Wilson's and Shaw's posts actually led me to watch the video for the first time. I'm not sure I'm sold, but their analyses at least provide a reason to pay closer attention to the song, and try to get beyond the parade of questionable celebrities. I'm curious how it would have been received if it had been released audio-only, since I'm pretty sure the visuals had quite a bit to do with turning people off.
Wilson also posted this video from a British documentary on Reich. I will repost is here because it is pretty sweet. This is part 2 of 6, all of which are available if you click through to the video's YouTube page. This portion features a clip from a performance of Terry Riley's "In C" and interview footage of Brian Eno discoursing on Reich.
2 comments:
But there must be some irony in the arguments, like Shaws, that make "Yes We Can" out to be aesthetically interesting, right? I see it in the same way as the Celine Dion 33 1/3 book--take a piece of shit culture, overly theorize and intellectualize it, and then make it inaccessible to the very masses who once enjoyed it. Regardless, I don't dislike it because of its musical qualities. I dislike it because it is vague, empty, and falsely hopeful rhetoric. If I remember correctly, the word "Hope" even appears on the screen at one point. As you know, uses of hope is one of my interests.
I don't know, that irony might be there, but if so, I don't think it's intentional. Reading the Celine Dion book, I don't think Wilson's project was in any way intended to make her inaccessible to the masses (though the book likely is). The empty rhetoric -- along with the total Obama idolatry -- is why I think the video is gross as well.
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