Bob Marley: Bob Marley & The Wailers -
Buffalo Soldier
How
society and the issue you are investigating has changed over the
years and how these changes are reflected in different media texts?
Society has changed rapidly if you compare music now to music
back in the early 60's the cultural side of it is fading away e.g many of the
words used in reggae songs are similar US and UK English speakers, as
they are taken from traditional Jamaican patois or refer to Rastafarian
concepts e.g Jah, meaning God. There is heavy use of Jamaican slang, a common
example being Ganja, meaning marijuana. Cannabis is smoked as sacrament in the
Rastafarian faith, as Rastafarian's believe that smoking marijuana allows them
to experience a closeness to God. This message in the songs has been open to
much misinterpretation, particularly by American youth who have used this as an
excuse to “get high in many of their music videos whereas Bob Marley used it in
a faithful way for cultural reasons. songs such as Buffalo soldier will be a
evergreen song meaning that it will last for generations and generation since
its unique and also historical.
How popular culture reflects the 'spirit of the age' or zeitgeist
Nowadays reggae is used as a relaxing/vibe culture mainly
listened to by marijuana smokers as an enjoyment for feeling high. music videos
nowadays don't respect that smoking is a Rastafarian faith. social media
classify it as a drug and also there are many issues whether its good for you
or bad for you. going back to the topic of music bob Marley wanted to express
the reggae genre more as there is more than just smoking. songs such as
"no women no cry" really caused global recognition and people wanted
more demand for reggae songs. the spirit of age is drastically changing people
are now becoming more social media influenced e.g nowadays youngsters are
influenced to smoke weed just to get high e.g getting f***ed. After Bob Marley
died the reggae genre is not that famous as the time he was alive but rappers
such as Snoop Dogg respect Bob Marley and follow his foot steps to further
carry on reggae music to the next generations. The video and song
"Buffalo Soldier" is portrayed to be a soothing and emotional as you
can tell clearly from the lyrics itself that its made for love and peace.
Marley tries to portray a strong message to youngsters as in their music video
they always relate things about the relationships or affairs that they have
with other women e.g some rap artist portray women as sexual objects and also
insult each other. What Bob Marley tries to do is bring peace. As in the newer
society there is no longer peace due to political reasons and because of the
media etc.
How is it similar/different to
your main text?
Similarities
The things that are similar in this text to my
original/main text is the psychopathic approach because drugs is basically a psychological approach so in both contexts they are really similar. Reefer madness shows how the drug became a addiction and also how it became popular. People like Bob Marley been smoking for lifetime as In Jamaica its a tradition to smoke due to cultural reason and Rastafarian faith.
Differences
The
main difference is the approach to the character as well as the entire genre
that this film is based on and the overall outcome results on the usage of drugs. Artists such as Snoop Dogg represent cannabis for entertainment purposes. i would actually believe that Bob Marley does the same but keeps it more spiritual and also promotes it in different ways. the both text are different because they both approach it in different ways so its up to society to choose whether they want to keep it controlled or not.
How
does this show how the genre/society/issue has changed?
Audiences deemed this to be 'acceptable' and has been like this till now. There has been a great split during the ages where audiences can no longer handle such content which now results in characters and themes to be only suitable for a specific genre. Society
has changed very much. Their expectations for films is defined by its genre.
They know what to expect to when they watch a comedy, or an action film.
However during the 20th century, there was different aspects of many genres in
one film.
Reefer Madness (1936)
How
society and the issue you are investigating has changed over the
years and how these changes are reflected in different media texts?
Reefer
Madness is one of the oldest films about marijuana. The films shows what
smoking marijuana was like back in 1930's since it was still being discovered.
The film really symbolises the public use of marijuana and shows how it became
a major addiction. The fact that the drug wasn't that harmful to the body but
the movie shows how it can change a persons behaviour. Its still dangerous as
people those days would panic extremely if the got really high whereas nowadays
people know what to expect. I enjoyed watching the film as it really
shows the way society has changed over the years and how marijuana usage
has become more controlled and in some cases people don't respond to it as
becoming violent. Since its meant to make you relaxed it actually reduces the
effects of public violence and crime as marijuana is a mild
stimulant/hallucinogen it wont cause anger issues of any sort whereas other
drugs such as cocaine, heroin can cause serious mental breakdowns and can make
you more aggressive which tends to make you more eager to be violent and commit
certain crimes but back in 1930's people used to panic as they were
hallucinating and also guns was legal at that time period so it was actually
more dangerous e.g if someone hallucinates they going to start to panic and the
access of guns were easier at that time. e.g in the film the guy was about to
rape the women and there was a fight between the two guys and then another guy
came with a revolver and accidentally thought fighting shot the women who was
Innocent but she was really high too. This shows how drugs can be dangerous if
your not in the right environment or you take a too higher dosage that your mind is completely
separated from you body and you have no control over your actions so these things
will tend to happen.
How popular culture reflects the 'spirit of the age' or zeitgeist?
The text very much reflects the
time period it was created in. The use of the props and speech is something
that is carried over to the film and not necessarily a significant part of the
film. The creation and widespread of marijuana all over America was something
that Americans were very excited of, as they have previously been used to
seeing such people involved in smoking. The film was essentially
mirroring societies fears and also shows how drugs can create a lot of
serious issues and can cause a lot of moral panics.
How is
it similar/different to your main text?
Similarities
The things that are similar in this text to my original/main text is the
psychopathic approach that the protagonist Mae is presented in nowadays as the drug dealer or so called "plug". It's a biopic of an actual event and people that had taken
place long ago. the story line of reefer madness is realistic and shows how marijuana use can get out of control. However, Bob Marley doesn't want those things to happen Marley states that marijuana is used for spiritual reasons in Rastafarian culture not to smoking for the feeling of getting high.
Differences
The
main difference is the approach to the character as well as the entire genre
that this music video is based off of. The film is a biopic about an actual events. Bob Marley approach to Marijuana use is different because he believes more in spirituality and peace whereas the film reefer madness is all about getting high and committing crimes in which shatter each others lives by the overuse and high dosages of marijuana. since Bob Marley produces Music the approach towards Marijuana is going to be slightly different then to the film because in the video of Buffalo Soldier he is smoking a Joint within the story line so most of the story is then hidden within the real story e.g his behaviour changes and also the high effect stimulated by the drug.
How
does this show how the genre/society/issue has changed?
Society
has changed very much. Their expectations for films is defined by its genre.
They know what to expect to when they watch a comedy, or an action film.
However during the 20th century, there was different aspects of many genres in
one film. Audiences deemed this to be 'acceptable' and has been like this till
now. There has been a great split during the ages where audiences can no longer
handle such content which now results in characters and themes to be only
suitable for a specific genre.
Other
Texts:
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Lion
DR DRE
Collie Buddz
