For my initial thought on my final IO, I decided to choose my text accordingly to focus on the global issue of power imbalance amongst people living in society. I want to investigate through the IO how can the gap in power or wealth lead to the gap in the social status of people, as well as how this gap might lead to the privileged ones exploiting their power or wealth thoughtlessly and be blind towards the life and struggles of those with less power. From this aspect, I also want to link this to the issue of discrimination of the powerful over the powerless.
Literary text: Like a rolling stone by Bob Dylan
In the song by Bob Dylan, a story was told about the huge life change of a woman who used to live in bubbles due to her wealth and status but eventually had to live on the street and for the first time experienced the life of a normal person and live the life of a “rolling stone”, need to deal with the suffering in life.
The song reflects on the huge gap between the life of the privileged and the life of a common person by making a contrast between the past life and the current life of the protagonist with a bitter tone.
As for the micro-analysis, the text consists of many visual imageries as well as symbolism to talk about in the IO.
The song was written in the 1960s to reflect on the social issues in the US, however, the big issue behind the song can also apply to today’s society; it is possible to discuss that why is such the gap still a problem today.
Non-literary text: People live here by Rise Against
The music video of “People live here” is produced by Rise Against more recently compared to Bob Dylan’s songs, however, it refers to a similar issue of how people can be treated unequally and how the more fortunate ones in the society can see themselves highly despite the fact that all people are of the same kind and deserves to be treated equally and seen just as much human as another. The music video draws a parallel between the life of two very different people–of different races, different social backgrounds, and different incomes.
The music as well as the video is created in an emotional way to make audiences emphasize with the characters in the story and recognize how their life, although one is more of an elite style and another one is more dull, their lives are both of their own meaning and have the same worth.
In order to show this, the music video put many clips together and keep showing the parallel lives of two people down the same timeline. The color, slow motion, lighting, the camera angle as well as the frames are all very purposefully chosen. For the microanalysis, it is possible to focus on those visual elements to expand and explore the effects of them.
