Generic Criticism: Spoken Word

Spoken word is a form of free verse poetry that originated during the Harlem Renaissance era which took place between the 1920s to the 1930s. It is performed through speech on a stage to an audience, but today it is available through several media methods.  Due to its multifaceted nature, it exemplifies a genre that should be studied, and criticised through generic criticism.

Spoken word is an extremely unique from of poetry, and this is due to the structural guidelines that have to be followed when a rhetor is creating such a literary art.  Because there are no guidelines in the process of making the product, it makes this form of literary art very versatile, and perhaps to versatile that it could be argued to be a different genre. Comparing the genre of rap and spoken word, there are not that many differences between the 2 forms of art. While most rap focuses on being more rhythmic, and follows a generic verse-chorus structure, Spoken word does not have any guidelines. It is simply the presentation of ideas through speech. Thus spoken word can rhyme if the rhetor chooses to make it. Taking the example of Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus, there is a rhyming scheme present. Taking a different example, the song I get down  by Shad if striped down to its lyrical content can be considered spoken words due to the great similarities that are present between the two genres of spoken art. Because spoken word is so versatile, and has no guidelines, it does not have binding structure that has to be followed. This limitless form of art can be morphed into an abundance of different genres of poetry ranging from rap to haikus.

Shad-I Get Down:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQZ2g1s8e4s&feature=related

Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY

Kung Fu Pepsi (Generic Application)

Kung Fu is a sub-genre of Martial Arts movies which are also associated with the Action genre.  The plots of these tales usually follow the life of a young child (typically a male) who begins as an outsider that finds his way to a secluded dojo (or temple) where he seeks refuge.  The leaders of the group allow him to stay and begin integrating him with the rest of their pupils who are studying some form of martial arts.  The protagonist generally connects with a particular leader who identifies with him, and works with that teacher to attain the level of training of his peers. On the side, the main character also learns valuable life lessons from his wise master.  Through rigorous training, the child (who by this point is a young adult) has most likely surpassed all of the other students in skill and must proceed with a final rite of passage in order to be  fully accepted by the community.

In the case of the Pepsi commercial, the audience is expecting the genre as soon as the first scenes, introducing the temple, come on screen and the tell-tale oriental music starts playing.  The commercial mimics the main elements of a Kung Fu movie focusing on the progression of the protagonist.  The boy is first identified as an outsider by his Western clothes and is immediately introduced to his elderly mentor.  The pace is much faster in the commercial due to its time restraints but the boy displays all the same emotions a character in a Kung Fu movie would have: amazement and curiosity, when he first arrives at the establishment; doubt and fear, as he is being integrated into the life style (seen when they have dressed him in their garb and are shaving his head); bouts of determination and frustration, as he proceeds through his training; and finally confidence as he is about to complete his training. During the rite of passage, the viewer can see how much the boy has improved having surpassed everyone’s expectations. Once the protagonist finishes his skills testing, he is faced with a dilemma. Generally, in a movie, the dilemma is much more complex and reveals many secrets that the mentor had not shared with his pupil.  Pepsi designed a more comical challenge for the young man. As all his peers wait for him to make his move, the protagonist unlocks the key to this society–they have all been marked by a Pepsi can.  Clearly this information was kept from him as he was meant to figure it out on his own, displaying yet another key element in Kung Fu movies: the growth of the main character particularly through gaining knowledge/wisdom. When he finally gets branded his peers celebrate, accepting him into their group–all his hard work has paid off!

Can COLDPLAY be considered Alternative Rock? A Generic Participation Critic

The point of my post is to prove, through Generic Participation, that Coldplay is incorrectly placed in the genre of Alternative Rock.

According to Wikipedia and an article published in 1989 in the New York Times, the Genre of Alternative Rock is an ‘umbrella term’ that classifies music by its intensive focus on the sounds of the guitar and lyrics that address social concern but still contain sincerity.

Examples of mainstream alternative rock bands or groups (taken from the Wikipedia Article on ‘Alternative Rock’) include the following: The Smiths, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Oasis, Green Day, Weezer, Radiohead, Coldplay, Liz Phair, The Strokes, The Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse, The White Stripes and Muse.

Coldplay’s songs are very mellow and offer the listener a pleasant, calm and sedative experience. They utilize guitars in their tracks but in many instances the focal instruments are the piano and drums. Chris Martin’s vocals are smooth, seductive and soft. Many of the songs on the album X&Y, released in 2005, contain lyrics or cover topics about social issues. There are songs about struggle and repair (Fix You), confusion (Swallowed by the Sea, X&Y), self-mockery (The Hardest Part), and loss (Shiver, Up In Flames).

Although I’m not fully familiar with most of these bands, I know enough about a few of them to discern that Coldplay songs don’t sound similar to most songs by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, the Foo Fighters, Green Day, Weezer and The Killers. Although many of these bands compose songs that are slower and mellow, they all produce songs that are generally louder, more intense, put more emphasis on the distinguishable features of guitar playing and are more ‘raw’ and truer to ‘rock’ than the songs composed by Coldplay. Even though Coldplay fits with the criteria of the alternative rock genre in terms of the lyrical topics covered within their songs, they lack in the stylistic sounds and techniques described in the genre. Despite that alternative rock is an ‘umbrella term’, Coldplay’s sound and musical style does not perfectly fit all criteria and is too different from other bands under the same classification to fully fit in the genre.

Articles:

Wikipedia “Alternative Rock”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_rock

New York Times 1989 article: HOME ENTERTAINMENT/RECORDINGS: SOUNDINGS; A New Kind of Rock

UW’s Grad House as Georgian Architecture

http://www.gsa.uwaterloo.ca/house/

Located on a grassy hill near South Campus Hall, the Grad House holds historic significance for the University as the original farmhouse on campus.  Present at the founding of the University, the Grad House now serves as an exclusive meeting place for graduate students.

The Georgian style of architecture was common from the 1780s to the 1860s.  OntarioArchitecture.com claims that: “Georgian houses are generally so well built that they are virtually unchanged 200 years later”; a testament to the Grad House’s permanence.

According to the Ontario Architecture Style Guide (http://www.env.uwaterloo.ca/research/hrc/documents/Heritage%20Resources%20Centre%20Architectural%20Styles%20Guide.pdf, pg. 3), the Georgian style is characterised by: symmetry; 2-3 storeys; brick, stone or clapboard façade; a hip roof (sloped on all four sides) or end gable roof (sloped along the length); and a single door, plain, centred entrance.  The Grad House fits these characteristics well.  Although the Grad House is not perfectly rectangular, the main façade embodies symmetry by mirroring windows on the left and right side.  The centre door balances the visual weight of both sides in the main façade.

The Buildings of Canada guide (http://www.historicplaces.ca/media/7173/buildingsofcanada.pdf, pg. 6) further explains the Georgian style containing: end chimneys, usually inset; balanced facades; 3,5, or 7 bays; centre doors; and occasionally Palladian windows.  The Grad house does not have a pair of end chimneys, but instead one conforming to the inset characteristic.  The symmetrical windows described above match the 3 bay description.  Palladian windows have a rectangular base window with a half-circle window placed directly above; seen on the first floor pair of windows on the Grad House.

The Grad House is not an exemplary example of the Georgian style.  It does however fit the Georgian style of architecture more than any other.  Although the main front façade of the Grad House meets Georgian standards, Georgian homes are typically very rectangular without additional blocks protruding from the sides and back- as is the case with the Grad House.

(Interesting Note: Mennonite Georgian is a deviation of Georgian characterised by full-width front porches.  Brubacher house on campus (between the playing fields and technology park) is considered an excellent example of the Mennonite Georgian style.)

Do The Roots fit the Genre of Rap Music?

The genre of rap music is complicated as so many genres exist within “rap” itself. A few examples of this are gangsta rap, horror-core rap, and conscious rap to name a few. For this analysis the genre of rap as a whole is sufficient as many of the genres of rap conform to the same principles. Stylistically, the word “rap” originally meant rhythm and poetry and all rap conforms to this as they speak their lyrics over the beat of a drum. Rap musicians rarely use the melody of the song to express their lyrics, and if the melody is used it is often in the chorus and can often be sung by another musician, who could be an RnB artist for example. A generic rap song will also tend to follow a pattern of sixteen bars in a verse, and a chorus.

Rap music is also a genre which is not initially about the instruments. The reason rap music is so popular to create is that you do not need to know how to play an instrument. Most rap music is produced in a studio using programs where anyone can manipulate a great wealth of musical instruments and place them in sequences, like a grid. The technique of sampling can also be used in where an instrument or something is sung for example, and then looped into the beat. The content of rap music is often surrounding controversial issues, whether the artists are advocating and glorifying negative issues, or if they are standing against it.

The Roots is a band that consists of a few core members, the other members changing constantly through their long career. The Roots genre of music is hard to define. They conform to many of the elements of rap music and many people classify them as a rap group at first glance. The lyrics of the song are always consistent with the drum beat, their verses are usually sixteen bars and they tackle controversial issues often using questionable language. However, The Roots is a band and all their instrumentals are truly played by instruments. When listening to their music you can feel the looseness and fluidness of it, instead of sounding like a bunch of things placed in specific positions. Their instrumentals are often much closer to being recognized as Jazz or Soul. Also members of the group have pretty good singing voices and many of their songs feature portions of singing for entire verses. There also have only been two or three members of the band who did the rapping.

The audience reception for The Roots is peculiar as well as often people who like music with singing, instruments and no cursing don’t like rap. But The Roots versatile style brings all kinds of people together for different reasons. So is this rap music or not? I think that The Roots fit into rap music but also into many other genres separate from rap. The best way to describe their music truly is that it doesn’t conform to one category, a somewhat quasi-rap/soul/jazz category. This makes it hard to place them in a genre but makes them extremely unique and probably explains much of their appeal.

Extra note: The video above is not a specific song but I felt this video broadcast them as a band well showing them playing the instruments.

There’s Something About Mary – generic criticism

The classic romantic comedy genre as defined, is light on the humorous half of the story as it concentrates more on the romantic aspect. Rom-com usually revolves around a man and a woman, both sharing certain comical and romantic commonalities that intimately tie the two together, inevitably followed by obstacles that negatively impact or may temporarily separate their emotional relationship. However, at the end of the day, the man and woman overcome their obstacles through their undying perseverance of ‘true love’, and ultimately live happily ever after.

Comparing the general description of a romantic comedy genre to the apparent romantic comedy movie There’s Something About Mary, starring Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz as the main male character and female character respectively, in a generic participation aspect, this movie should not be considered a romantic comedy. This film contains many scenes that inappropriately convey the comical side of the story in a sense that it leans more toward ‘dirty’ comedy as opposed to a rom-com that usually has ‘light-hearted’ comedy. In addition, the film fails to portray the ‘true love’ aspect of the man and woman, which leads to an unsatisfying delivery to the audience of the compassion between the two. Lastly, the gravity of the obstacles the protagonists come across do not impact heavily enough to accomplish the seriousness in the temporary downfall of Ben and Cameron’s relationship which additionally results in a poor empathetic response from the audience. In general, There’s Something About Mary fails to meet the circumstances of a romantic comedy genre due to its dominance in the comical sense and lack of severity in romance.

Trailer:

Carmencita by Rob Roy – Generic Participation

http://www.lyricsmania.com/carmencita_lyrics_rob_roy.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=immVoOs5NAQ

Rob Roy is a talented rapper fromFloridawhose music has been recognized by many hip-hop moguls such as Kanye West and Chris Brown.  His music transcends the norm, as he fuses a variety of styles, but is classified as hip-hop/rap on iTunes.  He rejected all major labels for Dim Mak Records that gives him more creative leeway.  Carmencita is Rob Roy’s second video and it is about the woman he loves having an affair, and the pain and isolation he feels because of it.

Rap music is characterized by spoken lyrics, obvious display of wealth, and strong beats.  The lyrics usually rhyme, are spoken in long verses (as they are the highlight of the songs) and are sometimes explicit (i.e. Ni**a’s inParisby Kanye West & Jay-Z).  Carmencita’s lyrics rhyme and are spoken like a typical rap song.  However, the majority of the track is instrumental and Rob Roy’s language is quite eloquent, making it appear more like spoken poetry rather than rap.

Most rappers have cars, gold chains, and beautiful girls surrounding them in their music videos.  However, Rob Roy’s video is very simple, as it is set against a plain black background and he is dressed smartly in a suit, rather than the typical baggy clothing (i.e. Candy Shop by 50 Cent).  The girls in rap videos are typically draped over the artist to show power.  However, in this song, the girl has dominance over the man because their relationship is based on her terms.  This is evident in her numerous affairs and how she revolves around the man in the video, daring him to make a move.  This makes Carmencita different from most songs in its genre.

Rap music is typically electronic-based with heavy bass and a definite beat (i.e. T.H.E by will.i.am).  Carmencita’s track is very simple and slow-paced with a guitar and a drum to create the recurring beat.  It does not sound like typical rap music because it does not have a lot going on, but does manage to incorporate some heavy bass in the middle of the song.

Overall, Rob Roy’s Carmencita has some rap elements, but it is very different from other songs of its genre.  However, it is difficult to classify this song, and rap seems to be the best fit.

A cluster criticism of beyonce’s “RUN THE WORLD”

Throughout the whole video, the contrast of the tamed and the wild is strongly emphasized because women and beyonce was often shown with wild safari animal. It basically displayed the difference between freedom and submission because as animals, they do not need to heed to the rules of the human society and hierarchy but because they are animals, they are automatically trapped in the slavery of human. The term “wild” is very limited because they may be free animals, but their freedom is strongly jeopardized by mankind, especially by human activities that destroy habitat, competition for food and resources and so forth.. The animals in the video are strong predators too, such as the lion and the hyenas but in the music video, they are put in the position submissive to women because they are held by chains or obediently sitting next to women.
In the music video, Beyonce seems to be leading a band of women to rebel against a regime of completely men. This gender contrast leads the audience to think about the historical status of gender equity in our own society because no matter how much women push to be on the same level as men, there always seems to be a gap between men and women. The lyrics in the song are all about women’s power and the music video’s visuals give off a sexual power for the beyonce and the other women when they are dressed in a sexy yet bold clothing and their dance movies are emphasized on the women’s distinct features, especially the breast. The lyrics consistently bring up the power and importance of women and as the music video syncs with the lyrics, it is best displayed at the close up shot of her face and her beauty is even more refined with the haze of sand blowing all around her. Her hands and nails are decorated in fine details so when she moves her hands around her face, it seduces the audience because she uses her hands to enhance her soft yet continuous gaze at the camera. The song at the moment goes “My persuasion could build a nation, endless power, our love we can devour” but in the next line “you’ll do anything for me” beyonce suddenly changes her gaze to a fierce look that boldly dominates the strength of that lyric. It reminds the audience of the women in their own lives who has many roles and also has the amount of power to support it all.
However, the music video contradicts itself when Beyonce doesn’t continue to abuse the soldier’s uniform and instead just salutes uniformly with her band of girls at the last note of “GIRLS!” It wraps up the contrast of freedom and submission between the genders and general hierarchy that our society runs. The women may have been able to tame wild beasts, but in the end, they cannot resist the regime so what they were doing (rebelling) did not really happen because they know it will never succeed.

The Office: Cluster Criticism

The Office is a television show adapted from the British TV series of the same name, that follows the normal everyday events of employes working in an Office.  The company that these employees work for is the Scranton branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, located in Pennsylvania.  The series is presented as a mockumentary, with interviews throughout the show of the different employees.

The opening credits focus completely on the idea of the work place during the course of the day.  The opening sequence is from the perspective of someone driving a vehicle and looking out the window at buildings and traffic; a pretty average beginning to a work morning.

Throughout the opening, the theme continues to focus on the workplace as well as the employees in the workplace.  During the opening we are shown a series of short clips of all the different employees in the workplace.  While we are being shown these short clips, the name of each of the employees comes along when they are being recorded giving the viewer the information they would receive in a videoed interview, just the name of the interviewee on the screen.  This gives a small hint about what is to come in the show.

The other clips in the opening are simply those of simple everyday workplace occurrences.  These clips include things such as: a copying machine printing out important papers: a person calculating costs and filling out forms: a huge water jug with air bubbles coming to the surface, as someone gets a drink: and people generally just looking bored and tired.

In conclusion the general theme around the opening is just things that happen in the workplace, and the entire point of the opening is just to show the audience that the show is about the normal everyday life of employees in the workplace.

URL LINK:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4QtLeXabuE

Where is the Love Music Video, Cluster Criticism.

‘Where is the love’ is song written and performed by a Hip Hop group called The black eyed peas. It was featured in featured in their third album, Elephunk,  which was released in  2003. This is one of their most acclaimed songs; hence it has a sum of 13 charts totaled worldwide. This music video possesses a well thought and developed lyrics coupled with visuals that are not only gratifying but also depict the song lyrics perfectly. There is a clear message conveyed through the song lyrics and illustration provided, which makes this music video exemplary as an artifact to be recognized, and studied through the method of Cluster Criticism.

Throughout the music video, you see the “?” mark in an abundance of occasions and in even more distinguished places. Furthermore the lyrics contain numerous fallacious and negative words such as ‘killing’, ‘dying’, ‘hurting’, ‘discrimination’, and ‘terrorism’. In addition to these key terms, we can add ‘love’ to them, but amusingly it is the only word hinting towards any positive to today’s society. We can group the words ‘killing’, ‘hurting’, ‘discrimination’, and terrorism’ together because they all express a form of hatred. There is also a cause and effect that is applicable towards these words because they all cause death, and hatred if they are applied, and there are several examples in our society today such as the tragic 911 incident, and the prevalent gang violence that is taking place in many North American cities today.

In the lyrics, the phrase ‘Where is the love’ is said several times, and is coupled with an illustration of a red question mark. As the music video plays we hear, and see these too things several times, hence it is the underlining theme of the music video. The purpose of this is to address a few of today’s contributing factors to our flaw society.  The song is structured such that in the verses, we are given examples of negative words such as the ones listed above, and in the chorus is where the audience is given the solution to these problems.

The music video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc&ob=av3e