“I Was Here” by Beyoncé was nominated for "Best Video with a Social Message" for the 2013 MTV VMA's. In the video, Beyoncé performs her song in honor of World
Humanitarian Day, held by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, in hopes of inspiring the entire world to “leave your footprints” and
carry out an act of kindness for someone else. The touching lyrics and videos
instantly compel anyone to want to make a difference.
The OCHA made the smart decision to pair its presentation with Beyoncé's live performance of the song. Being highly-respected and known for her phenomenal and timeless voice, Beyoncé already attracts a huge audience of children, adults, and fans, for the video using her fame as a mechanism--a typical high-school student with the same motive may only reach out to 2,000 peers, while Beyoncé's video has 23 million views, and grows every day. Her clear and powerful vocals accompany the presentation perfectly, and the melody and lyrics are inspiring. Her presence on stage is strong, powerful and proud. She proves to be the perfect spokesperson for this movement.
As she sings, the wall-size screen behind her plays a compilation of tear-jerking videos. The powerful combination
of the song and video clips inform and captivate the crowd, drawing all
attention to the presentation before their eyes. By this point, the crowd's
vulnerability makes them easy to influence.The videos shown include the aftermaths of natural disasters, and the starving children and
adults of third-world countries. These videos address worldwide problems, reminding the audience of tragedies that have occurred in the world, and
that those victims are still suffering, intending to generate a desire to help
these unfortunate men, women, and children.
The presentation continues, however its content shifts drastically. The expressions of the victims
change from tear-streaked faces to bright, smiling faces. The videos no
longer show just the tragic conditions, but normal, everyday
people helping out. The videos range from merely putting a sweater on a cold friend, to rescuing victims trapped under the debris and ruins of their devastated cities, emphasizing that no act of kindness is too big or too small. The video and Beyoncé's lyrics show that these acts change people's lives, and leaving a mark is as rewarding to those who help as to those who are being helped. Beyoncé herself is touched by the message of the song and video, and even tears up as she belts out the chorus.
The next visuals shown include a beautiful celestial view of Earth. Beyoncé constantly repeats the lyrics "I was here", drilling the message deep into the minds of the audience. When a person "was here", a dot on the earth lights up. As more people carry out acts of kindness, more dots light up and create links between them, showing how the world will light up as people do more and more to help out. Thumb tacks with the message "I was here" pop up, not only in English but several languages including French, Arabic, and Chinese, reaching out to individuals worldwide.
The video concludes with the burning question, "What will you do?", leaving the audience enlightened, and hopefully inspired. This whole production offers people from all countries the chance to do something with their lives, and be remembered for changing someone else's. Viewers leave impacted from the emotional presentation they just experienced. To know that there are artists in the world that use their voices and celebrity-status to do more than just make money or attract the wrong kind of attention is refreshing. Beyoncé clearly advocates the importance of using her gift for a bigger purpose.
The video concludes with the burning question, "What will you do?", leaving the audience enlightened, and hopefully inspired. This whole production offers people from all countries the chance to do something with their lives, and be remembered for changing someone else's. Viewers leave impacted from the emotional presentation they just experienced. To know that there are artists in the world that use their voices and celebrity-status to do more than just make money or attract the wrong kind of attention is refreshing. Beyoncé clearly advocates the importance of using her gift for a bigger purpose.
Julia, this music video was awesome! I watched it three times! I agree with you when you say "The powerful combination of the song and video clips inform and captivate the crowd, drawing all attention to the presentation before their eyes. By this point, the crowd's vulnerability makes them easy to influence."
ReplyDeleteThanks Julia for finding this video. I have several comments.
ReplyDeleteFirst, was this actually filmed at the United Nations, or was the set digitally created?
Second, I need to respond to Caitlin's comment. I was actually going to extract the same quote that Caitlin did, but for a different reason. One of the rules of rhetorical analysis is to be careful NOT to assume how the audience reacts. You do this in this quote. Because the producers offer images of the crowd's reaction, you can safely write that the presentation "captivate[s] the crowd." The audience legitimately appears "captivate[d]." However, if you did not have this visual, you would not be able to write this. Many students, when writing rhetorical analyses, mistakenly write these types of remarks without really knowing how the audience reacted. For example, you write in your next sentence about "the crowd's vulnerability." How do you know that the crowd felt vulnerable? This is a good example of you assuming a reaction. You can't do this. The only thing you can to do is determine the "speaker's" purpose using textual evidence. Similarly, you later write, "drilling the message deep into the minds of the audience." Do you know that this is what she did? You also write, "leaving the audience enlightened." You cannot assume this. Please be careful of this.
Third, this post got stronger as I read further into it. The beginning is weak because you use a host of vacuous adjectives to try to win-over your reader. You force it. In your first two paragraphs, you use the adjectives "inspiring" (twice), "touching," "phenomenal," "strong" and "powerful." What do these words mean? Because they are very subjective adjectives, that denote no concrete meaning, they are not the best to use.
Finally, your second to last paragraph is your strongest. You present a rhetorical strategy - the different types of images - and you link this to Beyonce's purpose, to emphasize "that no act of kindness is too big or too small." This is good. You link purpose with strategy.