Rhetorical Analysis

“Everybody” grabs the audience’s attention immediately by stirring emotions with the first line. Keith Urban opens with “So here you are now, nowhere to turn… just the same old yesterday. You made a promise to yourself that you were never gonna be this way.” This line uses the rhetorical appeal of pathos to initially provoke listeners to relate with their own experiences and feelings of loneliness. This content is paralleled in the video, as individuals walk alone through the dim light. By each person’s expression, we can see that they too are experiencing loneliness. Urban connects with the audience in this way. Everyone has likely felt lonely and a sense of despair at some point in their lifetime; this opening line brings to the surface those emotions.

After the opening verse the song changes tone a bit; our emotions are still tugged at but in a slightly different manner. Urban advises “don’t give up now, you’re so close to a brand new day.” While our emotions and feelings of loneliness are on the line, this line assures us that no tough time is permanent, and with persistence and optimism feelings of despair can be overcome. Listeners are likely relating these words to their own experiences, and this truth that “everybody needs somebody” instills a sense of hope and assurance in the audience. At this point, the individuals in the video are coming together and we see that although they may experience hard times, they do have somewhere to turn. As they begin to play, we no longer see the emotions of loneliness and sadness; instead they are content being in each others’ company. This visual and audio convinces the audience to not let their emotions kill them; to be strong and reach out. Feelings of needing someone are no false need; as humans we do, in fact, need somebody. By the conclusion of the video the audience feels that although tough times will inevitably happen, others will be there if we allow them to.

Reflective

“Everybody” reflects on the idea that everybody does indeed need somebody. The song initially stirs emotions of loneliness and despair; the empty feeling of having no one to turn to is all too familiar for most of us. Everyone experiences tough times, yet many of us feel we have nowhere to turn when we do experience pain. This is no individual fault; society may put pressure on everyone to hide emotion, to be “tough,” and therefore we feel it is deviant to reach out for assistance or to give it away ourselves. Our individual pride may keep us from reaching out to others, but society only emphasizes this notion with the “tough guy” appeal that so many of us strive for.

Before the chorus, these are the only feelings the song and video convey. However, as the tone of the video changes, so does the emotion felt by the audience. As soon as Urban confirms that “everybody needs somebody sometimes,” we feel that it is indeed okay and normal to feel we need somewhere to turn, to want a hand to hold or an ear to listen to us. In fact, needing someone is part of our lives; without others we would be hopeless. This is where despair turns to hope, and we feel that perhaps there will always be someone there for us. As the band comes together, this feeling of hope grows; those empty feelings that were initially brought to the surface are replaced with optimism. Certainly no one wants to feel alone, and the conclusion that everybody needs somebody is an obvious but valuable idea. Perhaps those of society who value the “tough guy” appearance do not matter; what matters is that we as individuals have somewhere to turn to in tough times. Keith Urban’s “Everybody” persuades his audience of this point, and makes us want to reach out.

Observation

Keith Urban - "Everybody"

Keith Urban’s “Everybody” video begins with gloomy clips of very different individual characters. First, we see Urban himself walking slowly down a dark corridor. The scene quickly flashes to a bald man walking alone along a building, and then to a larger man riding alone in a taxi. Each man seems to be feeling a sense of loneliness, as none are smiling and each appears to be completely by themselves. A fourth individual also walks alone, this one next to a graffiti-covered wall. A biker slowly rides away down an empty street. As Urban begins to sing, clips of each individual flash again; this time they are each singing the words we hear. Still, they are all alone in dark settings. The first verse of the song confirms that these individuals are, indeed, lonely: “Here you are now, nowhere to turn… just the same old yesterday.” From each character we feel a sense of despair; the dim lighting with only gray and off-white coloring gives the impression that times are tough for each of these people.

As Urban continues to walk in the darkness, he acknowledges that “everybody needs somebody.” After this statement, one by one the characters step onto a stage in a still dim setting. However, as Urban advises to not give up, the characters come together on the stage. Finally, Urban himself steps onto the stage and the band prepares to play as one. As soon as the tone of the music changes, color fills the screen and the individuals are no longer alone: they are part of something bigger, something stronger. The brightness and cohesiveness conveys a new message of hope, rather than despair. The remainder of the video shows the band as a group who stands together: “ You’ve got to have someone beside you,” Urban concludes.

"Persistence of Memory" - Salvador Dali

Melting clocks, an unidentifiable creature, and the stillness of this piece invite us into a sort of dream world. Upon first glance at Salvador Dali’s painting, “The Persistence of Memory,” melting clocks grab our attention. The next aspect that jumps out is the animal-like creature upon which one of the softening watches rests. In the background, we see a bleak landscape. A sandy beach stretches to a body of absolute still water; the water meets the featureless sky at the horizon line. In the right side of the painting, one of the lifeless watches drapes over the branch of a dead olive tree. Ants covering a closed pocket watch are the only life form to be seen. From the dark shadows cast on the scene, we can predict the time is either dawn or dusk. The objects of nature found in this painting are very distinct and very recognizable; however, the scene would not be found in real life. This combination of real and imagined constitutes the art movement of Surrealism, of which Dali is most famous for (Art Beyond Sight). “The Persistence of Memory” portrays a dream-like world where time is irrelevant. A comparison/contrast between the conscious and subconscious convinces us that the idea of time may be ineffective not only dreams but also in reality.

Drooping watches, a symbol of the passing of time, are the focal point of this piece. Quite large in comparison to other objects in the painting, the watches are positioned on lifeless objects: the dead olive tree, an inanimate table, and an apparent unconscious life form. This is the first persuasion in the argument against time: the idea of time may be as useless as, say, a dead tree. A forth pocket watch, in its original form, lies closed on the table. Ants crawl around the watch, suggesting the watch is organic and edible. This notion presents the idea that the decay of time is as ordinary as ants feeding on organic matter.

The large animal-like creature in the center of the piece appears to be either dead or fast asleep. The extensively long eyelashes and resemblance of a human nose suggests a distorted human profile; the body and lifeless tail of the creature suggest some type of animal. This merging of human and animal form is a strategy called anthropomorphism. The distorted watch atop the lifeless body is perhaps the strongest point of argument in this piece. A “dream world” theme is central to the painting; the sleeping monster suggests the simple action of dreaming. Drooping upon its back, the clock suggests the distortion of time in this dreamland.

The backdrop offers a beautiful scene, like that of a postcard, yet it shows absolutely no signs of life. Even the body of water is completely motionless. In these, we see the natural world. On the contrary, melting clocks are not objects we expect to see in everyday life, nor is a morphed animal-human creature. Here, the comparison between nature and technology is made (Salvador Dali Museum). This idea relates to the contrast between our conscious minds and our subconscious minds. Placed into a scene where the theme of a dream world is consistent, the one form of technology – the clocks – is irrelevant and extraneous. Even the clocks do not represent technology in reality, as they are distorted and ineffective. The correlation to be made is the idea that technology, time in particular, is in fact completely irrelevant when it comes to our subconscious minds. In a dream, no sense of time is kept. No measures prevent us from acting upon things we yearn for. Within this comparison, the strategy of example can also be seen. The sleeping creature, while part of a contrast between real and imagined, also acts as an illustration of the correlation between time and the subconscious. Reality would not present us with a creature of this type; only a dream would do so. The distorted clock resting upon this imaginary creature suggests that the sense of time is absolutely irrelevant to the dream world. Within the subconscious, as in this dream-world, nature is the only certainty. Technology, and the measurement of time in particular, is uncertain.

The idea of time distortion offers the most emotion-stirring aspect of the painting with the use of pathos. While it is obvious that time is distorted in the land of the subconscious, we begin to wonder if time is distorted and ineffective in even our waking lives. Why are humans so obsessed with the idea of time, when we have absolutely no control over it? In our fast-paced society, we are constantly looking for ways to stretch our time and squeeze as many activities into our schedules as possible. Yet, when it comes to things most dear to us, such as family and friendship, time tends to have no relevancy. This use of time distortion to generate emotions constitutes the appeal of pathos.

A last comparison to be made of the piece is that of hardness, which is symbolic of certainty, and softness, which represents uncertainty. The “hard” objects in the painting are certain: the jagged cliffs, dead tree, table, even the beach. However, the “soft” objects mark areas of unknown: the melting clocks and the sleeping beast (Salvador Dali Museum). Time, as our clocks measure for us, we think should be a certainty. But do we have any control of it? Absolutely not. We may have some control over what we do with the time in our lives, but we cannot stop time or make it go faster; we cannot go backwards or forwards. We have only the here and now, and no one on earth is powerful enough to change that.

As an audience, we must ask ourselves why these distinctions are being made. Why the barren atmosphere? Why a creature of the unknown, rather than a representation of humans in reality? In using the compare/contrast strategy to differentiate between opposing ideas, we must be careful not to offer a mere either-or-arguement; the audience must be able to take more away from the piece than that. These comparisons are not made to present the idea that our lives demand a view of either the concious or subconscious, but rather that while the land of the conscious and the land of the subconscious are certainly two different worlds, the sense of time may be similar in both. Though we worry about keeping time in our everyday lives, nothing can be done about it.

The melting of clocks can be seen, in reality, as an indication that time and the machine that measures it are ineffective. All things decay in time, as can be seen with the dead olive tree in the left of the painting. Crawling ants also indicate the decay of that which they are surrounding, in this case the one watch that remains sturdy. We can conclude that even those things that appear strong and purposeful will come to a point where their usefulness fades away, and they become useless (Salvador Dali Museum). Even a concept as valued as much as time is just that: a conception. A conception that we have no control over; a conception that, in reality, is ineffective.

"Salvador Dali and The Persistence of Memory." Art Beyond Sight. 12 Nov. 28. http://www.artbeyondsight.org/ahtts/dali.shtml.

"Clocking In With Salvador Dali: Salvador Dali's Melting Watches." Salvador Dali Museum. 12 Nov 2008. http://www.salvadordalimuseum.org/education/documents/clocking_in.pdf

Timothy Liu Extra Credit

Poet Tim Liu described in one of his poems a typical Nebraskan scene, or at least what an outsider likely views as typical. Liu begins the poem, entitled “Off I-80,” with a reference to the sumac on the sides of the exit of the interstate. Sumac is a feature all Nebraskans are familiar with, and the mention of the interstate and sumac draws us in, as we are always interested in those things close to home. Liu goes on to tell of the cornfields to both sides of the road, and the gravel road that turns to dirt and kicks up mud. Most Nebraskans are familiar with this scene.

Liu then spoke about bingo games that only Nebraskans would enjoy, hot dogs and funnel cakes no others would be as delighted by, and well-respected firefighters closing off streets for a small-town parade. This scene, too, is probably a familiar scene to most Nebraskans. Though we know that there is more to our state than cornfields and small-town parades, these things are a large part of Nebraskan life and their importance should be recognized. To me, this hits home especially hard because of my youth in Western Nebraska, where cows outnumber people by a long shot. I prefer cornfields on either side of me to streetlights and honking horns; I prefer knowing my whole town to feeling lost in a crowd. This lifestyle is what is familiar to me, and it is home to me. For this reason, the poem stuck out to me; I could very well relate and that is what draws audience in most effectively: being able to relate.