Other People's Music Video Analysis

Ian: I agree with the messages you saw in the music video but I think you could have gone more in depth with you analysis. I also think it's interesting how everything he says shows up in the video. It's like he has the money to buy all of these things so he might as well flaunt it. Good job.

Rachel: Rachel, at first i was going to disagree with you about the quotes you used, but then i realized that you're right. The Beatles wanted to keep the message simple. Love really is all you need, they don't need materialistic things. I also really like how you noticed that in most music videos the artist is constantly changing outfits but the Beatles keep the same outfits on throughout the whole video. This reaffirms the notion that you really don't need nice clothes or anything materialistic, Love is all you need.

Marco: Yo, i don't particularly agree that what Kanye is saying is that money, cars, and sex=a good life, i think he's saying that he has all those things and that he's living a good life, but still the best things in life are free. I think if anything he might be contradicting societies ideas of a good life...

Music Video Analysis

Lip Gloss: Lil Mama

1. What is the song basically saying about how to live a good life?

I believe that the song is saying that to live a good life, you need to have good looks. As soon as she put that lip gloss on, she was part of the "cool crowd". The boys wanted to hang out with her, even the principle wanted to know where she got the lip gloss.

2. What lyrics particularly speak to that perspective?

The lyrics that i thought spoke to that perspective were how Lil Mama said to her mom at the end "Yo ma, this lip gloss is Poppin', Look at me! ". Also throughout the whole song, after she put on the lip gloss she was like "My Lip Gloss is cool, my Lip Gloss be poppin', I'm standin' at my locker, and all the boys keep stoppin". Those quotes show that all she needed to do was change her appearance, and her life improved dramatically.

3. How do the images support, re-orient, or challenge the dominant theme of the lyrics?

A reoccurring image in the video is the Lip Gloss shining on her lips. It wanted to reinforce the fact that all of this happened (the dancing and the boys and the popularity) because of the Lip Gloss; because she changed her appearance.

4. What else do you notice that's interesting? Look for internal contradictions, aspects of the message that resonate with other messages from the pop culture, points that connect to your own perspective, etc.

I notice that there is a lot of dancing and that no one in the video is "ugly". there are only two people in the video that are old: the principle and the mom and you don't even see her face in the video, and the principle is all disoriented and in need of the lip gloss.

Why is Life So Meaningful: Essay

In the world today, there are over 6.5 billion people living. Obviously those people have reasons for living or they wouldn’t still be alive. Whether it’s because they enjoy what life has to offer, or feel that they have a “destiny” in life. Out of those 6.5+ billion I thought that at least some of them would have something to say about their lives and whether they were meaningful or not, so I decided (was told by my history teacher) to do a few interviews. I had a series of questions in mind to ask the interviewees: is life meaningful to you? Why? What are the most meaningful aspects of your life? If those things did not exist, would your life still be meaningful? And do you consider your life to be meaningful to others and why? The results were interesting to me. 100% of the people I interviewed said that Family was one of the most important aspects of their lives. I thought to myself, why family? What is so important about family that everybody says it is the most meaningful aspect of their lives; I came up with two answers. The most obvious answer is that you came from them, that it’s in your genes to love them, but when I really thought about it, I came up with a more logical answer. From the first day of your life, to until you’re about 14, you spend every single day with your parents, as you grow older you start to drift away a bit, go to college, get your own place etc. but the simple fact is that you’ve spent most of your life with your parents. My theory is that if you spend almost all of your time with someone, you’re going to start to like them. Especially if their the ones caring for you, feeding you, putting a roof over your head, and loving you. Family is so meaningful to people because those people are so meaningful to their families. The people you care about the most are usually the people who care about you the most. Here is one interviewee that had a lot to say about family
Katherine Velasquez
Question: Is life meaningful to you? Why?
Answer: Yes life is meaningful to me because I get to pursue my dreams.
Response: I found this interesting because only a fraction of the world actually gets to fulfill their dreams, but the meaning in life to Katherine is that she gets to pursue them.
Q: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life?
A: Love and mom.
R: A lot of people forget about love when thinking about meaning, because they just think the literal things, but love is probably the most important thing in the world, if their was no love, their would be no family, no procreation. The world would be empty. And if not, everyone in the world would be miserable.
Q: If love and your mom did not exist, would life still be meaningful to you?
A: No, if my mom did not exist I would kill my self; my mom cares the most about me. She got me through life and I could not do without her.



Meaning is always subjective. People don’t say “this is meaningful to you because it’s supposed to be.” You make up your own meanings in things. If you didn’t, it probably wouldn’t even be so meaningful.