The Rhetoric of Reggae in Artful Cinema for the World
Perry Henzel's The Harder They Come is credited with a significant and unique role in introducing American audiences to reggae. Whereas earlier cinematic crossmarketed films like A Hard Days Night or Help! were adjunct to and dependent on a group's previous commercial musical success, Henzel's film was for many an introduction to reggae and both precursor and impetus for its international impact and commercial popularity. The film's status as a cult classic and phenomenon, to the extent a phenomenon can be explained, perhaps rests on its lack of commercial pretentions or promotional glitz, and thus its authenticity. The rhetoric of this film -- its images, words, and music in complementary array -- is rhetoric in the best sense because it uses the power of language to reveal, not to disguise, the unconscionable constraints on the lives of poor Jamaicans. Principally it's a film by a Jamaican artist about some musically and culturally significant events happening in Jamaica at the time, and though it is formulaic as films tend to be, it also encompasses all of the majors themes and conflicts that define and swirl around reggae music: spirituality, sensuality, commercialism, social justice, the messiah, and even Armageddon, though its tenor is decidedly secular
The genius of the film is that it synthesizes a multitude of cultural and musical elements and still manages to function rhetorically on separate but parallel levels of communication. The fundamental message for Jamaican audiences was to document, authenticate, and value the Jamaican reality. As Henzel notes in his running commentary, a special feature of the DVD, Jamaicans cheered the film's opening scenes wildly, simply because they recognized themselves and their world in a powerful global medium that had paid them no mind until then. "There is no thrill in moviedom like people seeing themselves on the screen for the first time." The experience and the legacy of colonialism accustoms people who suffer it to literature and film that depicts the lives and perspectives of the colonizers, not the colonized. As Jamaica Kincaid explains in a memoir of a Carribean childhood, all of her reading was from books set in England. Her land and its people were not worthy of literary attention. While finally getting such cinematic attention is a joyful, liberating, and affirming interaction for the Jamaican audience, it has an ironic dimension too in that the downpressed are joyous because at last they see themselves if not through the downpressor's lens, at least on his screen.
The essay, “Diversity: The Value of Discomfort” is an argument written by Ronald L Leibowitz in which he addresses a group of graduates about the value of diversity in college. To me, diversity means the unique backgrounds which influence people’s thoughts, ideas, and opinions. Each of the factors in an individual’s background makes them unique, and creates an important facet of our communities. However, we need to recognize and understand diversity, and simply “celebrating” it is not enough—we must embrace it in our colleges, workplaces, neighborhoods, and larger societies.
Although there is a variety of music that could be examined to trace its evolution through time, there is one genre in particular that is quite interesting to examine. Though it differs from other types of music, it will be looked at in conjunction with Reggae music as they have similar ties. Reggae music is quite prominent today in the United States, parts of Africa, and of course Jamaica. Reggae is notoriously known for its most influential artist Bob Marley, and it is not unusual for one to have heard a few, if not many of his songs. Reggae’s popularity is steadily increasing and is doing so through both expansions of the music as well as increasing knowledge on the genre.
Reggae The Story Of Jamaican Music BBC Documentary. vols., 2012. Online. Internet. 22 Mar. 2014. . Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv1Iy26qlLk&feature=youtube_gdata_player.
Jamaica Kincaid’s success as a writer was not easily attained as she endured struggles of having to often sleep on the floor of her apartment because she could not afford to buy a bed. She described herself as being a struggling writer, who did not know how to write, but sheer determination and a fortunate encounter with the editor of The New Yorker, William Shawn who set the epitome for her writing success. Ms. Kincaid was a West-Indian American writer who was the first writer and the first individual from her island of Antigua to achieve this goal. Her genre of work includes novelists, essayist, and a gardener. Her writing style has been described as having dreamlike repetition, emotional truth and autobiographical underpinnings (Tahree, 2013). Oftentimes her work have been criticized for its anger and simplicity and praised for its keen observation of character, wit and lyrical quality. But according to Ms. Kincaid her writing, which are mostly autobiographical, was an act of saving her life by being able to express herself in words. She used her life experiences and placed them on paper as a way to make sense of her past. Her experience of growing up in a strict single-parent West-Indian home was the motivation for many of her writings. The knowledge we garnered at an early age influenced the choice we make throughout our life and this is no more evident than in the writings of Jamaica Kincaid.
This article presents the deceptions of online dating through the users profiles through self-presentation, emotions and trustworthiness.
An examination of American counterculture as it exists today would make for an excruciatingly boring 15 pages. I refuse to drag you along in a discussion of my generation, devoid of originality or conviction, in an age where the so-called subcultural movement, if one even exists, is defined by apathy. While institutionalized American greed, exploitation, entitlement, and deception propagates at an alarming rate we find ourselves enveloped in our own narcissism. It is much easier to update our Facebook statuses than to face that the human race is driving itself into extinction as we defecate into our resources and onto our neighbors. In a world full of distractions and convenience there is simply no room for a rhetorical movement; maintaining opulence takes priority over basic human decency and few care to realize that we are pawns in operations all leading to our ultimate demise. If we had half the conviction of our predecessors, perhaps I could speak proudly of my generation; instead I am left to admire the rhetorical movements of yore.
When diversity is being discussed, there are a plethora of ideas that are associated with it. Whether people are talking being put on a waitlist for college, about people of color, or about representation in the media, the subject of diversity is not rare. Recently, the conversation of diversity has become more common because colleges want to demonstrate that they have diversified campus. How would diversity on campus be defined? Most importantly, diversity is more than having an extraordinary personality. Race, gender, sexuality, and social status are a few of the superfluous traits that make an individual unique in a college’s eyes. In Sophia Kerby’s article, “10 Reasons Why We Need Diversity on College Campuses”, she notes that, while there has already been an effort to diversify high schools and middle schools, accepting students of different backgrounds is not as apparent in higher education (1) . A university desires to diversify its campus in order to benefit the students that are attending the college. Students are not only likely to improve
Diversity in a university is so important. First of all “diversity enriches the educational experience”. Students are able to learn from one another’s experiences. Also diversity helps maturity through most students. With diversity, students are able to learn about the other people’s experiences and are able to break down the stereotypical “walls” that our country has built. While students are breaking down these stereotypical “walls”, students will be able to effectively communicate with others of various backgrounds. As students learn about each other’s hardships or success, they will be capable of reaching a state of mutual respect for one another(On the Importance). “The higher education community stands committed to furthering the goals of equal opportunity and diversity on college...
The impact of Mob Marley’s songs remains great examples of the way Rastafarian ideologies and beliefs have been capable of breaking down barriers that had at one time separated a society from a culturally established religion. His song “Smile Jamaica” was immensely moving because it was created for a concert to bring people together no matter the political party they represented. Jammin’ was also made for the same purpose but was more in depth about how political violence was causing division and tension amongst society. Bob Marley use proverbs and Jamaican folklore in his song “Rat Race” to describe political corruption. In addition his song, Get up, Stand up was made to empower people to make peace and stand up for their rights. All together Rasta’s have demonstrated a successful revolution by resisting the dominant ideas and beliefs.
Published in American Educational Research Journal, this paper gives insight into how racial diversity stretches beyond educational engagement and social composition. The significant difference made by diversity-related efforts, such as hybridized racial interactions and policies is fully explored. The findings of the study presented can be generalized to the argument of institutional racism as this piece presents rationale against it. The limitations of paper is the insufficient detail regarding educational context needed to illustrate the steps institutions can take to apply diversity.
Music is an art form and source of power. Many forms of music reflect culture and society, as well as, containing political content and social message. Music as social change has been highlighted throughout the 20th century. In the 1960s the United States saw political and socially oriented folk music discussing the Vietnam War and other social issues. In Jamaica during the 1970s and 1980s reggae developed out of the Ghetto’s of Trench town and expressed the social unrest of the poor and the need to over-through the oppressors. The 1980’s brought the newest development in social and political music, the emergence of hip-hop and rap. This urban musical art form that was developed in New York City has now taken over the mainstream, but originated as an empowering art form for urban youth and emerging working class.
...xtent will this essay bring about a change in Antigua? The Antiguan scene can only be modified by the government choosing to run the country in a more manner that will benefit everyone associated with Antigua, especially its natives. The native’s behaviours are related to their jealousy of tourists, and of the tourist’s ability to escape their own hometown to take a vacation. While a tourist can relate to the idea that the exhaustion felt after a vacation comes from dealing with the invisible animosity in the air between the natives and themselves, having this knowledge is almost as good as not having it, because there is nothing that the tourist, or the reader, can really DO about it! If Kincaid’s purpose is solely to make tourists aware of their actions, she has succeeded. If Kincaid’s purpose is to help Antigua, she may not have succeeded to the same magnitude.
Many listeners of reggae music classify it as island music. However, reggae music means a lot to the Jamaican community back home and abroad. Reggae music in particular has influenced the Jamaican expat community in the United States. Non-Jamaicans hear the tunes of Bob Marley and quickly relate the Jamaicans to people who say “No problem Mon” but as outsiders, we truly don’t understand the lyrics. The purpose of this paper is to examine how reggae music has affected the understanding of expat Jamaicans. Jamaicans that have migrated to the United States are sometimes categorized by non-Jamaicans as people who are Barbarians that practice hatred towards homosexuals. Because of hearing lyrics produced by certain dancehall artists such as Vybez Kartel and Buju Banton. However expat Jamaicans believe reggae music has glorified the Jamaican expat community through unification of culture, people, and language.
Firstly there is the presidential system. There are many characteristics to a presidential system. The first main part of a presidential system is how the executive is elected. The executive is a president who is elected to a fixed term. Also a president is not only head of state, but is head of government. The president is the sole executive of the government. Even though there is a cabinet in a presidential system it does not have the power it does in a parliamentary system. The cabinet is chosen by the president instead of chosen by the parliament. A president has to follow a constitution rather than following history. The president actually has a large part in the government’s decisions. A big advantage to political scientists of the presidential system is that there is a separation of powers. The legislative branch being separate from the executive branch lets one another keep checks and balances on each other. This assures that no one branch will take over or attempt to take over the government. Another advantage of a presidential system is that the population elects the chief executive and the legislative branch. By winning a popular vote shows that most of a country is backing the executive which does not seem to cause revolution. The president can not dissolve an assembly as one can in a parliamentary system. Also in a presidential system there is the judicial branch, which is the court system. The judicial branch is important because it helps uphold the constitution. One of the last advantages of a presidential system is that there is more stability because a president is elected to a fixed term, where as in a parliamentary system a prime minister can be ousted at any time. A presidential system is not perfect, but it has it’s high and low points.
Ray Allen, Lois Wilcken. "Island Sounds in the Global City: Caribbean Popular Music and Identity in New York." 1-6. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1988.