Green Day's "Holiday" as an Anti-War Protest Song

For the topic of Protest Music, I thought about a lot of the rock bands who have commented on politics and the world around us in their music. From Muse's Uprising, to the multitude of songs by bands like Rise Against, there was a lot to choose from when looking for a song to share.

The song Holiday by Australian band Green Day illustrates some very clear anti-war ideas as the lyrics twist from the viewpoints of the people, to soldiers, to religious leaders, and to politicians. It speaks to the general outrage towards global conflicts decided upon by leaders who send out soldiers to die for seemingly no cause. It speaks to the unrest felt by citizens who are also fighting amongst themselves about these issues and inevitably making the situation worse while their elected leaders continue making all the decisions while they are distracted with each other.

"Hear the sound of the falling rain,
Coming down like an Armageddon flame, (hey!)
A shame,
The ones who died without a name."

This first verse illustrates the general distaste for warmongering, and alludes that most people won't even know the names of those who died (on either side) fighting for a cause - most likely this song was a commentary on the American war on Terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Hear the drum pounding out of time,
Another protester has crossed the line, (hey!)
To find, the money's on the other side."

This verse speaks more about the citizens fighting with each other about the issues that face their society, it could mean between political parties, between social and economic classes, and different protest groups against the establishment. In the end they find that the money being funneled into the war effort has more effect on the situation than their voices - even if every voice combined and spoke out against it.

Green Day themselves have been outspokenly anti-war, and have been interviewed several times about the song and the album it's on. In fact, the album in its entirety can be a sequential story about their stance. Holiday  is on the album "American Idiot" and the album begins with that song. It quite literally speaks about those who wish to be informed or rebel from the establishment, or about those who think they are well-informed who are not. Jesus of Suburbia is the second song and talks about a young person who is in a terrible place in life, drugs and alcohol, poverty, and thinking that it's all normal. He eventually figures out for himself that this is not the way life should be, and that there are better things, so he leaves that area. Then, Holiday, would be the continuation of his story, where he is now out in the world and finding that it isn't just his home town that is messed up, it's the whole country, the whole world even. What a shame it all is.

Holiday segues directly into the song Boulevard of Broken Dreams, which is entirely melancholy and dark, the supposed protagonist feeling absolutely alone and hopeless. The album wraps-up with the songs Wake Me Up When September Ends and Homecoming, which also mention the characters of the Jesus of Suburbia and St. Jimmy who was the titular character of another of the album's songs.

Overall the song and the album paint a picture of frustration, but it must at least hope to be a reflection of how the majority of society feels. They can take solace in knowing that they are not the only souls to feel such things.

Fight the Power and Do the Right Thing

I chose this song not only for the message of it, and because Module 14 is for rap music, but also because of its connection to one of the best movies I've ever seen, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989). Released by Public Enemy, the song was single and was asked as a request for Spike Lee, who they've worked together on other projects before, as a musical theme for his film. 

The song acts similar to the protest songs of the NWA, in that it is meant to protest the inequality towards the African-American community at the time. The song was released the same year as the film, 1989. During that decade, racial tension had already begun to form, at which point, Public Enemy rose to fame. The group tackled political, media, and of course, race related issues with their music. Making them a perfect fit for Spike Lee's new movie. 

The song works as both a protest song and an empowering song. Lyrics like Lemme hear you say, Fight the Power, Lemme hear you say, Fight the Power, We've got to fight the powers that be, are meant to empower members of the black community to take action and rise up. However, lyrics like Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps, Sample a look back you look and find nothing but rednecks for 400 years if you check, were meant to be criticisms of America ignores the struggles and inequality the black community faces. Acting as a double edged sword.

In the context of the film, it mirrors the events that happen on screen. The song is primarily heard through the boombox of Radio Raheem, who plays the song none-stop, wanting all to hear. This maybe what Spike Lee's intention is for this song and it's themes, for all to hear it. Even after the boombox is destroy, the song still plays. For everyone to hear the message Public Enemy and Spike Lee are trying to say. Look at what is happening in the black community. This is enforced in the film's climax when Radio Raheem is killed by police, and although there are a bunch of witnesses, nothing is done. The police who murdered him walk away. You must fight the power, when faced with inequality.

Module 14: Protest Music

Module 14: Protest Music

Prompt:

Now that you have dug into some protest music, the role and impact that it has in popular and mass culture, and the movements affiliated with the artists and songs - think about some of your favorite musical artists and see if they have ever written a controversial political song about politico/socio issues in America. In your post, you should:

·      Identify what artist(s) and political song you would like to use for your blog post

·      Identify who the artist(s) is/are

·      Identify what the song is about

·      Why do you support the political message of the song?

·      How does it make you feel?

·      If there is a music video for the song that tells a socio/politico story, explain it and share it in your post

For this assignment, students should avoid using songs that have an ambiguous message or are simply socially progressive. For example, “Girl’s Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cindy Lauper or “No” by Meghan Trainor are examples of songs with a strong and relevant progressive social message, but they do not fit the description of a “political song”. Just because the Talking Heads wrote a song called “Life During Wartime” does not mean that it is a political song (but it is a good one, so you should go listen to it).

Songs like “Fight The Power” by Public Enemy or “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine are stronger examples of political and protest music, as they are speaking directly about things like war, political corruption, race inequality, etc.

*A Tribe Called Quest’s recent album release We Got it From Here… Thank You for your service and the amazing timing of its release and performance of the new song “We The People” would be an excellent focus for this blog post.*

Relevant tags: Artists, Song, Social Movements

Example:

In 1963, Bob Dylan released the album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. These were the early days of Bob Dylan. The very early days.  The album featured Dylan classics like “Blowin’ In The Wind”, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (literally best breakup song ever), and “Oxford Town”, which is a politically charged song about the tragic racial inequality in the southern states of America, specifically Mississippi. Bob Dylan was never shy about standing up for what he believed in. But as far as this Dylan fan is concerned, “Masters of War” remains to be the most poignantly written political song that I have ever heard.

Here is a link to the song.

            In the liner notes of the original album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, it reads “"Masters of War" startles Dylan himself. "I've never really written anything like that before," he recalls. "I don't sing songs which hope people will die, but I couldn't help it in this one. The song is a sort of striking out, a reaction to the last straw, a feeling of what can you do?" The song feels like a combination of helplessness and pure rage. Dylan is indicting the politicians and diplomats of the world, and revealing their cowardice war mongering and true motivations. The song features lyrics like “You’ve thrown the worst fear, that can ever be hurled. Fear to bring children, into the world. For threatening my baby. Unborn and unnamed. You ain’t worth the blood that runs in your veins.”

            I will never forget the first time I heard this song. I had a visceral reaction to it. As someone who plays the guitar and is primarily interested in instruments and improvising, I really don’t care much about lyrics. I joke with my friends that a perfect world would be one where music didn’t have lyrics, which of course isn’t true, I’m exaggerating (or am I?...). But Dylan was always the one and only exception. I know that everyone knows that Bob Dylan is a great poet and lyricist, bla bla bla, who cares? Seriously though, go read the lyrics to songs like “It’s alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding” or “Visions of Johanna” or “Shelter From the Storm”. It is, in my opinion and I believe many others, undeniable literary genius.

            The reason that I chose “Masters Of War” is because we are living in an America that is ramping up the very war machine that Dylan is talking about in the song. That is what the song is about, these evil politicians who profit off of war and the consequences that we, the people, suffer as a result. Dylan is speaking for us, the people. This song is everything that I would ever want to say to the likes of Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, George Bush, etc., and he did it for me – and better than I could have ever done! What more can you ask for?!

I stand for the message in “Masters Of War” because I am against war and I am for peace and equality. I am against, and frankly sick of, America’s ruling elite class and oppressive, patriarchal system. When I was a younger man and beginning my disenchantment with the values of my parents generation, the baby boomers (sigh), the lyrics spoke to me in a way no song ever had before. “How much do I know, to talk out of turn. You might say that I’m young, you might say I’m unlearned. But there’s one thing I know, though I’m younger than you. Even Jesus would never forgive what you do.” That lyric empowered me as a politically interested person. This song validated my distain for the government and its policy rollouts of the time, because it was still as applicable then as it was when it was written in 1963. This, to me, is the golden standard of what a political protest song should be. And it was just one of Bob Dylan’s many, many masterpieces.

Pottermore

Pottermore

     Harry Potter, which is now shockingly close to 20 years, has seen a lot of changes within the franchise. Even after J.K. Rowling stated that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows was the final book, the story continued with the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. A five-film series is being planned based on The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book trilogy. Even the fan site, Pottermore, has changed through the years. Cassie Brummitt’s article, Pottermore: Transmedia Storytelling and Authorship in Harry Potter, shows this change.

     The author of this piece, Cassie Brummitt, was proven to be a creditable source. Besides the Midwest Quarterly, she has contributed to other academic journals, and holds a position part-time lecturer for media studies at De Montfort University in Leicester, England. To add to the credibility of her paper, she has admitted to be a devote Harry Potter, and has often incorporated the series into her lectures at De Montfort. Not only does she have the perspective of a professional, but the perspective of a fan as well.

     The article focuses on the fan website, Pottermore, created in 2011 after the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2 (2011). The site’s purpose was original to keep the Harry Potter fandom going after the series ended. Brummitt studies how as the franchise changed, the site Pottermore changed as well. As stated before, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2 (2011) was suppose to be the end of the series as a whole. However, in recent years the story of Harry Potter has continued in movies and books, causing the site to undergo changes.

     For instance, in Pottermore, author J.K. Rowling was meant to interact with the fans and the site was meant to be more of a social experiment. These changes accrued when it was announced the Harry Potter series would continue with new books and movies. The main focus of the article is how other forms of media can affect each other. The format for Pottermore had to change with the addition movies and books being added, as well as how the Harry Potter franchise changes as a whole. 

    Brummitt’s themes and ideas do hold up, and she does do a good job at explaining how they connect. She does not over simplify it or complicate the answers. What she does is presents the facts and goes into great detail explaining them. As for what part of the course does this article fit into; the best case is History of the Internet and the Digital Future by Johnny Ryan in Module 10. The assigned chapter as well as the book as a whole went into the changes the digital world saw changes due to other forms of media, slightly mirroring Brummitt’s article. 

    If a franchise is to survive, it must change with the times. Big name franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek, and Harry Potter have all changed too accommodate the current times. Whether these changes are welcomed or not depends on the opinion, but change never the less is inevitably. The Harry Potter franchise is going to change, whether people like it or not, and as any fan would say, “We’re with them to the end.”

Work Cited

Brummitt, Cassie. "Pottermore: Transmedia Storytelling and Authorship in Harry Potter." Midwest Quarterly 58.1 (2013): 112-32. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

 

Wisecrack

This may not be one of the assignments, but I thought it was still a very helpful tool in understanding Popular Culture. It's a YouTube channel called, Wisecrack. The channel focuses on certain elements of pop culture (movies, TV, books, ext) and connects them to philosophical studies, theories, and ideas.

However, unlike other channels that use a similar format, Wisecrack finds a funny and creative way to explain these facts. For instance, Thug Notes, which studies the philosophy within books, has a great spin on it, by having the host be a gangsta, I hope I'm spelling that right? In Earthling Cinema, an alien 1000 years into the future examines Earth artifacts (movies) and dissects what the hidden meaning is? Each is funny, clever, and insightful.

However, beside that, there are still plenty of other great content to look at, and I'd strongly suggest you'd check it out. Below are links to some of my favorite videos from the channel, one from each series. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Game of Thrones: Lessons from the Sopranos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dQMeVLHqL0

Thug Notes: Fahrenheit 451:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-IcPx9uD0U

The Philosophy of Darth Vader:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJBbzmlSaxU&spfreload=5

Earthling Cinema: Zootopia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8LxDmtCQ0g

Postmodernism and Night of the Living Dead

While this was not the first to use zombies, it was the first to film to popularize zombies. I am of course talking about George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968). While I did see this film years ago, I didn't think much of it upon first watching, thought it was just an old zombie movie. However, re-watching it and going more into it, I realize there is much more to this film then I thought.

As mentioned, the film was directed by George A. Romero and released in 1968. The film follows a group of survivors in a rural farmhouse in Pennsylvania. Although there are other survivors, the film primarily focuses on Barbra, played by actress, Judith O'Dea.

Upon re-watching it and going through the course, I have come to see this film as an example of postmodernism. Going back to one of the videos we were could have chosen about postmodernism, link below, postmodernism is described as there is no absolute truth. Where there is a deconstruction of our society through satire or criticism.

So how does Night of the Living Dead (1968) deconstruct society. First, within the film it actually deconstructs society. The film sees society fall apart in the wake of a zombie attack, the world falls and its everyone for themselves. What is it the destroys the world; mindless, cannibalistic, and savage monsters that arise from fallen humans.

Simple, yet outside of the film it deconstructs the horror films at the time with the decisions Romero made. First, it was one of the few films, even by horror standards, the ended with everyone, including the girl and hero, dying. Films back then ended the regular way, hero and girl escape, monster is killed, and everything ends happily. Night of the Living Dead (1968) ended with all the characters killed in violent an graphic ways. Speaking of the violence, despite the film being in black and white, the violence is pretty unsettling considering when the film was released.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO_gaxFIRXw

Indian Chief and Cultural Appropriation

I happened upon a lot of interesting comics throughout the archives. A few early DC and Marvel comics and a funny Donald Duck comic, but one caught my interest the most. One simply titled Indian Chief. Of course I first assumed this was racist, I mean it was a comic about a Native-American boy from the 1950's, couldn't really blame me for assuming racism. While the story is harmful, it is harmful for other reasons.



The comic was published in the 1950's by Dell Comics, I choose to read and focus on issue #1, first published in 1951. The comic series ran for four years, from 1951 to 1958, and had 33 issuses. The series follows a young native-American as he struggles to survive in a pre colonial American landscape. I have a link below.

http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/preview/index.php?did=15592

After reading the comic, I was surprised by the lack of stereotypes, it did have a few here and there, but nothing too offensive or harmful. However, I found the comic harmful for other reasons. In the end of the day, the comic takes culture of an entire race and prints it for profit. Even if it is more respectable when compared to other comics at the time, it still exploits another culture.

This deals with the racism portion of the course. In fact, I found strange similarities between this comic and the film, Dear White People (2014). This is due to the film exploring the concept unintentional racism, how white people constantly misrepresent African-American culture, even when they dillusional think they are respecting it. Another great example would be the characters of Black Vulcan and Apache Chief in the Super Friends animated series. Both were meant to be respectful of other cultures and races, but instead exploited them.

Postmodernism and Donald Barthelme

The video I have chosen is four minutes and nineteen seconds long video titled, Donald Barthelme; the Rise of Post Modernism, submitted by YouTube user, Phuoc Dieu. I chose this video, due to recognizing the Barthelme as an author, and having an interesting writers as an avid reader. Also, the visual of the video, helped me understand the subject matter a lot better. It helps that the video doesn't feel too long or too short.

As the title suggests, the video focuses mainly on this man...



... Donald Barthelme, and although he only wrote short stories, he was one of the leading figures in the rise post modernism literature. The video is short, although it gets right into the point. It starts off by explaining what post modernism is and how it works, though this is very brief. The video's view on post modernism does follow the lectures definition of the topic.

Donald Barthrlme's work was specifically designed to have multiple meanings and convey multiple ideas, something that was very uncommon for authors at the time, and it could be seen as confusing. The video also discusses a bit of Barthelme's history and his work. He started out as a reporter for he Houston Post, before moving on to being an author. As mentioned before, he wrote mainly short stories, mainly for magazines, and has written collections of his short stories.

Part of the reason for his writing was the dehumanization of the time. Barthelme got into writing around the time of the MacCarthy Era Trials and Segregation. Because of this, much of his work in both wording and themes that were meant to relate to everyone, so that it could be seen as having multiple meanings. All of this was meant to have the reader question their world. What is Identity? What is morally right or wrong?

Strangely a lot of these themes and questions are being asked today. With Donald Trump as president, fake news, and police violence, and with social media to help, the public has become more devided then ever. Barthelme's work was meant to have multiple meanings and themes so that everyone would see it differently by anyone who reads it. Barthelme was often very critical of going with the flow and blending in with the crowd. Nowadays it's pretty easy to criticize someone and say, "I'm right, your wrong." Barthelme's work had different meanings so that people would be challenged and see the world differently. Because of this, it's no wonder Donald Barthelme is considered a pioneer in post modernism literature.

Postmodernism

For this week's blog post on postmodernism I watched the above video; mostly I chose it because it seemed like it would be entertaining and funny, and also I love swearing. It also seemed like it was made by people who were about my age, and I thought I might be able to identify better with a perspective from my same age group.

Basically, the video begins by first realizing that a huge amount of people today are using the term "postmodern" without really understanding what the word means. I can agree with that, as it's one of those terms heavily thrown around during political debates and art gallery viewings. The host takes us back through some major periods in history to help us try to define whether or not that "postmodernism" is just the next era on the timeline, or if it's just a grouping of ideas or personalities.

Beginning with the "Classical" era, where humans were just emerging from pagan freedom into organized countries with religions and laws. Those societies embraced their relationship with nature and the world around them. Moving on comes next the "Neo-classical" era ("neo" meaning "new) in the 18th century where humans had made advances in science and writing and many other areas, but found themselves lacking a philosophical system. Many people romanticized the Greco-Roman period and tried to emulate it, one of the most famous examples being the United States' democratic governmental system based on Greek history of law. This period was later referred to as "The Enlightenment" which was basically the overall marriage of scientific breakthroughs, but with a soft spot in one's heart for nature and art.

Some of the best examples of these eras are seen in the art and architecture of the time (image source, and cool architecture resource)

After some time we begin to see the separation of the two things further and further until you have just the science lovers and just the art lovers, and the two do not mix well. The counter-culture to the Enlightenment was known as "Romanticism" and there was much argument over which areas of culture to focus on. Just as it seemed that Romanticism might win out and scientific advances would be thrown out the window - "Modernism" comes to the scene just after the shock of World War I. As the video put it: up until the war, most technology was used to help and benefit people, but now a great deal of it had been invented to hurt and kill others - there are men returning home from the conflict and not knowing how to process what they've been through. What follows these times is a boom of psychological and philosophical thinkers who try to make sense of the current world. Freud, Marx, Nietzsche, each had contrasting reasons for why they believed everything existed as it currently did. Their ideas gave rise to the average human to think more deeply about their socioeconomic standing, their religious attachments, and the political systems around them.

Post-modernism enters to "shake things up" where people had gotten too complacent with the madness or organizational systems around them. The video refers to post-modernism as the "rebellious child" of Modernism. Where Modernism likes to organize things into neat categories and structures based on similarity, the ideas of post-Modernism focus on the differences between things and people. They like to blur the lines, to abhor fact, and try to prove that there is no one way of thinking, or living, or being.

The example I think of when I try to define postmodernism is the punk movement. Not necessarily the punk music movement, though of course the fashion and ideals started with this new form of music. I think of the typical kid with a mohawk, studded jacket, baggy ripped jeans, chains, tattoos and eyeliner. Even aside from the look, it's the attitude they share that matters the most when it comes to this argument. I was once a part of this genre of people growing up (shocking I know!) who used to shop at Hot Topic and wear crazy stuff because I did not want to "fit in" with everyone else in society because I felt I was different than most around me.

(image source, and cool history of punk fashion)

The attitude of punk and sub-genres of punk (goth, emo, scene, hipster, whatever) is generally of "I don't accept what everyone tells me to be true - I find my own truth in my experiences." There's the whole, "You can tell me what to do, what to wear, where to work, etc" where people openly defy mainstream society. In turn, mainstream society sees punks as abnormal (the term "punk" itself meaning "degenerate" or even "criminal"), and is either afraid of them, or is angry with them for trying to go against the grain whereas most of them never saw a reason to be any other way than "normal." I, however, think it's a very important movement to question what is around you, especially where we live in a world of advertising and fake news.