Packed tightly into thirty-six short lines is a depiction of America today as viewed by Conor Oberst, front man for the Desaparecidos. "The Happiest Place on Earth" covers their opinions on patriotism, drugs, greed, pollution, military, technology, and the establishment in general. The overall feeling of the song is rebellion towards the industry, but there is also a sense of hope and a longing for social change.
Conor Oberst, the writer of the song, started the music life when he was fourteen years old in a band called Commander Venus. Soon after that, he began a record label called Saddle Creek and is the star in the popular indie band, Bright Eyes. Commander Venus and Bright Eyes both display heart-wrenching lyrics which tell stories of lost loves and emotional turmoil; but the singer's side project, the Desaparecidos, leaves all personal anguish aside to focus on a more powerful subject which everyone can relate to: societal rebellion.
The song, "The Happiest Place on Earth," is aimed toward a young audience, probably between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. Oberst applies one of Aristotle's Artistic Proofs to persuade his audience to feel the same way he does. He uses a method called "pathos," which plays on the listeners' emotions, in order to get their attention, connect with them, and ultimately make them agree with him.
One of the cleverest aspects of this song is the way it is laced with allusions to American icons established since childhood. America is initially compared to Disney in the title as the "The Happiest Place on Earth," and again near the end of the song Oberst combines his own words with lyrics from "America, the Beautiful," written by Irving Berlin.
"O' beautiful
For spacious skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain, majesty
Above the fruited plains
America, America
God shed his grace on thee
And crowned thy good
With brotherhood
From sea to shining sea"
Oberst's interpretation is as follows: "These amber waves, purple majesty are nothing but backdrops for Disney." The contrast between the classic, cheerful melody which describes the country's beauty and elegance with Oberst's warped versions of the familiar tune makes his listeners reconsider the pre-established traditional notion of patriotism in such a way as to question whether or not America is, in fact, as beautiful as illustrated in that timeless song. Oberst also puts his own twist on the traditional American spiritual, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” Thus, implying happiness can be determined by ones mindset. However, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World creates a vision of a utopian society that achieves happiness by altering the mindset of its populace to believe they are happy. In a society depicting such a strange ideology of the future, people are no longer as happy as they make their minds up to be, but as happy as the government allows them to be. Canadians are repugnant to Huxley’s world despite the many similar issues between Canada and the New World State. The excessive use of chemicals, obsession with consumerism and illusion of happiness prove that the Canadian society is becoming increasingly similar to the Brave New World.
One can conclude that the flag waving, fist-pumping pride of the chorus completely betrayed the true essence of the song. The stark reality of the final words "Nowhere to run aint got nowhere to go," is not an affirmation of patriotism, but rather a voice echoed in despair and disillusionment. If interpreted as Springsteen intended, the words "born in the U.S.A." should not be considered a statement of pride, but rather a betrayal of the American dream, illustrating a country that failed and isolated many and robbed them of hope.
The time periods of America have made an effect on us today. Ronald Reagan announced his speech, “Miller Center,” to many young russian men and women. Neil Diamond said in “Coming to America” that we are the “eye of the storm” for the refugees that came here in 1991. In Brooks and Dunn’s “Only in America,” it was referring to the tragedy of 9/11 and all the people who had lost their lives. While Brooks and Dunn were expressing their emotion in 2001, Dierks Bentley contributed his thoughts in “Home” on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. All of their views have a background story behind them.
In the enchanting poem “next to of course god america i,” E.E. Cummings strings together a masterpiece of patriotic songs that appears to praise the eminent country of America but instead simply shields the underlying network of masterful irony and almost ridicule of US’s people. It is believed that E.E. Cummings wasn’t trying to bombast his country’s winsomeness, but trying to satire the truth of it’s blind patriotism.
Political issues such as the war on terrorism is evoked as an issue throughout the song. American was divided “All across the alien nation” when troops were sent to Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction. Metaphorical language was used to explore the issue. Audience positioning from techniques indorse concerns with a country divided and positions them to feel the need to cooperate and sort things out other than civil unrest and debate.
America is known for its diverse cultures. Many see America as a place of freedom and safety, while others claim that it is unfulfilling of the diversity it claims to have. The phrase “Americans” is consisted of a mix of both diverse culture and people. The difference between these Americans is their view of the nation. For instance, the poem, “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes and “God Bless the U.S.A” by Lee Greenwood, both portray a hope for a better America. Hughes’s poem is seen through a civilian’s eyes, while Greenwood’s song is from a soldiers point of view. Although both poems have similarities, they portray the expectations of America differently such as the ideals and values through the use of tone and diction.
The first paragraph of the song “America the Beautiful” is used to show that people in America are connected even though they may come from many different backgrounds. The first part of the song itself has important meaning to the people that live in America because it is something that most Americans learn at an early age in elementary school. Everyone is able to bond over the song because they all know the words to at least one portion of the song. To have such a special song sung in seven different languages shows that America truly is, a “melting pot”, which is a united but mixed and diverse country. The lyrics and harmony says that Americans can work together regardless of the differences that exist. The part of the song “America the Beautiful” that was used in advertisement has a deeper meaning behind it:
In the book, The How of Happiness, author and researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky sets her book apart from other self-awareness books by being the first to utilize empirical studies. She uses data gained through scientific method to provide support for her hypothesis. This hypothesis consists mainly of the idea that we have the ability to overcome genetic predisposition and circumstantial barriers to happiness by how we think and what we do. She emphasizes that being happier benefits ourselves, our family and our community. “The How of Happiness is science, and the happiness-increasing strategies that [she] and other social psychologists have developed are its key supporting players” (3).
The word happiness comes from the word happy, which means to feel or show pleasure or contentment. In the novel, “The Joy Luck Club”, two daughters of the mothers in Joy Luck Club begin to compete with each other. Waverly Jong, is a child chess prodigy. June Woo, struggles to master the piano. The rivalry reflects values of success and worth depicted in the novel, “The Joy Luck Club”. In this novel, happiness does not truly come from the word happy.
Woody Guthrie inspired millions of people. He did this with his most popular song still to this day, “This Land is Your Land”. He had hundreds of his songs that he would sing. To us Americans, his song is like an anthem of our country. In 1940, Guthrie came out with the song and traveled across the nation with it. The songs purpose is to express that USA is for everyone and not just the people who can afford it. The quotes that he declared and his songs and very similar, yet so different.
“I hate a song that makes you think that you're not any good. I hate a song that makes you think you are just born to lose. Bound to lose, No good to nobody, No good for nothing. Because you're too old or too young or too fat or too slim,Too ugly or too this or that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you that on account of your bad luck or hard traveling. I’m out to fight those songs to my very last breathe of air and my very last drop of blood.” This quote is a lot similar to “This Land Is Your Land” the both of these inspirational words say that they will never give up they will never stop trying to make the world a better place, never stop helping people, no one will ever stop
How can a country like Denmark be the happiest country on earth? Happiness is being content with what you have, being able to provide one’s basic needs while helping others. Denmark and the United States are very different but have a few commonalities. There are differences as well as some similarities with respect to their education system, their culture, politics and their lifestyles. Danes are considered to be very happy because of their low expectations and their simple lifestyle. They seem to be content with whatever they have and having low expectations makes them rarely disappointed. It can be said their free-living happy go lucky attitude gives precedents to being the happiest country on earth.
The Great Depression, which occurred during the 1920s and 1930s, was a time period of extreme economic crisis affecting all American citizens in some sort of way. During the Great Depression, Americans questioned their future, the government’s role in containing the economic turmoil, and the president at the time Herbert Hoover. Woody Guthrie’s song “This Land Was Made for You and Me” expresses some of the feelings many Americans experienced during this time period.
The author’s use of diction create an uplifting patriotic tone in in the poem “America the beautiful.” Bates begins each stanza with the same three words, “o beautiful for…” focusing not on America’s flaws but all the beauty in our country. For instance at the start of stanza four, she writes, “o beautiful for heroes / proved in liberating strife who more than self her country loved / and mercy more than life.
OPTION 1-ETHICS-MONEY AND HAPPINESS 2 Option 1-Money and Happiness What is happiness and how is it achieved? This question has been debated in the past and will continue to be the focus of discussions far into the future. In particular, the significance of money in achieving happiness has been of particular interest. One foundation of our wealth is our employment earnings. A 2011 study by a collaboration of five major universities revealed that there exists a complex relationship between our level of happiness and our pay (Wyld, 2011).