With an immediate biblical reference to the “Last Supper,” Vampire Weekend automatically seizes the attention of their teen indie rock fans. The 2013 VMA nominated music video for “Diane Young” has already succeeded in their obvious purpose. The audience is hooked by the first scene. The longer they can keep us watching their video, the more advertising the song gets.
Opening with a modern take on the “Last Supper” is automatically effective in their goal. In pop culture today, it is not common that VMA nominated bands are referencing Jesus in their new hit song. Vampire Weekend uses a relatable image that their audience can associate with. This image makes their song stand out among the rest, giving their audience reason to sit through the two minutes and forty four seconds of this music video.
The details of this piece work together to get the audience to form and develop ideas about the meaning of their song. We see twelve disciples sitting at a table. As we look closer at each one, we see a masked man, focused on his iPhone. Another body in a orange collared shirt is caressing his espresso machine. Others in the back are drinking, smoking, and engaging in brawls. We immediately link all of these things to the teens of today’s society. Vampire Weekend does not use a series of romantic montages to keep us intrigued. Instead, they use images and details that leave us working to figure out their meanings. We are not only watching the music video, but now we have become invested, and involved in discovering its meaning. If the particular specimen watching the video is particularly invested in the cause, like myself, they’ll even watch the video several times until they grasp the meaning. This is exactly what the band had intended.
In analyzing the visuals of these music videos it is easy to forget that the song itself is used to keep the audience engaged. The title of the song “Diane Young” conveys a message within itself. “Diane Young” is a play on words for “dying young.” Diane Young almost becomes a personification of death. If the thought of dying young doesn't change the way you live your life then it is expected that you are accepting of the reality of it. A reference to the much loved American family is made in a simile stating, “you got the luck of a Kennedy.” The Kennedys have a reputation for dying at a young age, like the teen subjects of this song. The lyrics are used to convey a popular message to the audience. Vampire Weekend argues exactly what teens want to hear; that they should live recklessly without worrying about consequences.
Vampire Weekend was overall effective in their goal. I know this because after watching and analyzing this video for hours, I went online, and downloaded the 2013 VMA nominated song, “Diane Young.”
Jackie, you finally identify the purpose at the end of your post, that Vampire Weekend wants to give its young audience the okay to live recklessly. You should have identified this immediately in your post. If you had put this right up front, and then built your entire post around this purpose, as a good rhetorical analysis should, then this post might have been really good. As it is right now, it feels random. When I read, I get the sense that you had no idea what to write. As a result, you place maybe too much emphasis on the allusion to the Last Supper. Does this allusion, alone, attract as much attention as you claim? Does it really make us want to watch the entire video? Personally, I got the image immediately - as you suggest - but then I quickly looked for more. As I said in class last week, we think as we write. Therefore, we always need to go back to the introduction of our pieces and rewrite them once we finish the conclusion. You conclude this post well - with the exception of the cheesy final paragraph. Unfortunately, because you don't foreshadow that conclusion in the introduction, your post has no cohesion. In addition, there are several stylistic mistakes.
ReplyDeleteYou write: "it is not common that VMA nominated bands are referencing Jesus in their new hit song." If you are going to make statements like this, you need to offer some evidence. Why else should I believe you?
You write: "If the particular specimen watching the video..." Should I be insulted that you have referred to me as a "specimen." This is a good example of a poorly chosen word.
Most importantly, you make the critical error of assume how the audience will react. In a rhetorical analysis you cannot do this. All you can do is infer the "speaker's" purpose and then try to prove your inference with textual evidence. In future analyses, you should avoid phrases like:
"Vampire Weekend automatically seizes the attention of their teen indie rock fans..."
"Opening with a modern take on the “Last Supper” is automatically effective in their goal..."
"...to get the audience to form and develop ideas about the meaning of their song..."
"...but now we have become invested..."
"...Vampire Weekend was overall effective in their goal."