The Kids Aren't Alright (Music Video and Lyrics Analysis)
The musical video I'm going to analyze is "The kids aren't alright" by The Offspring. The song is a punk rock song, it belongs to their album Americana. Not only am I going to analyze the music video but also the lyrics and their hidden meaning, although if anyone takes the time to read the lyrics they'll notice the meaning easily. It's straightforward, really.
Using examples to make their point across, The Offspring talks to us about a life in the future, how everyone expected it to be bright and successful, yet they wasted their chances and now they face "the cruelest dream", reality. It talks about dropping out of school, about having children when they're not really ready, it talks about committing suicide and not only is it talking about it but also highlighting that they're mistakes, that there was something better ahead of them but they didn't take advantage of it and didn't success in life.
The music video starts in a beat up flat, windows broken, walls that could do some painting, and a guy walking to the centre of the room, with his head hung low and staring at the floor. There are appearances of many people in and two backgrounds are used, one of a bright living room with everything new and perfect looking, and the old flat almost bare and pathetic-looking. It makes sense with the lyrics of the song, "When we were young the future was so bright, the old neighborhood was so alive" In a way, it also talks about how naive they were and how they expected everything to go right.
In the music video there are different scenes taking place, there is one with a cheerleader and a (/an american) Football player where she jumps on him, wraps her legs around his waist and they kiss. Not only that but there are scenes with girls posing and taking pictures of themselves, there even is a scene with a girl showing her bum to the camera. I think it is a little inappropriate but most of the time it makes sense with the lyrics.
The reason why I love this music video and the lyrics to this song is because it talks about wasting chances, about what happens when you don't think hard enough about your future and what you should do with it to make yourself be successful and then don't regret anything you've done and the choices you've made. It talks about reality, in a rather crude way, and how it feels to grow up, how things change before you can even notice, and when you do it's too late. "Chances thrown, nothing's free, longing for what used to be. Still it's hard, hard to see, fragile lives, shattered dreams"
I think it might be sexual in a way, in a really small portion of the video, but the meaning behind it, the other problems it talks about, makes it not important at all, at least for me. Also, most of the public that does listen to Punk Rock don't care about that kind of things (Unlike people that listen to Reggeaton and things like that).
Thanks for reading, xx.
News for ICT Class
ReplyDeleteName of the article: North Korea rejects offer of aid from South Korea
The article basically talks about North Korea rejecting South Korea's offer of aid, due to continuous floods and typhoons that have attacked North Korea. The North Korean Government rejected this offer calling it "meager" and truly disappointing, as it wasn't offering much and they had been expecting more, much more.
My real opinion:
Even though there is great tension between the two countries, I believe that in time of chaos they should accept aid from each other and solve their problems. This is not only to benefit the governments (as being in peace is much easier than being in the verge of another war) but also will benefit the civil people, the north korean people that have lost everything they had and also family because of the natural disasters.
The offer wasn't "meager" was the North Korean Government stated, it might not be much for them but something is something, and that specific something will be of help for their civilians, so why not accept it? I think that they should just accept the offer of aid and not let their pride blind them from making the right choices.
Counter-Opinion:
The South Korean Government is giving a rather small offer of aid when they could give more, not only have they rejected the North Korean Government's request for shipping grains and other things (claiming that they would use it for their military instead of what the aid is supposed to be for) but also giving things that won't really do much to help the people in North Korea.
Not only that, being much already to be honest, but also they stopped giving North Korea the things they used to, when their president came to the power; so wouldn't they expect the North Korean Government to be annoyed by it? To resent it, and reject their future offers of aid because they think the same will happen again? This are only speculations but it would be understood if it were that way. The North Korean Government has already been affected this way and they are in their right to believing that it might happen again, and be prideful enough to not accept a offer anymore.
Title: What I did on the trip week, because it is TOTALLY interesting for you to read this.
ReplyDeleteIn the trip week I didn't really do much, to be honest. The first day we went to this hike in Cardal, in the valley of Lurin. Mr. Perrin wanted us to go to this place and see its importance because it is the last green valley in Lima, and it grows crops and things that are important for our agriculture and economy in over all.
In hike we were walking in this path that was besides this cliff and it was from Cineguilla to Pachacamac. I didn't really like the hike because I had sprained my foot some time ago, and it was hurting from walking to much (if I had known that it was a hike, I wouldn't have gone... But I didn't know, so I was stuck in there, walking and being in pain... dramatic, I know).
It was nerve-wracking because the cliff was right beside us, and we were really afraid of falling which would end up in being dead or severely injured (now I'm not being dramatic, it's completely true). There were stops so that we would see the sights and everything, the valley, and I kind of liked that part, if I hadn't been in pain I would have probably enjoyed myself more.
We stopped at "el paso" or something like that, I can't really remember the name because my memory is really bad. And then we walked past this place where they had pigs, and the smell and noise was horrendous. The worst part was when I was walking and accidentally stepped on a rock (I'm clumsy okay?) and kind of twisted my ankle again. It was almost unbearable to walk from that point to the place the buses were going to pick us up from.
The best part was when it ended, I didn't really enjoy it because of my foot so I can't think about something that I enjoyed the most... but I guess the valley was really pretty? Beautiful?
I would change the path because it was uneven and the cliff made us feel uneasy about it. I didn't learn anything either because my group was really far away from the tour guide and we couldn't hear his voice (that was a bad part about the hike, another to the huge pile).
And no, I wouldn't like to do the same next year or ever, because it was horrible. at least for me. I mean, I didn't get tired but I didn't like it at all, risking my life isn't in my "to do" list so yeah... But something different would be nice, I don't know, like going to the beach and clean or something else, anything that makes me lose class time would be greatly appreciated.
That's all for now,
now off to work on the gender violence assignment I have yet to (unwillingly) do.
Joyce.
Gender Violence in Peru
ReplyDeleteEven though there are a lot of women in important places in our government, like the mayor of Lima, we seem to still have a high percentage of gender violence. It isn't only sexism, which would be one of the major reasons behind it, but also our comfort with our current situation. If it doesn't affect us directly, why should we bother? If it doesn't affect someone we love, why should we bother? If it does affect us, who will bother? Who will protect us?
The main reason, as stated above, is sexism. The male population (specially in countries still in the process of development or not developed) thinks that they are better than women, and that a woman's place is in the house, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children. Now, why does this happen? Well, there are many reasons, one of them being the cultural influence.
Since always, women have been the ones in charge of taking care of the children and staying at home, although there are indeed cultures (like the Greek culture) that praise women and have female deities.
However, a woman is seen as a figure of weakness in our society (the peruvian society). But, it has been changing in the past years, women have started to complain and tell on their husbands, the main source of this violence.
There are threats, to hurt their kids, or kill the wife, hurt their relatives, and that tends to hold back the woman from telling on them. Fear is one of the main factors for women to not say anything about the abuse they have to suffer from.
To reduce the gender violence even more, since I think that stopping it all together is basically impossible, I think we should build in more bravery and trust in the hearts and souls of the abused women. If they believe that people will support them, help them, and more importantly, care about their situation, then they will tell everyone what has been happening to them. Why keep quiet if there is a better future ahead of me if I don't hold it in? That mentality would be the key to progress concerning gender violence in the Peruvian society.
Thanks for reading this,
Joyce Stapleton.