Annie, are you okay?

Now, now, don’t laugh. I’m serious about this one. We spent much of last week discussing the intricacies of communication. We developed an extensive list of "texts" to hopefully make you realize that all human behavior – perceived by at least one viewer, reader, or listener – constitutes a form of communication. If all communication intends to persuade, in some form, then ultimately we reach one of the basic tenets of the course. We conclude that “everything is an argument.”

Before Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, or even Madonna, there was Michael Jackson.  In the 1980s, Michael Jackson might have been the most well recognized person in the world.  He was definitely the world's most popular entertainer.  He was talented and mysterious, and had an intuitive penchant for entertaining rarely possessed by performers in subsequent pop culture generations.  Unlike his predecessors, Michael Jackson conquered the kingdom of popular music without relying on marketing gimmicks, staged controversy, or provocative stunts.  The controversy that found him later in his career – however odd it may have been – never resembled the shameless desire for publicity evidenced by many of today’s most popular entertainers.

Throughout his career, Michael Jackson maintained a well-developed social consciousness, and often his desire to address global injustices like poverty and racial tension influenced the songs he wrote and the videos that accompanied them.  However, the video he produced for his 1988 hit single “Smooth Criminal” appears to have no greater purpose than simply to entertain.  He uses the ever-popular slick gangster, whose crimes seem somehow forgivable in a morally corrupt world, as his primary image. 

Jackson’s video features himself as the title character, the smooth criminal.  After entering the apparently secret lair of iniquity, he captures the attention of his criminal audience instantly, as he confidently flips his coin across the room, into the juke box.  The message is clear.  This criminal has the power to accomplish the impossible, which after the music begins, includes gravity-defying dance moves, James Bond-like escapes from men who want to kill him, and the superhuman strength to crush a pool ball with his bare hands.   Jackson engages numerous – apparently less-than-smooth – criminals that enjoy a variety of illicit activities one might see in a 1930s gangster film.  Paradoxically, however, clad in all white, he appears somehow above the prostitution, gambling, and boot-legging hidden by the brick walls.  Even as he murders, with a tommy gun, the mobsters that surround the lair at the end of the video’s primary action, Jackson maintains a heroic air about him. 

The kids who spy Jackson from the street confirm his intent and the fact that he accomplishes it.  Unlike other Jackson videos that have a more social message, this video is meant to entertain.  When they see Jackson dance through the door window, the kids, apparently unaware of the criminal nature of their hero, can only proclaim, “that’s cool, huh?” and then try to emulate his moves. 

This week, I would like you to practice writing rhetorical analysis, once again using music videos.  This time, however, I would like you to find a music video first released before you were born.  Once you find a video, conduct an analysis of this video.  Determine an intent – which might be solely to entertain – and then write about how the artist accomplishes, or fails to accomplish, this intent.  The purpose of this assignment is to practice writing objective and valid analysis.  The way you write it will be more important to me than the actual analysis itself.  Please review the mistakes you and your peers made in your previous posts.  Your analysis should be roughly 350-450 words, and you should embed the video with your response.