With many great songs they are often attached to great films; a marketing technique where when you hear the song you immediately think of the film and vice versa. The music video as seen above shows a montage from the film Rocky III with the films theme song 'Eye of the Tiger' playing throughout. The montage shows multiple fighting scenes between Ivan Drago (Hans Lundgren), Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), and Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), which all reflect the animalistic imagery of motivation and never giving up. The idiom meaning of the tiger refers to Rocky 'stalking' his 'prey' in the boxing ring along with a 'survival of the fittest' concept to the fight.
With the film being released in 1982 and the song coming out the day after, this video has a highly definitive feel of the 1980s era. The importance of the song in connection with the film cannot be overstated. This is because after the release the song became massively popularised in relation to people in the fitness industry including marathon running, weightlifting, and physical therapy. Co-writer of 'Eye of the tiger', Jim Peterik, stated that the "song has crept into the motivational aspect of it [sport]", and that it took him a while before he realised the song was timeless. The lyrics are undoubtedly motivational, for example: "Don't lose a grip of the dreams of the past. We must fight just to keep them alive". You could comprehend these lyrics regardless of the era you're in which, in part, makes the video so popular. Also, the fact that the video was made just nine years ago emphasises the long lasting legacy of this definitive 1980s film and song.
The contemporary music video above is of Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" and undoubtedly has a strong case for remaining a substantially impactful song in thirty years time. Since being released in 2015, "Alright" has been universally acclaimed with the hook, "We gon' be alright!" representing a message of hope, in despite of the pain and suffering black people in particular have suffered. The songs religious connotations are particularly significant as he raps "If God got us then we gon' be alright!", which reflects the Christian ideology that if you are a true believer of God then you believe in his plan and that eventually, everything will be 'alright'.
Senior correspondent at Business Insider, Ben Gilbert, stated the hook and overall song has also established an "anthem of the modern civil rights movement". This is majorly because of the message's association with Black Lives Matter and the fight against police brutality towards black people. A number of protests have occurred since the songs release where the chant of "We gon' be alright!" has been heard. For example, the shooting of 12 year old Tamir Rice in Cleveland sparked massive protests where the hook was heard in the national spotlight. Ultimately, if the affects of the song have produced this movement, then in thirty years time and race relations are still problematic particularly in the U.S. police department then it'll be likely this song still has great importance to Americans that seek real social justice. The long lasting legacy of this video, if it does happen, will overtly be because of the symbolism of hope and religion, both of which are perpetual in America.
No comments:
Post a Comment