Task 8 theory analysis logic 1800
- 1. Task 8 Theory analysis in the song ‘1-800’ by Logic
- 2. Propp and Todorov There is a very clear narrative in the music video which links heavily to the lyrics sung. The equilibrium is when the black man is growing up, he is seen to be doing normal activities young children do, such as play in the playground and do sports like running. Furthermore, the disruption stage is again, very clear. The disruption becomes evident when the father of the black man finds his homosexual magazines. The father seems to be upset that his son is gay and the boy seems t be scared and embarrassed, almost as he’s let his family down. The boy then leaves home after recognising his dad is upset and isn't welcome at the house anymore. The coloured boy then goes to his presumable boyfriends house and all is well until the white boy’s dad finds the two men in bed together. This then leads to another disruption as this gets leaked around the school and bullying, leading to what looks like depression as he is seen to be lonely, vulnerable and scared. This in turn leads to an attempt to repair the damage. In the video it is simultaneously seen that the dad sees the black mans running coach to speak about the boy, in order to get to know the situation better to repair their relationship together. At the same time, it is seen that the black man gets a gun and starts crying. The gun is then pointed at him in the mirror, suggesting he is weak and ready to commit suicide, this is followed by more shots of him playing with the gun and in the end, putting it to his own head. Then, we see the two homosexual men getting married, this shows the new equilibrium. It shows a fresh slate and that the 2 family's have gotten to grips that their sons love each other. The narrative reinforces the 5 stages of Todorovs’ theory very clearly and it is obvious what the narrative is. The narrative links heavily with the lyrics and has a very meaningful and serious message. Equilibrium: Start; growing up, getting into school. Disruption: Father finds out his son is gay, gets upset. Recognition: Runs away to (Boy)friends house / doesn't return home Disruption: Other boy’s dad finds out and gets around school, leads to bullying. Repair: Thinking about suicide, Dad finds more out/tries getting back together with son New Equilibrium: Two homosexual men get married and acceppted
- 3. In Logic’s hit, the hero is the young, black man. The ‘hero’ of videos usually seek something from someone or something, this case being love. Another character type from Propp’s theory is the villain. The villain being the two parents as they seek to block the young men’s requests of being together. The donor of the video is probably the young, white man. He gives the black man the attraction to love him. The other character types are hard to find in music viseos as the narrative can only be short and clear, in order for the audience to get the message. Propp and Todorov Propp’s theory links the narrative to character types and what they significantly do to affect the story. Character types in music videos can be less obvious as the singer and producer have a shorter aount of time to fill as opposed to a film. This means that some genres of music lack clear narrative and don’t even have character types.
- 4. StraussThe video represents a lot of binary opposites throughout the video. The obvious ones being heterosexual against homosexual, black against white and old against young. The clear binary opposite is to do with sexual orientation. The heterosexual people in the video; the parents and people at school react very differently to the homosexual people. Firstly, the straight people are disgusted by the fact their sons are gay. This results to one of the gay men to run away because he feels stressed and probably scared that his Dad found out. In the video, the heterosexual parents and school students have power over the homosexual man, just because he is gay. Another binary opposite is black against white. The black homosexual is treated worse than the white homosexual. However, i think Logic wanted to get across the point that black, homosexuals get it far worse then white ones in America. Furthermore, in the video, the white family don’t really react to the finding of their son being gay although their is a shot which shows disbelief on the dad’s face. The black man’s dad, however, questions his son and shouts at him. This leads the black homosexual running away. Also, the black man gets bullied and has homosexual sex toys put in his locker to wind him up and put him down. The old against young binary opposite is quite vague but shows how older people tolerate homosexuality compared to younger people. The older generation are a lot more supportive, shown in the marriage scene, than younger people who try and get others down.
- 5. Uses and gratification Theory(UGT) UGT is all about how the viewer/audience interpret the media and what they d with it. This song is heavily advertised on the likes of Youtube for it’s message and lyrics. Many fans of Logic are based in his birth country America and with the title of the song being the US suicide hotline, his American fans will straight away know that it is a serious song. People probably watch the video and listen to the song in order to share the message, instead of listening to it because of it’s catchy chorus and hook. This song is perfect for people suffering from mental health issues as the lyrics are sung from the viewers perspective with personal pronouns such as ‘I’ being used a lot. This makes the song feel more relatable to said viewer and allows them to reflect on the message and hopefully get help. A huge amount of people listen to the song and watch the video on Youtube. Logic has used his platform to allow more coverage to be put onto more serious issues instead of normal rap artists who sing about woman and money.