Wednesday, September 23, 2015

One Love - Greg Labbé

           Many artists and bands around the world write successful love songs about relationships. The Black Eyed Peas released, Where is the Love, their own version of a “love song” in 2003. The Peas’ song was different from the normal love song, but it reached the top ten charts in the U.S. regardless of its unique lyrics and video. The music video is also popular with over 100 million views on YouTube. The video is well known because it makes people question normal, everyday aspects of life, advertising shown in the media.
The most prominent symbol in the music video is a “?” mark. The question mark is supposed to ask the question “Where is the Love”, which is asked many times in the chorus and sung by children in the video. The video uses children to sing the chorus because children are the victims of the reason why the question is being asked in the first place. The Black Eyed Peas wrote the song to point out all of the negative things in today’s society, including racism, negative media, death, war, and even lies generated by our own government. The video shows that all of these negative things in the world are affecting our children, the next generation.
You might wonder why the children in the video don’t post the question marks like the adult do in the video. The reason is because the children are not responsible for posting the question marks because they are innocent. The children are not the reason for the lack of love in today’s society. The question mark in the video is advertising. The video uses the question mark as positive publicity as opposed to societies negative publicity. It shows that to change our adults in society we must depict a more positive view on life and implement love as that positivity. It is up to the adults to understand how their actions are influencing their own children.
            A change in publicity will ultimately influence children and will change our society. This is the message the video attempts to leave us with.  The lyrics might leave you thinking that that terrorism and racism are bad but in order to fully grasp the Black Eyed Peas’ message it is most necessary to watch the music video while you listen to the song. The music video is very powerful and shows deep meaning without lyrics. The imagery of the video leaves the viewer pondering negative media and without the lyrics, questioning what the children have to do with any of what the Black Eyed Peas are trying to tell us. The lyrics aid in their message and fully allow listeners to understand why the children are asking, “where is the love”? The problems in society are the reason why the children ask the question. The adults posting the question marks around the city are the activists hoping their children never have to ask the sad question, “where is the love”?
           






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