TOW #28 - Jamie Vardy: From Nowhere (IRB 4.1)

Well, Jamie Vardy’s biography, Jamie Vardy: From Nowhere, has been quite underwhelming in terms of artfulness and rhetorical development. I’ve found that I’ve read this book more “for pleasure” than any of my other IRBs. This may have to do with the fact that I am more interested in the subject, or maybe because it’s because there is a lack of rhetorical substance. Regardless, the story so far has been quite interesting. Up to the point I’ve read, Jamie Vardy has described his life before winning the Premier League. Vardy grew up poor and underprivileged, spending much of his adolescence working in a carbon-fiber factory on low pay. However, he signed with an amateur soccer team for an extremely low wage and progressed his soccer career from there. He soon signed for Leicester City FC and after his first season, earned himself a steady role in the starting XI. Throughout the whole piece, Jamie Vardy uses personal anecdotes to narrate his life story.

Vardy uses personal anecdotes as the primary vehicle in escalating his piece. In fact, it would be totally impossible for him to make his points and tell his story without sharing personal anecdotes – hence the term “biography.” For example, Vardy narrates his transition from childhood to adolescence, from the factory to the football pitch. Without fully described personal anecdotes, the reader would have to infer quite a bit about Jamie Vardy’s development.

However, once again, Vardy does not use much rhetorical strategy in his piece. This may be due to the fact that the book was written in little time, as Vardy announced he would write a biography just a few months before he actually had it published. But while it has been a bit difficult to write a rhetorical analysis on his book, that does not mean that I have not thoroughly enjoyed reading about Vardy’s story told in his own words.

Tow #27 - Duckworth (Kendrick Lamar)

On April 14, 2017, Kendrick Lamar dropped yet another album, “DAMN.,” which made a huge impact in the music industry and brought his reputation to a whole new level. Throughout the album, Kendrick contemplates several themes, such as the battle between wickedness and weakness, and introduces new components to them throughout the whole album. A particularly powerful song to me was Duckworth, the last song in the album. However, it was not any extensive metaphors or intricate writing that was so enticing about it; the pure story behind the song was what made it so incredible. In his song, Duckworth, Kendrick Lamar uses personal anecdotes to reveal the extent of the consequences which our decisions can cause.

Kendrick uses personal anecdotes to give concrete evidence of how our decisions can create unexpected and unimagined consequences. As a child, Kendrick lived in a poor neighborhood. His father (referred to as “Ducky”) worked at a local KFC, where a particular juvenile delinquent – Anthony “Top Dawg” – would continually rob this KFC and threaten its workers. One day, the Anthony was prepared to kill Kendrick’s father, but for some reason decided not to. 20 years later, Kendrick Lamar creates music under Anthony’s record label – a remarkable conclusion to their relationship. In Duckworth, Kendrick asks the question, “Whoever thought the greatest rapper would be from coincidence / Because if Anthony killed Ducky / Top Dawg could be serving life / While I grew up without a father and died in a gunfight.” The song goes on to play the entire album in reverse, emphasizing that if Kendrick had died, “DAMN.” would never have been created, and neither would any of his other music. Kendrick’s anecdote demonstrates an extreme example of what our decisions can do. If Anthony had killed his father, Kendrick would have never become a rapper, as he would have gone down a different path given his lack of a father figure, and Anthony would never have formed his record label. Most importantly of all, Kendrick and Anthony would have never collaborated and been able to produce the masterpieces that they did and still do. While most listeners have never been faced with such drastic options like Anthony was, the song shows how much our split-second choices can alter the future. Even if a situation doesn’t seem significant at the time, it could be a defining moment later in life.

Ultimately, Kendrick Lamar is able to convey his message not only through words, but through a very interesting story told by his powerful rap. He takes a unique story and is able to apply it to his listeners’ lives. I recommend listening to the song (particularly the second half of it) because it completely changed my perspective.

TOW #26 - Thank You Scott (SNL)

As Henry David Thoreau preached, if there exist unjust laws or an issue on which we are strongly opinioned, we should civilly disobey and stand up for what we believe in. Saturday Night Live takes this idea and uses it to mock the majority of the Facebook community. The skit takes place on a normal man’s couch, where the man (Scott) is watching the news, where the news anchors are discussing issues like the Middle East, refugee crisis, and the Black Lives Matter movement. Scott, the main character, knows he has to do something about the issues, and so he shares a post on Facebook. The rest of the song celebrates the wonderful things Scott did for the world. The singers praise him, saying “You ended racism” and that he did more than Martin Luther King. In the skit, the writers use blatant sarcasm to demonstrate the fact that sharing a post on social media does not help global issues.

The writers of the skit use blatant sarcasm in order to highlight the ridiculousness in people thinking that they are contributing to solutions by pressing a couple buttons on their phones. In the skit, Scott changes his Twitter bio to “BLACK LIVES MATTER” and then magical effects shoot around the room like Scott had just changed the world. The use of the vibrant scenery all to describe a man on his phone on the couch quite clearly is a sarcastic criticism towards people who do what Scott did. It is clear that no one that actively sought change would be content by just sharing a post on Facebook, yet the characters in the skit celebrate Scott’s posts as if they changed the world.

The writers of the skit produced a masterpiece, in my opinion. Not only was it a hilarious song but it conveyed a message that applies to most viewers of Saturday Night Live. Whether we see these Facebook posts or share them ourselves, we now know how insignificant our “contributions” really are.

Original Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDydKwmrHFo