Guns or Glory?

Hillary Clinton has shown that she is against the idea of the right to bear arms, our Second amendment, and that strict guidelines should be laid out to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people. And with such a strong opinion comes strong political ads that want to counter that argument.

One such commercial produced by the NRA represents this perfectly. In this ad, named “Don't Let Hillary Clinton Leave You Defenseless”, portrays a break in. Intense music plays in the background, and the women flies out of bed, calls 911, and opens her safe containing a handgun. But just as she is about to reach for the gun, it disappears, leaving her defenseless.

So why does this add give us this feeling in our stomach that is indescribable? The almost nauseating feeling?

It all comes down to the effect of pathos; or the ability to evoke fear or sadness. When the ad begins and the intense music plays, it immediately strikes fear into us, without knowing what it's about. And then the sound of broken glass, and heavy footsteps penetrate us with an almost horror movie type feel. As she unlocks the safe, there is a scene of relief, a feeling of safety. All of that changes though, as Hillary herself, steals the gun, as if she is the intruder. This is one of our worst fears: Being left defenseless. And this is what the ad is saying : “You vote for Hillary, you are defenseless in a world of bad people”.

There is a legitimate reasoning for Hillary's hate of hand guns.  In the United States, people do not have to pass a back ground check before obtain a firearm.  So people with a criminal record and people with a history of serious mental diseases can easily obtain a gun.  Along with this stat, 50% of people who have committed suicide have used a hand gun, so they hurt just as much as they help.  These points all point to having stricter rules for guns, or just the straight out ban of guns all together.

Exposing Hillary

http://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/2016/?adv=Classified

This brief yet worrying ad exposes Hillary Clinton for her secrecy. The commercial begins with multiple clips of Clinton denying that any classified material was ever sent or received by her, followed by a quotation from The New York Times, revealing that Hillary had in fact been lying. The quote was released in the newspaper on September 7, 2015, saying that “... the emails contained highly classified information…”.

The commercial very heavily relies on both ethos and logos. It finds faults with both her credibility and trustworthiness and raises many suspicions as to what Hillary would really be like as America’s leader. These suspicions appeal massively to negative ethos and likely cost many people’s trust. It also appeals to negative logos based on the fact that by the end of the ad, the viewer is desperately wanting to know just what exactly happened with the emails and which source was true.  

Stand for Reality

In this ad, Hillary Clinton uses different rhetoric strategies to increase her public image while showing what her environmental goals and views are if she were in the office. The ad starts by showing a series of young children looking happy and playing. While this is happening, she explains that future generations might look back and ask what we were doing. By doing this, she uses pathos to show what we might lose if we don't take global warming seriously. This added with calm slow music makes the viewer see these first couple seconds as happy time, without any serious threat, and makes the viewer feel that they do not want these good time to go away. After this, she continues, "its hard to believe that their are people running for president that refuse to accept the set science of climate change". By saying this, she not only make her opponent seem like the bad guy and stupid, but makes it seem like she know her stuff when it comes to climate change. Directly afterwards, she shows a series of ruined buildings and burned down forests. Pairing this right after what she said before encourages the fact that her opponents will lead america to that. This uses both pathos and ethos to damage Trumps image while making the viewer feel bad and feel the need to fix climate change. Fallowing this up, she states all the good we (making the viewer feel as if he or she is part of this movement ) have done by using renewable energy. She can now states her two goals while the viewer is in the positive mindset. She ends the video by committing on how great Amerce is, and how good Americans are at changing things. This gives the viewer a sense of patriotism, while encouraging everything she had stated about her goals and views on this matter.

Moving Forward

In the 2016 presidential election campaign, Hillary Clinton has gained many followers by giving many thought provoking speeches and promising to make many noticeable changes in the American government system. However distinct her efforts in the past few months have been, the strength of her visual logos have not gotten the distinguishable attention they demand. By using this logo with versatility, Hillary is arguing that if she is elected president, she will work to better the conditions of every citizen rather than focusing her efforts towards one specific group of people.

Hillary receives a large amount of her voters by arguing that she is the candidate who is running for the people, and that if she is president she intends on increasing benefits for the entire nation, not just a single group. In Hillary’s most profound logo, an arrow is used to cross the “H”, indicating that her plans will take America forward, and therefore create a better nation because of it. By using this symbol, Clinton is establishing exigence, because it allows the audience to recognize that she intends on taking steps forward to improve the nation in her term.

Because this logo is so adaptable, Clinton also uses the background image to her advantage. The whole image shows 8 different logos, each representing a different aspect in which Clinton aims to refine, such as improving rights for children, improving rights for the LGBT community, improving the lives of city dwellers, etc. By inserting each image into her logo, she is using ethos and pathos. The argument establishes ethos because Clinton is publicizing that she wants to help minority groups in the nation who often get overlooked, therefore establishing fit character for a president. The argument also establishes pathos because it appeals to these minority groups, as they believe their president will finally give them an opportunity for their voices to be heard. Hillary uses her logo to institute her belief of the importance of establishing equal recognition for all citizens within the nation.

In conclusion, Hillary’s campaign has been acknowledged for her efforts whether it be giving noticeable speeches, making sound promises, or creating advanced visuals. In this specific example, Hillary is able to convey her argument through her log for the importance of an equal voice throughout the nation. If Clinton is elected president, she will make sure the opinion of every minority group is heard and worked for.

Hot Chicks For Trump

If you watched coverage of the Republican National Convention, you may have caught a piece done by the BBC, in which a reporter asked Donald Trump supporter whether or not he would actually build a literal wall. While the interviews were fascinating, to some (myself included) the most memorable part of the piece was an the giant pin one of Trump's supporters was wearing.

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Specifically, this button

To a lot of people this button seems like the perfect summary of Trump's campaign, obnoxious, trashy, and inappropriate. While all that may be true, the Republican party wouldn't have been selling these buttons if they didn't promote their ideals. In fact, while it may not seem like it's making a point at all, this button speaks to two aspects of Trump's campaign that often go overlooked. 

For starters, the button is clearly trying to appeal to women. It doesn't make a substantive appeal by any means, but the hope is that women buy and wear these pins. Throughout the race, Trump and other republican candidates have struggled to win over female voters. Though this pin isn't trying to win people over, it does increase the visibility of Trump's women supporters. The women that sport these pins make a better case for Trump being a good candidate for women than he ever could. Trump is a pro life candidate that routinely trivializes women's issues and has called women "fat pigs" and "bimbos". He's never going to be able to take that back. He's never going to be able to appeal to women that care about issues like the pay gap, abortion, and the treatment of women in the military, but that's not the point, that's not who he's trying to appeal to. The point is that it's pink, it says something positive (albeit, trashy) about women, and it doesn't bring any of that nasty substantive stuff into the conversation. 

Then there's the issue of the button being crass. The tone used here is casual and frankly inappropriate for something tied to a presidential candidate. But this informal tone is prevalent in the majority of Trump’s speeches and there's a reason for that. It shows he’s not like highly educated, elitist, career politicians who can eloquently say nothing. He's like his supporters. He's going to "tell it like it is" and not mince his words. Whether or not he, a lifelong, privileged billionaire, has anything in common with the mechanic in Indiana who's voting for him because he's "relatable" is up for debate; but again that's not really the point. This is how Trump wins people over, he convinces them that he's different, he's one of the people and that's a good thing. Yes, he's rich, but he's also genuine. Genuinely terrible? Maybe, but you can't deny that he is unlike other politicians.

Fear caused by ¨football¨

http://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/2016/?adv=Football


In this advertisement the codes that control nuclear war are represented by a football. This is done because they relate the codes to a football game by saying during the crucial moments of the game only the trusted and proven can touch the ball and only the president can hold these codes, so they should be in hands of the trusted and proven. In this ad they try to invoke fear into the viewers and show them clips of who Donald Trump is, they show clips of him saying " I'm good at war. I've had a lot of wars on my own. I'm really good at war. I love war." By doing this they are appealing not only to logos but also to ethos because the statements that he says can negatively affect his reputation when put in a video dealing with war. In the context of the video it makes you think about if this is the type of man you will trust with the possibility of nuclear war after he stated that he loves war. Not only did he state that he loves war but when he was asked about the possibility of war he already had part of his plan to include nukes and he felt strong about that answer, so the true argument of this ad is, is Donald Trump the man that you will trust with such a powerful tool?

Family Strong

For many years now Hillary Clinton has done so much for families across america, well as far as her Family Strong campaign advertisement tells us. This ad is trying to tell a story of how overtime Hillary has become more and more involved with trying to help families throughout the country. The campaign video starts out by revealing a personal story from Hilary's childhood, saying that her parents abandoned her when she was young. They insert pictures from her childhood as they state how she was mistreated. She is using pathos by sharing an emotional experience from her past to get people to vote for her.

The ad proceeds on by using ethos stating that when she was first lady she got health care for eight million children. They continue to mention many things she has done throughout her life to help children and families in need.  

Throughout the entirety of the ad she’s using logos to make herself look as great as possible by inserting different photos and facts about how much she’s making such a difference. Towards the end of the ad they through in a picture of her with her grandchild and say “now a new title, grandma.” Hillary puts this video out there to show the people of america the best possible side of herself, only the good things. Hillary’s campaign ad, Family Strong is trying to convince all the families out there that if you vote for Hillary she will make your child’s life better.

A mirror reflects "a clear image" of something or someone, and that's exactly what Hillary was trying to get across in her most recent ad, Mirrors, that was released on September 23, 2016. The ad is filled with only a few of the countless times Trump has insulted the female gender as a whole, but what makes this short 30 second ad so powerful is all the young girls. Girls looking at themselves in mirrors discouraged by the words they hear and what they see. With Trump's voiced over quotes only growing rude and sexist, the you women just continue to become increasingly sad.

The quick but influential video ended with a black screen with the words, "Is this the president we want for our daughters?" Leaving the viewers with this message most definitely connects with the rhetoric pathos, as it leaves you with a strong emotion of love and fear for your own daughter. It truly makes the ad all that more personal and makes us think, is this what we want?

Considering in the beginning there is a 2 second clip of a young teen hugging Hillary with the biggest smile on her face yet there isn't even smirk on any of the other girls looking at themselves, she makes the distinction between the two oh so apparent. She want the people of America to know who Trump really is and what he stands for. Seeing that 50.8% of the United States are females, why should we let a man who thinks of women this way have any sort of power over us?

 Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have both taken huge hits from one another when it comes to the advertisements they've put out there for the world to see. Mirrors addresses something a tad more personal to which so many of us can relate.

He Should Look in the Mirror

A mirror reflects "a clear image" of something or someone, and that's exactly what Hillary was trying to get across in her most recent ad, Mirrors, that was released on September 23, 2016. The ad is filled with only a few of the countless times Trump has insulted the female gender as a whole, but what makes this short 30 second ad so powerful is all the young girls. Girls looking at themselves in mirrors discouraged by the words they hear and what they see. With Trump's voiced over quotes only growing rude and sexist, the you women just continue to become increasingly sad. The quick but influential video ended with a black screen with the words, "Is this the president we want for our daughters?" Leaving the viewers with this message most definitely connects with the rhetoric pathos, as it leaves you with a strong emotion of love and fear for your own daughter. It truly makes the ad all that more personal and makes us think, is this what we want? Considering in the beginning there is a 2 second clip of a young teen hugging Hillary with the biggest smile on her face yet there isn't even smirk on any of the other girls looking at themselves, she makes the distinction between the two oh so apparent. She want the people of America to know who Trump really is and what he stands for. Seeing that 50.8% of the United States are females, why should we let a man who thinks of women this way have any sort of power over us? Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have both taken huge hits from one another when it comes to the advertisements they've put out there for the world to see. Mirrors addresses something a tad more personal to which so many of us can relate.

Set Fire to Gender Roles

When you go to the website for Donald Trump's merchandise for the 2016 presidential campaign, one of the first items you see is a bumper sticker that says, "HRC, Liar. Liar. Pantsuit on Fire." The sticker is very straight forward with its message, arguing that Trump is the right choice because Hilary is a liar who wears pantsuits. However, the composition and phrasing hide more subtle digs and bigger ideas. 

 Trump is negatively using ethos by placing Hilary's logo and the words "liar. liar"  on their own separate line on the sticker so that even if you didn't read the rest of the phrase, it wouldn't matter because you already made the association between her campaign and lying. Accusing Hillary of being a liar has been Trump's fallback ethos throughout the entire campaign, constantly bringing up her email scams when he runs out of negative things to say, so it is only natural that it would appear on his merchandise instead of any mention of real policies or ideas. 

The next part of the phrase reads "Pantsuit on Fire". This part of the the phrase is extremely loaded with sexism and general Donald Trump ickiness. Going straight for her appearance is something that Hillary has had to deal with a lot in this campaign process. Comments are constantly being made about her pantsuits, weather in a light joking way or a mean one, the conversation is happening because she is a woman. What kind of clothing a male candidate is wearing is something rarely talked about and something definitely not carried this far into the election or focused on as a main argument against a candidate. Though cracks are made often about Donald Trump's spray tan or weird hair or tiny hands, to see a jab about another candidates clothes on an official merchandise website is a little scary. 

The fact that the election has gotten to a point of casualness and personal insults that Trump's campaign can  use pathos and play to people's emotions with something completely unrelated to any policies says a lot about the state of Americans and this election. People should be more focused on the bigger picture and the future of America and stop trying to pick apart candidates based on their appearance or they will end up voting for all of the wrong reasons. 

They Did Their Part, You Do Yours

This ad "Stop Clinton, Vote Trump" is promoting Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential Campaign by stating the level of anguish that Hillary Clinton caused because of her carelessness in Benghazi. The man in the ad (Mark Geist) is a survivor of Benghazi and tells us to vote because we are alive and able to vote and tells us to also make the right decision when voting. This ad uses pathos when talking about the soldiers of Benghazi, it makes us sad, angry and mad at the person that did it and makes us want to vote against her. This ad uses syntax to help the argument when Geist states very bluntly, "they didn't make it." This is referring to his comrades at Benghazi. By making this statement it shows the reality of the event and the consequences of Clinton's actions. This ad also uses ethos, when Geist states that he doesn't want to vote for Clinton, it shows Clinton's character and how big of a mistake she made that impacted many soldiers lives. The angles, motion and lighting of the ad also adds dramatization that impacts your opinion of how bad you think Benghazi was. The tone and music in the ad also adds something scary and sad to represent what happened in Benghazi.

Vote For Trump and be protected

Grayson Felton
9-22-16
Period 8
Cultural Analysis

The Advertisement above was created by the NRA to help support Donald Trump in his race for the Presidency against Hillary Clinton.  The main argument of this Ad is that if Hillary is president, she will take away gun laws and limit the amount of protection people will have.  She has the power to do that through the  Supreme Court if she is elected as the 45th president of the U.S.  This Ad is ultimately saying that if you vote for Donald Trump, he will keep you safe and protected when no one else is available to help you and he will not leave you defenseless. The Ad does this by using Pathos, appealing to emotions.  It evokes fear because you start to wonder if you were in that position and you had no way of protecting yourself.  No one wants to be in that position with a gun, now imagine if you were in that position without one.  The Ad also uses Ethos as a way to support the argument.  By saying that Hillary will you defenseless is ultimately implying that Donald Trump will not.  A normal person generally wants his or her family to be protected so why not vote for her if she is saying she will do that.  Everyone fears for their family and wants them to be safe which comes before our presidential candidates.  So even if you do not like Trump, he is saying that he will keep your family safe.  Logos is a huge part of this ad which makes it very effective towards the audience.  That if Donald Trump is our next president he will continue to keep you safe and protected.  Don't let Hillary Clinton leave you defenseless.

Stew, Cats, and The Office

The typical cubicle workplace. Endless clicking away and checking the time to see if you can leave. America has many of workplaces, and the common stereotypes that is both associated with the workers and the job itself are still very relevant to today's culture. The Office, an American- made comedy created around the style of it's British made counterpart tells the stories of a cast of odd but regular people at a paper company in Pennsylvania. Once (and still) a very popular show, the cast is shown in such a way that each stereotype surrounding its very specific set of people is very clear for comedic effect.

Let's start with the obese guy. Three of the many stereotypes incorporated with large people include being slow, clumsy, and being overly obsessed with food. Throughout the entire show, Kevin Malone is shown as both of these stereotypes in the film such. This can be seen around the middle of the series. Kevin has just made a big pot of stew, and is happily bringing it into the office. He however trips, hurling is newly made stew into the floor. Out of desperation (and this is sad), he drops down and starts to try to scoop the stew back into the pot with his hands.  Although this is very funny, the show uses the stereotypes already common in society and puts it into this character to get the most out of this comedic act. Here is one out of the many acts the show uses these stereotypes to portray Kevin in a funny way. 

Another common stereotype would be that women who aren't married by their mid 30-40’s automatically become non social and cranky “cat lady”, who make up for the lack of loving by buying and keeping lots and lots of cats. Angelina Martine is the perfect example of this. In one such episode, the fire alarm in the office begins to go off. Now although the fire is a false alarm, the staff doesn't know this and everyone begins to go into a panic. The camera pans over to watch Angelina start to pull multiple cats out of her drawers and toss them into the now broken ceiling to save them from the fire. In another example, Angelina starts to talk about her relationship with her sister. She continues by telling us that she hasn't talked to her sister in 16 years, because of some fight she can't even remember, and remarking the she is that good (at fights). These examples use these stereotypes to mold the character in the show.

Here are just two examples of stereotypes used, although there are many more used in the show. This however applies to much more than The Office, as media everywhere uses these common stereotypes to increase the number of viewers or enhance their popularity in american culture. I think comedies however use this most of all, as these stereotypes can make some funny scenes.

Gender and Mental Illness Through a Kid's Cartoon

The cartoon Steven Universe by Rebecca Sugar may appear like any other children show, but the progressive plot suggests otherwise. Covering topics such as homophobia, rape, anxiety, and the concept of gender, this Cartoon Network series opens the eyes of the viewers to modern society ‘in the real way.’

Most of the characters in the story are a fictional species of alien beings called ‘gems’, the main characters being part of an organization called the Crystal Gems. They are all named after gemstones and rocks found on Earth. Pearl, Peridot, Garnet, Amethyst, almost any gem you can think of has/will appear on the show. These gems have feminine characteristics shown through their hair and clothing, and go by she/her pronouns. But the creator Rebecca Sugar said that she did not intend for the gems to have specific genders. “Gems are Gems!” said Sugar. “Steven is the only male gem because he is half human! Technically, there are no female gems!” With the modern American world beginning to accept the flexibility of gender, Steven Universe gives early exposure of this to its predominantly younger audience. Gender is a topic that many people have valid and true opinions on, representing these opinions through a cartoon gives them an accepting and less stressful connotation.

The gems in Steven Universe are able to do something called ‘fusion’, in which two gems combine to make a bigger and stronger gem. This, in a real world sense, represent love and sometimes can specifically be sex. You can only fuse with someone if you both are open to it. On Homeworld, gems are only allowed to fuse with another gem of their own kind to become more powerful in battle. If one were to fuse with a different kind of gem, the would be banished or killed. One of the Crystal Gems is Garnet, who is a constant fusion of two gems names Ruby and Sapphire. Ruby was a guard to Sapphire and eventually fell in love with her. When they ‘accidentally’ fused into Garnet, their leader Blue Diamond threatened to kill them. Eventually they escape and join the Crystal Gems. They remain fused because it feels right to them, they love each other so much that they never want to be apart. A fusion that contrasts Garnet is Malachite. The Homeworld commander Jasper threatens her prisoner Lapis Lazuli to fuse with her in order to destroy the Crystal Gems. Lapis agrees, but as soon as they fuse into Malachite, Lapis takes control and traps herself and Jasper as Malachite deep under the sea. Many episodes later, The crystal gems find Malachite and frees Lapis. But Jasper begs Lapis to fuse with her again. Jasper said she felt amazing, and believed that Malachite could be the most powerful gem in the world. But Lapis is very scarred and traumatized from the experience, and bravely refuses Jasper. The contrast between these two fusions represents the contrast between a good versus a bad relationship. The younger audience will go through good and bad relationships when they grow up, therefore the show's truthful depiction of these relationships is important and goes unnoticed.

The last true topic shown in Steven Universe is their coverage of mental illness. In a recent episode "Mindful Education", the audience gets to see deeper into the anxiety of Steven and his friend Connie. Connie accidentally hurt a kid at school in the hallway and felt very guilty about it. Steven has also gone through similar, but must worst experiences being a Crystal Gem and having to fight and hurt other gems. Neither one of them wants to talk about/confront their anxieties, therefore they fall apart when they fuse into Stevonnie. Garnet tells them they must think about the bad things in order to move on. They sing a duet called "Here Comes a Thought" in which they calm their nerves together as a fusion. Anxiety can begin at a very young age and can affect someone awfully if they don't deal with it right. Another mental illness hinted at in the show is depression through Lapis. She is real messed up after she is released from Malachite, and has a very pessimistic and sullen attitude. Even before this, she didn't care much for her own safety. But Steven shows her some of the beautiful things on Earth, and she becomes friends with another gem named Peridot who has also had a bad experiences with Jasper. Finding comfort and happiness in the world and in your friends is another true coping method the show introduces to it's audience. These illnesses are often avoided on even adult television, so the fact that Steven Universe chose to cover really justifies how progressive the cartoon is.

Steven Universe is one of the only cartoons that truly captures what it means to live in America. Rebecca Sugar has truly shown how a children's show can still cover real world topics with shoving ideas in their face. I highly recommend this Cartoon Network show, and look forward to how it will continue to cover true topics in the future.

Gender Stereotypes in HIMYM

The TV show How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that started airing on September 19, 2005. The show follows the protagonist, Ted Mosby, and his group of four other friends living in New York City. How I Met Your Mother shows many stories of the twenty-somethings as Ted tells them to his children in the year 2030. In this American TV show, many stereotypes about gender are supported, which is why it is a false story.

How I Met Your Mother supports many gender stereotypes, one of them being that the male characters have more successful and higher-paid jobs. Ted is an architect, Marshall is a lawyer, and Barney is a business man. In contrast, Lily is a kindergarten teacher and Robin is a struggling news anchor. The stereotype that men must be the breadwinner is supported when Marshall decides to take a higher-paid job from a company he despises, just because he wants to be able to support Lily and their family. Another gender stereotype that is shown is how men manipulate women to get them into bed. Barney uses many tricks from his ‘playbook’ to get women to sleep with him. The women he manipulates are portrayed as dumb, which also supports the stereotype that women don’t think at all when they’re attracted to a man. The show supports other gender stereotypes including Lily having a shopping addiction and Barney sleeping with over 200 women (and being praised for it).

The TV show How I Met Your Mother is just one of many works of culture that supports gender stereotypes. Stereotypes in works of culture are common and can never be completely avoided, however, the less often they appear, the more true the story becomes. The appearance of gender stereotypes in How I Met Your Mother contributes to it being an untrue story.

Struggles with Art

My work of culture is the Netflix original show called The Get Down. It’s about music in the 70’s and how Puerto Ricans and African Americans were starting to introduce a new type of music, as well as defending against the stereotype that they were always up to no good and everything they produced would mean nothing. This is similar to things these days with young minorities struggling to overcome the stereotypes that are set against them in today’s culture. The Get Down Describes the struggles with New York and kids in the 70’s in the art industries and some of the same struggles still exist in the art industries today with kids.

Today kids still can’t always express themselves on sheets of paper, so instead they took to the streets. In The Get Down kids would often paint graffiti on trains, in train tunnels, and other places. That is the same as today, although limited and punished more severely, often kids would leave their tags or a way of identifying themselves by what they spell or draw out on the sides of buildings and train tunnels. Another way of expressing yourself is through writing and music and lots of kids these days are too embarrassed to write or get bashed on if they do. In The Get Down the main character is embarrassed when he writes because the kids often bashed on him for writing instead of playing sports and not being the strongest one in the class. That is often the case in other schools and institutes here in America now and although there are now clubs to support writing they are not always known about or even present at schools or local institutions. However, writing is a way of expressing themselves and some kids who have it available to them often join anyway and some even take it upon themselves to go even a step further and mix writing with music and rap and other things like spoken word these days. Just like The Get Down some people even have rap battle freestyles against other people or rival crews and have the audience dance and judge who won. One other way of expressing yourself of course is through music and dance and in The Get Down kids and other individuals would struggle to get jobs where they could become dancers and singers. Even now that still holds true to some extent where based on ethnicity and background some people can’t get jobs at certain record labels or other prestigious dance companies. The Get Down capitalized on the difficulties back in the 70’s and it’s astonishing to see that some of those difficulties are still present today.

Although it’s better than it was before there are still problems that rise when kids try and express themselves through art. The Get Down shows how it was like in the 70’s and being as a child who dances i see these struggles present everyday of my life.

The Message Behind Macklemore's ¨Same Love¨

In 2012, rising star Macklemore released a new hit single featuring Ryan Lewis. The title of this song was Same Love. Even though this song was released about four years ago, recent events have connected back to this award winning song. The song Same Love is a different way to bring attention to gay rights and how our country should become more accepting and appreciative of all people and their lives.

The theme of this song is to promote gay rights in America, with lyrics such as,

¨Its human rights for everybody, there is no difference!

Live on and be yourself”

Suggest that America should support gay rights. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are taking a different approach on trying to take a stance in this country, and in many ways relating to real world issues through clean lyrics and a smooth rhythm. Although the law passed for legalizing gay marriage was not passed for four years after, it still had a great impact in sparking awareness and pushing people to stand up and fight for what they believe in.

The 2012 hit song didn't win the ¨MTV Video Music Award for Best Video with a Social Message¨ just because it was catchy. Macklemore's lyrics do more then just stick with you, they send the message that there is a problem in the US that needs to be addressed. After the legalization of gay marriage across the country on June 26, 2015, a discussion sparks about how much impact this song, and many other social media sources, had to do with this huge decision. When looking deeper into the lyrics of this song, it's clear on the stance that the artists are taking, 

¨We press play, don't press pause, Progress, march on, 

With the veil over our eyes, We turn our back on the cause, 

'Til the day that my uncles can be united by law¨. 

The issue of gay rights was put on the top of the ¨To Do List¨ for America when people started to support this song and continued to support gay rights.

All in all, Same Love by Macklemore is not in fact a hidden message, it is a blunt recognition of a very important issue in our country. The song draws in a crowd that may not have been aware of the gay rights issue and shows them why they might think about joining in movement. In the end, Same Love was a great, creative way of passing a message across the nation.

Can stereotypes be forgotten?

In the commercial “brotherly love” for Coca Cola there is a trend that has been going on in movies, TV shows and other TV programs for a long time. This trend is that all boys are fairly violent and rough with each other and everything in general. Other movies that show this are How to eat fried worms, The karate kid and Diary of a wimpy kid. This commercial is not true because of how they interpret most boys in this way, but it also is true because of how they present one boy who is not like all the others.

This issue is important to discuss now because of all the pressure put on young boys to be tough and strong, similar to how there is a different pressure on girls to be dainty and delicate. Specifically in this commercial at the very beginning the “main character” of this commercial who is a young boy is shown captivated in a video game while his brother pushes him around. This is already expressing this stereotype, but it is not done there. Later towards the end of the commercial the boy is sitting on a bench while three other boys come up and start picking on him, similar to how his older brother did in the beginning. The ending of this commercial is otherwise sweet when the boy's older brother who was picking on him saves him from these bullies, but to do this he shows toughness so it is still proving the argument.

This stereotype applies to several other movies, TV shows and other pop culture in addition to the ones already named. Others are Lord of the flies (where someone ends up getting killed), The outsiders (where someone gets shot) and Dog Fight (an entire play about boys fighting). I have also seen this type of behavior in school with friends and other people that I don't even know, this behavior shouldn’t be very common but it is.

Portraits by Jeep

              Super Bowls are one of the biggest showcases of American culture, and they happen every year. One of the advertisements in the most recent Super Bowl called Portraits. It is narrated by a war veteran talking about his experiences as a veteran, a man, and as a person. It is important to analyze this work because of how it discusses what men should be and what people should aspire to be. This is relevant due to the ever rising campaign of feminism and equal gender rights, as well as the views of our veterans by the country. It promotes some of these stereotypes while breaking them down at the same time. This ad is false because of the stereotypes it holds inside and how surreal the narrator's experiences are.

              This ad has a few stereotyped sayings that are spoken during the narration. The first one is inside of the first few lines the veteran speaks. He starts off with “I’ve seen things no man should bear and those that every man should dare.” This plays into the stereotype that all men should be daring and adventurous. He then explains one of these sighting is the beaches of Normandy, eluding to D-day from World War II. He uses the term “man” in his explanation, rather than terms such as no one or anyone. This says that women are not fit to see sights like this and perhaps shouldn’t be soldiers. The portraits in the background show women as well as men during these lines, causing a disconnect between the narration and the background of the ad, making it less true. The narrator also seems too unrealistic of a person for his tale to be considered a true story. He says how he's done many things such as “Lived thousands of lives” and “Outrun robots and danced with dinosaurs.” He says how he's been in the companies of kings and queens, although he is “no royalty or saint.” What he is saying seems unrealistic, even if some of his statements are purely metaphorical. He is too great and perfect of a person to be believable. This ad is fake because it plays into stereotypes, creates disconnects within itself, and has an unrealistic narrator.

Does Rap Have Meaning?

In the song, “One man can change the world” by Big Sean, he talks about how his grandma encouraged him that he, by himself, could change the world. Rap in our culture has become a very common form of music in America. But most of this music has little to no meaning. But Big Sean has somehow found a way to connect meaningful lyrics to the popular culture of rap. Big Sean’s song “One man can change the world” gives insight to low income communities, as well as how cities are in dire need of help, while at the same time that arguing that one man can indeed “change the world”.

Big Sean shows insight to low income communities in the first verse of the rap. In line three of verse one, Big Sean says “Back on the mattress, Starin' at the ceilin' tryna connect the dots…”. This line shows that life in low income communities is often confusing and disorienting, while at the same time referring to the physical features in the house he was in. Most houses in low income communities have what are called popcorn ceilings, ceilings that look like they have little spikes on them, which is what Big Sean is referring to in this line. He also says “My, my step brother used to flip them bags outside the crib like it was trash day”. This illustrates that most low income communities are dominated by drugs and violence.

Another fact that Big Sean illustrates in his rap is that major advancements need to be made in order to rebuild the community mentioned in the previous verse. In line 4-5 of verse two, Sean says, “Where I'm from I swear their broke, they need way more than the cast”. This line illustrates that people in his home town of Detroit are not just physically hurt, but mentally as well. Something as simple as a cast will not be enough to repair the damages made, but more will have to be done. In the next line, Sean again refers to Detroit, saying “We need more than what you (Jim Carrey) have and then we need more than that”. At this time, Jim Carrey’s net worth was some where near 150 million dollars, while the city of Detroit was in 18 billion dollars of debt. Sean is expressing his anger and discontent with people who know that places in America need help, but put on a blind eye to save costs.

Sean also argues that, contrary to popular belief, one man can change the world. In the opening hook of the song, Sean says “...Remember one thing. That one man can change the world…” In the world today, people usually can not do many things without the help of some one else. Sean is saying that he believes that people can do amazing things without the help of others. At the end of the first verse Sean says, “What you know bout' wakin' up everyday like you on a mission?” This shows that he believes many people have no clue what it means to wake up every day, and be determined to make a difference in the world. It also shows that he believes that he can make a difference in the world, which shows that he believes that he, by himself, can make a difference.

In Big Sean’s song “One man can change the world” gives insight to low income communities, as well as how cities are in dire need of help, while at the same time that arguing that one man can indeed “change the world”. This can be seen in the way that he spits lines about his house as a child, how his home town of detroit is in dire need of help, and how he believes the people need to step up and make a difference in the world. Our parents might not understand rap, and how deep it can be.