Blog post #6: Music Video Logos

Logos refers to the structure or logic behind an argument. In my previous couple blog post I reflected on the rhetoric and strategies used in the mucic video, Become the Bull, by Atreyu. In analyzing the logos in this video, I feel it is important to think about the relationship between the video itself and the lyrics of the song. The first thing I noticed with the structure is that there is a consistent switching back and fourth in the video between the people running from the bull and the band performing. This really builds on the lyrics, "back and fourth, the struggle consumes us all," because it uses structure in the video to match the words of the song. This also works to create a contrast. For example, when the audience has more than one thing to follow going on in the video, more focus is drawn to the consistent lyrics of the song. Because of this, I really feel that Atrayu wanted the lyrics, not the video to be the main focal point of the audience. The video is also almost completely filmed in black and white, which also draws less attention to the visual aspect of the video. If one looks at the relationship between the video and the song and how it appeals to reason, You see a mob of people that appear to be running from a bull. At the end of the video, it is revealed that they were actually the ones charging towards the band. In terms of reason this can be viewed as a metaphor referring to the lyrics, " become the bull." It is also important to consider why atreyu chooses to spend such a large portion of the video focusing on them performing. With respect to logos, as I stated earlier, atrayu is trying to draw focus to the lyrics of the song, through this video, so when time is spent watching the band speak the words, at least in my mind I pay much more attention to what is being said. The band's facial expressions and body language also help to more effectively convey their message. Finally, I felt that the main purpose of the video is to simplify what was being said. "Become the Bull," can be interpreted many different ways and I feel that the band uses this video to logically show the audience what they mean. The story in the video consists of basically people who look terrified of something, running through the streets, and at the end of the video they all stop. Naturally I think the message this sends is, "Stop running." I think the message Atreyu is trying to send is stop running from your problems, and take control of them.

Blog post #5

For this blog post, I am going to focus specifically on the Pathos behind the the refrain from the song "Become the Bull" outlined in blog post #4. The words are "Back and fourth, the struggle consumes us all, trying to keep a level head. In the most, unsettling of times, today i become the bull." To me, the word Pathos most simply means; in what way does the writer of the text connect and draw interest from the targeted audience. This is often accomplished through playing with specific emotions or memories. Atreyu chooses to use the words "back and forth" to bring out a feeling of tension and almost struggle in the audiences eyes. For example, when one thinks of something going back and fourth, it is natural to think of some sort of uncertain or unsteady memory. After the audience is has sort have gained this feeling of tension, the words "consumes us all" are used to bring about some feeling of unity. It allows the targeted audience to feel like they are in this "struggle" together with the band and everyone else. This feeling creates a connection between Atrayu and the audience and sets them up to be open to the more risky statements that follow. To build more on this Pathos or connection with the audience, Atrayu refers to these times as unsettling, which is obviously a very common perspective among people with today's economy and world issues. Finally, after Atrayu has attempted to build up this really solid connection with their audience, they bring the rhetoric or argument portion of the song by stating,"Today I become the Bull." This is the point where the Pathos become crucial because only if the connection with the audience has been made, will the rhetorical meaning of that statement be taken seriously. If the audience feels that they are in the "struggle" together with Atrayu, and Atrayu says they become the bull and overcome their problems, then the audience is much more likely to feel they can do the same.

Blog Post 4: Music Video

The video I chose is entitled "Becoming the Bull" and is by the band Atreyu. The title, lyrics and music video for this song all have to do with their take on the expression "Grab the bull by the horns." The argument being made is that in todays day and age, just addressing your problems is not enough, that instead you have to "Become the Bull" or in other words, be in control of the situation. When a song has such a bold message, it becomes even more important that the band uses the three devices of rhetoric: ethos pathos and logos, to ensure that they are effective in communicating. In terms of the Ethos used, the video really tries to keep a simple, dark, live performance feel to it. This is likely used in an attempt to make the audience feel like this is a "legit" band that can be relied on. The only side story in the video is what appears to be modern day people running through the streets similar to what you would see in a Spanish "Running of the Bulls." This effect also supports ethos because it creates a connection between the words of the song, and the video, making the music video as a whole, seem more credible. When looking at the Pathos used, I think the everyday people running through the streets also plays a key role. Atreyu is trying to make the connection that everyone goes through these problems, so when an audience member sees someone in the video similar to themselves, they will likely feel much more connected to the meaning of the song. Atreyu also uses the lyrics of the song to connect with the audience. The very first line in the song is "Grab the Bull by the Horns" which is an expression that almost everybody has heard at one point or another. This serves to immediately place the audience member in the situation being argued in the song as well as possibly bring up some relevant memories in the audience members past. Logos, or the logic used, is appealed to in the straight forward, story telling nature of the song. The thoughts behind becoming the bull and what that means, are clearly organized as atrayu first describes the situation, the problem, and finally the solution. The situation is today's unsettling time which everybody can relate to and can easily agree upon. The problem described is that "the struggle consumes us all, trying to keep a level head," or in other words, we try so hard to keep our cool that our problems can get the best of us. The solution being argued is to, "Become the Bull," or in other words take control back of your life.

Blog Post 2: Web 2.0 Video

The purpose of the clip posted above, "Web 2.0," is to offer alternative ways of thinking about texts. This is necessary because in today's society, the most commonly used medium for texts has become television and the Internet as opposed to the print texts of the past. The target audience for this clip was obviously today's generations who often use the web as a medium because the video is located on the web itself. To get it's point across, i feel Web 2.0 effectively uses pathos throughout as it references many commonly seen images and websites from the Internet to form a connection and something that the audience member can relate to. A strategy used to keep the audience engaged was the typing, deleting, and retyping of text. This catches the audience's eye as well as forms a connection between the two phrases at the same time. As far as Ethos is concerned, I feel that this video choose to rely on professional quality editing and synchronized music to build up trust with the audience as well as appear as a reliable source. Logos is supported due to the way Web 2.0 is chronologically organized from handwriting at the beginning to Internet at the end. Every phrase seems to be somehow related to the one before which makes them seem more logical. One could say based off of the way in which Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are all used discreetly, that the purpose of web 2.0 is to inform about the ways in which we must approach web based texts responsibly, while keeping the target audience engaged. I would think that the greatest challenge when putting together a video with the target audiencce of internet users, would be the fact that the audience would include so many different people with different viewpoints and attitudes to appeal to. I believe this is why I found such a strong emphasis on the Pathos within the web 2.0 video. As I explained alittle earlier, the strategy used for pathos was to use images and websites easily recognizable by the majority of people who would be using the internet. An example from the video was the text being typed in the searchbar of the google homepage. When almost anyone sees this, a conection is instantly made just for the simple reason that they've been to that website themselves so many times before. With this connection made, the essence of the text itself on screen has much greater impact because of its relative setting.

Blog Post 1: Quotation on Writing

"The test of literature is, I suppose, whether we ourselves live more intensely for the reading of it." -Elizabeth Drew

With respect to the question of how this quote engages purpose and context in relationship to an audience, this quote is most simply trying to express that in order for a text to be meaningful to any audience, that it should be capable of influencing or impacting their lives in some way. One of the ideas behind this writing class was that anything can be considered an argument. With this in mind, we can say that in terms of purpose, Drew believes for a text to be worth while, it must effectively convey some argument, regardless of what that argument is. For example, if you watch a movie and cant really identify any meaning or plot, chances are that you wont think it was a very good movie. With respect to the quote, if you did not find any meaning in the movie, your life will not be impacted in any way because of it. When thinking about context of the text, if the goal is to in some way impact the lives of the targeted audience, the most important thing would then be for the context of the text to be relevant and meaningful. To best accomplish this, one should carefully analyze the targeted audience before creating the text. If the viewpoints, opinions, preferences, ect. of the audience are understood before hand, you can then shape the text to directly appeal and connect to who you think will be viewing it. When Drew says "live more intensely," she means that the audience either directly or indirectly shows some change in their lifestyle. This means that the audience does not necessarily have to obviously know the meaning or message behind your text, but just take something from it. There is alot of room for the writer to express ideas in whatever way he or she chooses, this includes "hidden" themes, arguments, meaning or messages. The important thing to remember about this quote is that no matter what text we create, our goal should always be to make our text powerful in terms of delivering its message, whatever it may be.