Kristina Weitzel RAP Blog

            All around us there are anti-bullying messages, whether it is on the television, the radio, or on the internet. Bullying is something that either can affect someone directly or indirectly, but in the end someone is getting hurt. One effective way of spreading these messages is through the use of videos or poems that can be seen and heard all over. Showing their viewers and readers the pain that bullying causes and speaking out about it sticks with them and leaves a lasting impression. Other strategies such as pictures and political cartoons are affective to but they only show certain aspects  of bullying, not all. 

            One powerful poem is called "To This Day" by Shane Koyczan; it’s a spoken word poem that was later posted to Youtube as a video. It was one that has so much genuine emotion just in the poem itself that it inspired the To This Day project. Koycazan starts off by talking about how he was bullied in school, to telling us how other people were bullied and how it affected them. His thesis is that the saying "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me," is not true. That bullied kids feel as though they have to empty their emotions because they feel like they would not hurt if they did not have emotions. One of the most powerful lines that he uses for this is, “so broken heart strings bled the blues as we tried to empty ourselves so we would feel nothing don’t tell me that hurts less than a broken bone” (Koyczan). This line has the power it has because of the strong emotion that comes out when it is read or spoken out loud. The pathos here shows that the pain from the words said by a bully hurts more than anything else that a bully can do. Anyone that has been or still is being bullied can relate to this because they are going through it. Words stick with people longer than the broken bones ever would; they have a lasting impression on the victims of bullying. It affects them in so many ways and the result is that no matter what greatness they do, they always think that they are not good enough. These kids, “grew up believing no one would ever fall in love with us that we’d be lonely forever that we’d never meet someone to make us feel like the sun was something they built for us in their tool shed”(Koyczan). No kid should ever think this way especially when the idea is placed in their heads by people who have no self confidence in themselves, so they take it out on other people.

Koyczan adds to the pathos of the poem using anecdotes of the people that he grew up with or knows. The story of his friend was emotional because, “despite a loving husband she doesn’t think she’s beautiful because of a birthmark that takes up a little less than half of her face kids used to say she looks like a wrong answer that someone tried to erase but couldn’t quite get the job done” (Koyczan). This woman is a mother, her husband and kids do not see the birthmark they see the beauty that she has inside. No matter how many times bullied kids are told that they are beautiful, they will never fully believe it. They will always think that it is what is seen on the outside that make a person who they are and determine if they are what society calls beautiful. She was picked on when she was eight years old, Koyczan tells us her story from their time in third grade “when she got called ugly we both got moved to the back of the class so we would stop get bombarded by spit balls”(Koyczan). They were both effected and they stuck together to get through it. The use of these stories adds to the emotion and strength of the poem because Koyczan does not just to stick to his hardships he tells the stories of others as well. He shows us the effects that bulling has on people later on in life, it never really goes away. That, “our lives will only ever always continue to be a balancing act that has less to do with pain and more to do with beauty” (Koyczan). It shows that nothing is perfect despite what people may think or say, it nothing will ever perfect. One of the last things he leaves his audience with is, “if you can’t see anything beautiful about yourself get a better mirror look a little closer stare a little longer because there’s something inside you that made you keep trying”(Koyczan). The assertion of telling people they are beautiful, and that they are still here for a purpose puts them one step closer to believing it. It sticks with the audience more because it is coming from someone that has gone through it most of their life. When people see that not only Koyczan made it through bullying, but his friends as well, it gives bully victims a different view on what is going on. It makes them realize that they have the strength to carry on and overcome the bullying.

 The media sets up what beauty is, it puts the idea in the minds of these little kids and if a kid does not look a certain way then bullies think that is okay to pick on them. The song" Beautiful "by Christina Aguilera uses pathos to tell people that, “You are beautiful no matter what they say”. It is a sympathetic tone but it also gives strength to bullied children by telling them that they should not listen to bullies because it does not matter what they say. Since it is a song it easy for the audience to remember the lyrics so it can always be with them when they need it to be. In the lines, “Trying hard to fill the emptiness The pieces gone, left the puzzle undone that's the way it is”, goes back to what Koyczan discusses in his poem. Both use strong words and the allusion to get what it feels like to be bullied across to their listeners who may not have been bullied, or bullies themselves. The song is there to get bullying victims through the pain and to realize, “We're the song inside the tune full of beautiful mistakes.” No one is perfect but that is what makes us beautiful. This is the main point in both the poem and the song. Both impact the listeners greatly since we feel the emotion and hear the pain in the voices of Koyczan and Aguilera.

            Adam Lambert is well known for being a runner up on American Idol, his music and by the fact that he is openly gay. He does not hide who is, and is not afraid to express himself in every aspect of his life. The third text is Lambert’s It Gets Better video on the It Gets Better projects website. He uses his authority as a gay celebrity to get people to listen to what he has to say about bullying. He really relates to the gay youth who are going through bullying now when, “Even I get bullied. You look under any, you know, ah, comment section on any article there’s bullies in there telling me that I’m a fagot, that I’m ugly, that I’m gross!”(Lambert). He may be a celebrity but that does not stop people from bulling him. When kids see that well known people get bullied too, it gives them the sense that they are never truly alone despite how they feel. That someone out there knows what they are going through and understands what it feels like.  Analogy is used in the video by the way Lambert is comparing himself to bullied gay youth. That if he can get through the bullying and be where he is today, they can rise above it too. One of the very last sentences in the video is, “So don’t let those bullies and those ignorant fearful small minded people prove you wrong. YOU have to be strong and pay attention to the positive and in doing so you will push through and you’ll rise up and you will live your life to the fullest” (Lambert). It is what he did and what he is still doing. It gives bullied youth the proof that is needed to get through and to not believe bullies.

            In both Koyczans poem and Lamberts video, they show the effects that bullying has on the youth. Koyczan shows the hardships bullied kids will go through and that they may seek normal lives but they never fully get over what happen to them. While Lambert is saying that once you get through bullying that everything will be okay and you will be better. Koyczan is more pathos centered, Lambert is more authoritative and Aguilera is a little bit of both.  Her song "Beautiful" is emotional and is known because it is a song that she sung. Their techniques work with who they are, they need to have different ways of getting their ideas across or it would be boring to people. All three pieces want us to know that we need to be who are, that is beautiful, real, and necessary to be ourselves. The last thing these text want is to let bullied people feel alone, “There are a ton of us out here in this world, that are just like you, that believe in you” (Lambert). They all give people the strength and hope to not just throw in the towel and end it all.

            The last text is Jodie Foster’s semi-coming out speech at this year’s Golden Globes. It may not be directly geared toward bullying, but it is for being who you are no matter what. While she was giving her speech, the camera fanned out to show fellow actors and actresses crying and laughing. Pathos was a big factor in the speech, “I have a sudden urge to say something that I’ve never really been able to air in public. So, a declaration that I’m a little nervous about” (Foster).  She was open about being nervous so the audience knows that whatever her declaration is, it is important. She got the audience to listen to what she had to say and received all types of different reactions for it. It was a serious topic but she did not make the entire speech that way, “I’m single. Yes I am, I am single” (Foster). She was kidding but it makes her easier to relate to and lightens the mood. She does not openly say that she is lesbian, but the audience gets that she is later in the speech if they did not know before. Especially when she says, “in those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family and co-workers and then gradually, proudly to everyone who knew her, to everyone she actually met” (Foster). The girl that she is talking about was her; it is other girls who had come out too.

            Adam Lambert and Jodie Foster are both members of the gay community, which makes their ethos strong. Being gay is something that they live with, so they know what it is like to be ridiculed, and bullied. All of the text styles may seem different but they have the same ideas, that you have to stay strong and who you are. No one in these text changed who they are because people did not agree with them, it only made them stronger. Bullied youth need to see strength in the people they look up to and all the text do that. Seeing their favorite celebrities admit to being bullied helps them have a better connection and gives them hope. When a celebrity talks, people listen because they have authority. Their voices will be heard over the average Joes in the world first. Every text is a voice that is being heard and recognized because the topic of bullying is strong. They all bring something different to the table, but unity and not giving up is a common theme throughout all of the texts.

            Though Shane Koyczan is not a well-known celebrity, his poem is the strongest out of all the texts mentioned. Through the use of pathos and anecdotes, he builds the strongest text that more than one person can relate too. When you hear Koyczan speak the poem, it is more powerful than just reading through it quickly. The pain is in his voice and the stories he tells are touching enough to make people want to stop bullying. A factor that made it effective is that when he wrote this poem it was turned into a project against bullying.  The poem makes people want to stop bullying because the stories are relatable and it shows the outcomes bullying can have on people. More of the most effective text has pathos and anecdotes, when they are easy to relate to, it is easier for people to feel the pain and want to make a change. Authority is a big factor but if people find what authority figures say hard to relate to, it is not taken as seriously as it could have been. If a text strong enough to be made into something as big as a project, more things will get done with that text then others.

            All four of these texts circle around to being yourself and not letting other people tell you who you have to be. Bullying is a problem that is getting worse as time goes on but as the bullying increases, so does the efforts to stop it. Common fears of bullying are that it will never get better and that they will always be alone. These texts do not mention each other and they all happened at different times, but the ideas that they have are the same. They just express them in different ways, but it shows how they are all connected to show that “The sun will always shine” (Aguilera). They all give bully victims the hope and proof that they need to know they are not alone. That they are going to get through this and that it will all be better in the end.

 

           

Works Cited

"Beautiful" Lyrics." CHRISTINA AGUILERA LYRICS. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2013.

Cecil B. DeMille Award: Jodie Foster - Golden Globe Awards." YouTube. YouTube, 13 Jan.

2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2013.

To This Day Project - The Poem." To This Day Project - The Poem. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb.

2013.

Adam Lambert: "It Gets Better"" It Gets Better. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.