper's you and the Reaper is me
Breaking laws, knocking doors
But there's no one at home
Made your bed, rest your head
But you lie there and moan
Where to hide, Suicide is the only way out
Don't you know what it's really about
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