• Biography (contactmusic.com)

R.E.M. (formed 1980) is an alternative American rock band. The lineup of the band consists of Michael Stipe on lead vocals, Peter Buck on guitar, Mike Mills on bass guitar and Bill Berry on drums and percussion. R.E.M. gained early attention because of Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's unclear vocals.

Michael Stipe met Peter Buck in 1980 whilst Buck was working in a record store in Athens, Georgia. They shared a love of bands like Television, Patti Smith and The Velvet Underground. The pair of them soon met Bill Berry and Mike Mills, who were students at the University of Georgia. Their debut gig as a band was at a friend's birthday party in April 1980. 

In 1990, following a 12-month break, R.E.M. reconvened and recorded Out of Time, using the mandolin, organ and acoustic guitar to break away from the expected sound of alterative guitar bands. The lead single, 'Losing My Religion', became a massive worldwide hit, as was its follow-up, 'Shiny Happy People', featuring Kate Pierson of the B-52s.

In March 1995, Bill Berry suffered a brain aneurysm and collapsed onstage in Switzerland. Although he recovered within a month, the band was plagued with other health issues, as Mills required abdominal surgery and Stipe also required emergency surgery to repair a hernia. The following year, however, they still managed to release an album, Adventures in Hi-Fi, having re-signed with Warner Bros for a staggering $80 million contract.

In April 1997, Bill Berry left the band. The remaining three members decided to carry on as a three-piece.

R.E.M.'s music has inspired a number of bands, most notably Nirvana. Lead singer Kurt Cobain was vocal in his praise of the band and he and his wife, Courtney Love, of Hole, became good friends with Michael Stipe.

• Review (musicradar.com)

Another classic-in-waiting, the (on initial exposure) simplistic slow tempo melody pushing the same emotional buttons as Everybody Hurts, while sharing that song’s lyrical message of hope, strength and support: “I cannot tell a lie/It’s not all cherry pie/But it’s all there waiting for you...”.

Buck’s unfussy picked guitar line is doubled by Mills on what sounds like a glockenspiel, giving the track the feel of a reassuring lullaby. The repeated “Hey, yeah!” of the chorus cries out to be sang lustily by audiences, although early indications are that the band won’t be playing live to promote the album.

• Personal review

To my mind Everyday is yours to win could be a kind of spiritual message disguised as a song. In fact this song contains a lot of ideas and suggests a new view of things, even if it isn't clearly expressed. It's like if this song was reasuring and giving a kind of protection. First it deals with common places, things that everybody have heard about and that are aware of. It confers a kind of credibility to the song, in a way to identify ourselves with. The singer uses expressions such as "I know", and talks about everyday life ideas, for instance the "talk" and the "walk", or the "tick tock clock". Secondly, he tries to comforting us through advices like "it's all there waiting for you" or the sentence of the tittle. It's a very optimistic way of thinking, that could reduce people's worries,  sadness and loneliness.

• Video interpretation

I envoy this video, we see a lot of people, in various moments of their everyday lives. It gives a large panorama of our main occupations, passions, emotions, etc... Moreover there is not only one type of person that has been represented : There are black people, chinese people, children, magicians... The main purpose of this video to my mind could be that, that's simply "how heroes are made", and that everybody can be a heroe in their life.

Into the Wild

Into the wild is a movie released in 2007 by Sean Penn It talks about a courageous man with lofty goals who decides to escape from society to live his own destiny, by travelling all around the world as a solitary wild man without anything.

This film could be related to the notion "Myths & Heroes".
Firstly, the main character has quite all the caracteristics of the heroic figure. He is brave, alone in front of the danger, and his journey is totally idealistic. Furthermore, he is engaged on a quest and has goals to fulfilling.
Secondly, this stoy remains us of the Good Savage Myth, which assumes that humans are naturally good, but that civilization has led them into the realm of violence, hatred, and cruelty.
However this movie could also be related to the notion of progress, as it aludes to the rejection of progress. I. e. that the main character is against consumer society and the buying power, technology and so one...

Worksheet about MYTHS AND HEROES

Here it is (:

Free post

I'd like to talk about freedom.

For me freedom is one of the most important things in life. I assume there are three meanings of the word "freedom".
The first is the one which is visible, which ables a person to walk without any shackles or without being a slave. That is to say you aren't under someone's pressure, you can make your own decisions.
The second meaning is related to civil Rights : you are free to do what ever you like provided it isn't forbidden by the law.
However "to be free" could also refer to a state of mind. Sometimes people doesn't feel good because of a load of rubbish, boring jobs, arguments, ending love stories, society pressure... we can also be slave of an illness, a dependence, an idea... That's why people could depend on many things, be very vulnerable, and so lost their freedom. I think we must get rid of what can hinder our happiness.

The movie that I have chosen and which is related to the notion of power is called "No". This Chilean drama film was released by Pablo Larraín in 2012
The story takes place in Chile, during the Pinochet's dictatorship. It shows how Augusto Pinochet decided to organize a referendum, and  to what sort of opposition he had to face up. In fact the movie deals with the historic 1988 plebiscite of the Chilean citizenry over whether general Pinochet should have another 8-year term as President.
Furthermore, the main actor is called René Saavedra and is played by Gael García. He stands for a young and clever advertising man. (Effectively the story is when advertising tactics came to be very used in political campaigns) The René's campaign tries to defeat Pinochet and his party, in other words, it promotes the party of the "NO" made up of people who are against the dictatorship. However, the population is skeptical, and very scared to tell what it really wants, so it is unable neither to claim its rights nor to make a choice.

The first aspect of power that we can notice is the political one. As we can hear in the tailor, Pinochet, helped by the head of the police and the Army, has the total control of mass communication and social and economic organizations. He also represses any form of opposition and dissidence. In fact even if people is assumed to have the right of replying "No" to the plebiscite, the government keeps threatening population and more particularly the leaders of the campain. Moreover this dictatorship resulted in the death and disappearance of 3 200 people, and about 38 000 tortured people.

The second aspect related to power refers to the "counter power", in other words to the public opinion as it is question of a referendum. Effectively, even if the government carefully controls the population, we can notice that people are holding demonstrations. Furthermore, the forth branch of government, the media, also alludes to the notion of power. All the story is structured around an ad, that would be permit the party of the "NO" to win, and overthrow the dictatorship.We can see what sort of sequences are chosen and how they are shot, for what purpose... With a few resources, Saavedra and his team succeed in creating a powerful ad, and win the referendum.
To my mind the last aspect of power is the most important : It is the power of happiness. The advertisers decide to build up their ad around the notion of happiness, an incontestable value, in order to be more credible, and to gather people to the full.

POST 7: THE NOTION OF POWER as exemplified in Brian De Palma's Redacted movie

( Videos will be here soon, for the moment it doesn't work )

"Redacted" is a movie released in 2007 by Brian De Palma. It deals with american soldiers during the Irack war. The sequences are shot as if it was a soldier who was filming, it conveys a sense of plausibility but it is also very shocking. In fact the main goal of the movie is to show what was hidden by the US government concerning their intervention in Irack. The issues in relation to the notion of power that seem to be tackled are the US military power, the US government capacity to keep some information from people, and more generally the power of a man practised on an other illegally. Furthermore, this movie also suggests that cinematography can be powerful to denounce some abuses.

 

A review from revcom.us :

 

Redacted from director Brian De Palma is a must see. This film is a work of conviction which boldly and angrily exposes the carnage and misery that has been the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq—the reality behind the mass media lies, talking points, and sanitizing of the U.S. destruction of Iraq and its people. Concentrating on the actions of one unit of soldiers, it gives a focused glimpse of what the U.S. military machine has brought down on the people of Iraq, the indescribable crimes it continues to commit, and the mentality that the troops are inculcated with and that many become steeped in. It presents a devastating portrait that stands as a much larger metaphor—a challenge to those who want to turn away and hide their eyes from these atrocities.

 

Redacted is centered around a true story. In March 2006, a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi, was raped, shot in the face, and burned along with other members of her family by U.S. soldiers. Speaking after the film won the Silver Lion award for best director at the Venice Film Festival, De Palma said, “The movie is an attempt to bring the reality of what is happening in Iraq to the American people. The pictures are what will stop the war…"

 

Post 4 - The iRack

To my mind this video can refer to the notion of Progress, as it deals with high technology like Apple products.

On an other hand, it can also be related to the notion of power because it alludes to the Irak war and to the American participation, indeed the iRack symbolises the country. Besides, the anchorman could be Georges W Bush, the president of the United States, and it takes part to the notion.

Furthermore as it tackles the issue of the relation between America and Irak, we can talk about the notion "Spaces and Exchanges" (Iran is also mentioned at the end).