3/28 No Church in the Wild

On Tuesday Marshall argued that Bailey may be over-analyzing Kanye West's  "No Church in the Wild" in his article "When Apollo and Dionysus Clash." He argued that the symbolism may not run as deep as Bailey claims, and that the article is making to much of the video. He summed up his general argument against this type of criticism  by saying, "sometimes blue is just blue."

Several of you audibly agreed with this sentiment, and I am betting that more of you agreed silently.

I agree that in the real world--the everyday drudgery of life--blue is often just blue. As Freud is often misattributed as saying, "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

But Bailey is not discussing the real world; he is discussing a high-production music video created by a host of creative professionals including musicians, directors, costume designers, etc. Moreover, he is discussing a music video that is highly stylized, cryptic, and affective. Of course it "looks cool;" being cool is important. Still, I think that there is more going on here. Everything we see, hear, and feel was done with purpose to create a specific art object that says something about the world.

As an aside keep in mind that when I grade your blog posts I assume everything you write was done intentionally and with purpose. How might you feel if I didn't?

Of course, we cannot chalk everything up to intention--how many times have you written something in your blogs that me or a classmate misinterpreted? Your intention did not matter as much as what was actually written on the page. If we can't just judge by intention, we need to look at the art object, itself to try and make sense of it. We are not asking "what does it mean?" or 'What is it trying to say?" Those are insulting question, as if the art object is incapable of meaning or saying without our analysis. Instead, we are asking what we can learn about the world and the artists' perceptions of it from examining what they made. The tools we have for making sense of these things are philosophy, history, cultural context, genre, author biography, and our own abilities to reason and feel. Bailey uses all of these in his attempt to understand "No Church in the Wild."

Let's watch the video and consider if we think this art object says something about the world or Kanye West's perception of it. Let's consider if it is worth our time to analyze the stylized and cryptic images and lyrics to learn something new. Let's consider if reading Bailey's analysis, whether we agree with it or not, helps us to engage the work. Let's ask ourselves what we can learn from engaging with a serious work of art seriously.Watch the video and respond to the prompt. You don't have to answer all the questions, I just want to know what you are thinking about these issues broadly. Be honest, there is no fun or learning to be had from inauthentic engagement.

3/23 conduct an ideological/philosophical critique

Consider what ideologies, philosophies, or critiques are happening in this track and use this awareness to write a critique of the song. Again, your object of analysis is the song your method is a close reading of the song that is informed by considerations of philosophy, ideology, and counter-ideology.

3/22 Philosophy

In class Tuesday, I asked you to listen to at least seven philosophical definitions and write three down. Take one of the definitions you wrote down, write it here and then explicate the definition, demonstrating how it might function in music and music criticism.

If you did not do this, then just provide a definition of philosophy that synthesizes your personal understanding with the thoughts expressed in the podcast. Then, explain how philosophy functions in music and music criticism.

The Weekend Featuring Daft Punk

What ideology do we see espoused in this music video? What specific values are expressed? Is this an instance of active or passive ideology?

3/23 Active and Passive Ideology

Define ideology and then explain the difference between active and passive ideology.

Peer Review 3/21

Peer Review Groups:

1. Emily Anderson 
2. Katherine Zeller
3. Shatia Hunter

1. Mary Ashley Boykin
2. Marshall Withington
3. Connor Hutt

1. Bisha Wanzala
2. Frank Tkach
3. Mikayla McCord

1.  Noah Dively
2. Haley Strunk
3. Jacob McLeland

1. Taylor Dively
2. Claire Spence
3. Alex Pressley

1. Samar Ghai
2. Zachary Speaks
3. Chloe Rafferty

1. Benjamin Giddens
2. Gabriella Ruff
3. Rice Lelia

1. John Hall
2. John Rinehart

Some Questions to Consider as you Talk:

1. Is the work interesting?
1. Is it on brand?
2. Is there something unique about how it is discussed?
3. is there good research?
2. Is the work accurate?
1. Is there evidence for claims?
2. Is the evidence persuasive?
3. How does the author make herself believable? 
3.  Is the work useful?
1. Does the author have a clear purpose?
2. Is the author responding appropriately to a clear exigence?
3. Is their a clear, interesting, and purposeful rhetorical organization?

3/16 Exigence, Purpose, Organization

For the article you have been assigned, answer the following questions:

1. What is article's exigence? (If stated, quote it and list the page number; if implied, write what you think it is and provide a page/paragraph number for the passage that informs your answer.)
2. What is the article's purpose? (If stated, quote it and list the page number; if implied, write what you think it is and provide a page/paragraph number for the passage that informs your answer.)
   
3.  How is the article organized? (Please provide an outline.)
4. Do the exigence, purpose, and organization work together or fight against on another? Explain your answer thoroughly in three to five sentences.

3/14 Organization

All writing is organized--either consciously or haphazardly. An organization should have a specific rhetorical effect on the audience, one that helps them to understand the author's purpose while also acknowledging a variety of different viewpoints. How did you organize Blog Post Four "Genre History." How will you organize Blog Post Five "Cultural Criticism"?

3/14 Purpose

All writing that is worth anything needs to have a purpose--something that it demonstrates, proves, explicates, informs, etc. When dealing with audiences who are not captive (i.e. do not need to read what you have written), it is not enough to have a purpose; you must demonstrate to them early on what insight, knowledge, perspective, etc. they will gain from reading your work. If not, why would they bother to read it? What was your purpose for writing Blog Post 4 "Genre History," how did you state this purpose to your readers, and why should the audience you are cultivating care? What will be your purpose in Blog Post 5 "Cultural Criticism," how will you state this purpose to your readers, and why should the audience you are cultivating care. 

3/14 Exigence

If you are, as we have previously discussed at some length, cultivating an audience through your brand, then you need to provide each post with an exigence that they care about enough to read a fitting response to it. What exigence did you provide for your audience in Blog Post Four "Genre Analysis" and what exigence will you provide for them in Blog Post Five "Cultural Criticism"?

Looking for Interview Subjects

Several of you wanted to interview other students in the class for your upcoming worksheet. This is an okay method, and one that has particular affordances (your interviewee knows the project and context, you don't have to reach out to strangers, and the person has an investment in you doing well.) If you want to try to find others in the class to interview, ask below. If you are willing to be interviewed and match someone's criteria, go ahead and respond to their comment.

Music, Culture, and Recursivity.

Using the definition provided by the Texas A&M site, give me your own 2-3 sentence definition of culture that is a thorough as possible.