Modern Day Shakespeare

                             Err this may be an offensive blog to some...

I have had discussions with members of the class and friends about the quality of writing/acting in our current society and if it is comparable to Shakespeare’s period? This initially came to me when my roommate showed me The Rock’s reintroduction to the WWE, which was an onset of 20 minutes of fireworks and all that jazz. While the WWE is able to gain thousands, millions of followers each year they must be doing something right. They are actors who perform weekly in-front of crowds Shake could have only dreamt of sitting in-front of a stage where any of his plays were performed. I do not enjoy the WWE and find it to merely be a waste of time yet it is entertaining just as Jersey Shore. I find it hard to profess something to others when I do not believe it myself so I have chosen another artist...

Rather, I will argue the case that Eminem and other gangstah rappers are comparable to Shake. To be a great typically means your work creates controversy and this is easily found when you look at Eminem's career which he has based on controversy. His lyrics were driven by a world of hate that surrounded him and he has since lost this hate, which I believe is evident in his newest music. I sit here watching the Up In Smoke Tour dvd which was a music tour promoting Dr. Dre's new cd, 2001 including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Xzhibit, Devin the Dude, Ice Cube, and the list goes on and on but their stage presence is also what could be compared to Shakespeare.

To break it down in order to be specific I posted a video of the song, "What's the Difference" I believe this to be a modern day short story; in this Eminem receives the ending stanza and I suppose I should have warned earlier that this song may be deemed offensive so if you aren't 18+ please stop here and hopefully you didn't watch the video...Other than the stage presence Eminem, Dre, and fellow gangstah's have, the actual stage construction is extremely in-depth allowing each performer to have a place on stage that draws attention to them. Eminem starts his section by interacting one on one with Dr. Dre forming an "aside" which happens throughout Shakespeare's plays and Xzhibit is left to stand on the stage and let Eminem and Dre stand in the light. Eminem starts by stating, "Stop the beat a minute!" to draw attention to himself and Dr. Dre ensuring all ears hear what they has to say in their dialogue. Dre and Eminem interact several times before Eminem takes control and ends the song with a solo. Just as Shakespeare has done Eminem and Dre have created their own poetical styles that do not follow your typical format.

For this I would like to reference the song "Renegade" by Jay-Z featuring Eminem. The pronunciation of words is what makes Eminem's style unique when compared to others. Breathing is one of the most vital practices amongst rappers and to become well known they must learn how to manipulate not only their speech but language. He may not have declared himself to have a Shakespearean sonnet but he his style is ever changing which has to do with the influence of rap. Rap takes on numerous different forms as you may look at popular rap like Lil' John who in my opinion has next to no talent other than the ability to sell his image or Immortal Technique who uses politics to sell rap. Each artist has a specific style to fit who they are personally just like Shakespeare created an image for himself in his works of art. It is a rarity that our earth is graced with lyrical geniuses and Eminem is one of these geniuses even if they are some of the most offensive imaginable to mothers across the country.

See I'm a poet to some, a regular modern day Shakespeare
Jesus Christ the King of these Latter Day Saints here
To shatter the picture in which of that as they paint me as
a monger of hate and Satan a scatter-brained atheist
But that ain't the case, see it's a matter of taste
We as a people decide if Shady's as bad as they say he is
Or is he the latter - a gateway to escape?
Media scapegoat, who they can be mad at today
See it's easy as cake, simple as whistlin Dixie
while I'm wavin the pistol at sixty Christians against me
Go to war with the Mormons, take a bath with the Catholics
in holy water - no wonder they try to hold me under longer
I'm a motherfuckin spiteful, delightful, eyeful
The new Ice Cube - motherfuckers hate to like you
What did I do? (huh?) I'm just a kid from the gutter
makin this butter off these bloodsuckers, cause I'm a muh'fuckin
Renegade

                                                                   R.I.P. Nate Dogg
                                                                       3/15/2011

Different lions

During my furlough from blogging I have been doing quite a bit of research on Eisenhower’s foreign policy in the coup de tat of Guatemala in 1954. The reasoning behind Eisenhower’s decision was because the United States could not have a Communism influence between Texas and the Panama Canal. How a society functions varies how a story is told in various parts of the world; the story of Jesus is told significantly different than it is in a Southern Baptist Church found in Alabama.

What I am getting at is Shakespeare’s time period influenced who his stories effected and how a person was influenced. This got me thinking about the current situation in the Middle East and Northern Africa and how a majority of the people wish to have as little Western influence as possible. Yet we continually force our ideals and morals upon them with no regard for their personal interest. This is how things go though and a society must learn to adapt because regardless of what the common person wants they will not get their way; especially when there is a world super power on the opposing side. The difference between Shakespeare’s life and ours’ is the fact he was influenced directly by the people who surrounded him and rarely spoke of Asia, India, or any other varying culture because he wrote about what he knew or was able to study (Ovid, Greek military history, yada yada ya). Whereas in today’s world our government is making decisions to influence what is happening in Libya even though we do not truly understand their culture.

While reading my group’s play, The Tragedy of Coriolanus, Martius (soon to be known as Coriolanus) says, “Upon my party, I’d revolt, to make only my wars with him. He is a lion. That I am proud to hunt” (I.1. 232-235). Whereas today we may be proud to hunt the lion but we do not understand what makes the hunt of the lion special. We rather are able to kill the lion without ever laying eyes on it removing any emotional consequences that could come from the kill. Our media and government are able to remove the public from what truly happens with the words they choose to use they are able to distort the truth that reaches the public. I was talking to a friend who is in Japan currently and was telling me the differences in media between the US/Japan over the earthquake. The following words are written by my friend Mitch P.

“it seems as though the Japanese media is using terms like help, recovery, action and CNN is using words like destruction, terror, mass death. Perhaps it is just the different perspective that I have been so used to seeing, but it looks like the Japanese media is trying to spread helpful tips instead of dramatic daily conversation fillers.

There seems to be a general calm here given the circumstances that have hit this country. Granted I am very far from the real affected area, however, the Japanese people seemed determined to rebuild quickly. They are not looking to point fingers at which organization failed and where. They do not care if FEMA didn’t follow exact protocol. They are simply rolling their sleeves up and doing what they can to recover. I think very few cultures throughout the world have that type of audacity in a time of disaster. Instead of worrying about comparative casualties and where this earthquake stands statistically in history they are developing plans.”

This blog has gone in a direction I did not intend and seems to be a bit of rant on the the bull spit that is constantly happening in our world but I believe this shows the power of language. The Japanese are looking at their situation with positivity while in America we continue to find the negatives in each story because that is what makes more news (i.e. Money) but to change the world we must attempt to understand one another or, live and let live because no two nations will ever have the same ideals.