As many of you know, this week's viral video has been a music called "Friday" by Rebecca Black. No one knows who she is, where she came from, or why she decided to sing a disastrously horrible song and star in an equally horrible music video. If you haven't been blessed yet with the opportunity to watch this delightful video, here it is below:
If your reaction was anything like mine, you'll probably have laughed and stared at the video in awe of just how ridiculously stupid a main stream pop culture music video could be. In regards to this video, I think it would be more appropriate to discuss how this video came to be an epic rhetorical failure. Everything from the song's lyrics to the music video's cast with what seems like to be an average age of 12 just leads this video to be a rhetorical error.
The song's lyrics are incredibly... not complex. It boggles my mind to think that such a song has been written...
Seven a.m., waking up in the morning
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal
Seein' everything, the time is goin'
Tickin' on and on, everybody's rushin'
Gotta get down to the bus stop
Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (My friends)
Kickin' in the front seat
Sittin' in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?
It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin' forward to the weekend
7:45, we're drivin' on the highway
Cruisin' so fast, I want time to fly
Fun, fun, think about fun
You know what it is
I got this, you got this
My friend is by my right, ay
I got this, you got this
Now you know it
Kickin' in the front seat
Sittin' in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?
Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin')
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today
Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after ... wards
I don't want this weekend to end
[Start Some Random Rapper]
R-B, Rebecca Black
So chillin' in the front seat (In the front seat)
In the back seat (In the back seat)
I'm drivin', cruisin' (Yeah, yeah)
Fast lanes, switchin' lanes
Wit' a car up on my side (Woo!)
(C'mon) Passin' by is a school bus in front of me
Makes tick tock, tick tock, wanna scream
Check my time, it's Friday, it's a weekend
We gonna have fun, c'mon, c'mon, y'all
[End Some Random Rapper]
It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin' forward to the weekend
Rhetorically, these lyrics have no sense of wit, allure, charisma, or even humor. The closest attempt at humor would probably be the reaction of the listeners to the ridiculousness of the song. The song's verses are about her daily life, in which she runs to catch the bus, but then sees her friends and ponders "which seat can she take?" The chorus praises the fact that it's Friday. Then the bridge of the song proceeds to educate you on the days of the week, just in case you forgot what days come after Friday. The lyrics come close to the senseless nonsense I used to write as a freelance songwriter, when I was 7.
The actual melody is also a point of concern, as the song sounds like the result of when Justin Bieber meets Kids Bop. Sure it's catchy, but it has the stereotypical auto-tuned pop music feel that makes us cringe.
And finally the visual aspect of this rhetorically ungraceful video. Rebecca Black is currently 13. Her fellow "friends" in the video look like they're all 13 and under. This poses a problem when they're "kickin' in the front seat" and "sittin' in the backseat." And as she's walking past the cars and groups of twelve year olds getting ready to "party" it up, one pops into my head: what was going on in the head of the producers of this video?
And after an analysis of the rhetorical failures of this music video, one can't help but wonder if all of these mistakes were intentional. I mean, the girl has over 16 million views. Such an epic failure could have been an attempt to receive 15 minutes of fame. Rhetorical failures often attract audiences as we could all use another reason to laugh!
BUT! As I was looking for the lyrics to post on this blog, I came upon an article... http://www.popeater.com/2011/03/18/friday-singer-rebecca-black-speaks-out/ Yes, folks. She's dead serious and hoping to get a duet with Justin Bieber.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
What the Flush?
This week's feature is a video done by WongFu Productions. A team of three Asian Americans out on a mission to bring more laughter into the world, WongFu Productions makes videos that often parody situations or poke fun at common stereotypes in a friendly manner. And by friendly, I mean kid-friendly too. The thing I like about WongFu is that their humor is very clean and simple. It's often very cheesy, but it still manages to produce a chuckle out of me and a good other 566,481 subscribers.
I decided to discuss this video, because rhetorically, it's a rather interesting subject. From the medium to the content, this video speaks louder than one would initially assume.
The video itself is very corny. Phil, Ted, and Wes are at their jokes again, and Wes amuses you with his witty phrase "When it's yellow, let it mellow. When it's brown, flush it down." The humor goes further as Ted and Wes try to decide whether Ted's "little present" is yellow or brown. Your reaction is probably that of amusement mixed in with mild disgust. But no worries--they put in the disclaimer that they don't actually put Wes's phrase into practice.
This video, while very funny, is actually intended to be a form of a public service announcement. WongFu Productions takes an active approach to General Electric's "Ecomagination" campaign and creates a video to promote water conservation. The rhetorical technique that WongFu uses in this video is to take an idea (water conservation) and exaggerate it to an extreme. No one in their right mind would think to conserve water by not flushing. However, by humorously exaggerating the idea, WongFu succeeds in conveying a powerful message to the viewer. They make the statement that conserving water is so important that desperate times could call for desperate measures, such as not flushing.
I love youtube videos! Every week as I observe the rhetoric involved in the videos of my favorite youtubers, it excites me to see how youtube has the potential to positively impact our world!
**Hopefully this video doesn't persuade anyone to leave their bodily excretions unflushed.
I decided to discuss this video, because rhetorically, it's a rather interesting subject. From the medium to the content, this video speaks louder than one would initially assume.
The video itself is very corny. Phil, Ted, and Wes are at their jokes again, and Wes amuses you with his witty phrase "When it's yellow, let it mellow. When it's brown, flush it down." The humor goes further as Ted and Wes try to decide whether Ted's "little present" is yellow or brown. Your reaction is probably that of amusement mixed in with mild disgust. But no worries--they put in the disclaimer that they don't actually put Wes's phrase into practice.
This video, while very funny, is actually intended to be a form of a public service announcement. WongFu Productions takes an active approach to General Electric's "Ecomagination" campaign and creates a video to promote water conservation. The rhetorical technique that WongFu uses in this video is to take an idea (water conservation) and exaggerate it to an extreme. No one in their right mind would think to conserve water by not flushing. However, by humorously exaggerating the idea, WongFu succeeds in conveying a powerful message to the viewer. They make the statement that conserving water is so important that desperate times could call for desperate measures, such as not flushing.
I love youtube videos! Every week as I observe the rhetoric involved in the videos of my favorite youtubers, it excites me to see how youtube has the potential to positively impact our world!
**Hopefully this video doesn't persuade anyone to leave their bodily excretions unflushed.
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