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Monday, October 5, 2015
Pathos: Space Oddity
Pathos is by far the most frequently used and most effective rhetorical element in "Space Oddity". This is in large part due to the medium, a song, that lends itself to pathos. However, the statement Bowie was making also holds little room for logos or ethos. The song is slow and aims to provide the listener with the feeling of actually being in space. This causes the audience to think about the strangeness of space travel because they are imagining themselves in place of the astronaut. Then, at the end of the song, the astronaut gets lost in space. Not only is this a stark reversal from the beginning of the song, where he was a hero, the listener feels an emotional attachment to the lost astronaut. It makes people wonder whether there could be tragic downsides to this Space Race.
I completely agree that music as a medium lends itself to being pathos friendly. I like your set up of talking about the flow of emotion during the song. My one critique would be to add more to what is happening at the beginning of the song. Later in your post you say he was a hero, expand on that and give a specific example.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Chase! I think you could go a little bit more in depth on how the song appeals to pathos. Maybe cite some specific lyrics that incite emotional reactions in the listener?
ReplyDelete-Taylor Rezeppa
Listening to this song I definitely agree that there is a huge appeal to pathos and there is a focus on the listener's emotional attachment to the astronaut. I also agree with Taylor that you could've included specific lyrics and relate it to the scene that is conveyed in the video. This was a good post, I just think you could've analyzed the song a little bit more in relation to the emotions Bowie wanted the listeners to feel.
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ReplyDeleteWell thought out analysis, music is definitely a medium that lends itself to pathos and this song is a perfect example. I thought you made good points about the music itself creating the feel and atmosphere of space.I also thought you made an interesting point by talking about how the song is not entirely pro-space race and could imply tragedy. My only critique would be the same as the other commenters, you have good thoughts but a little more elaboration would be helpful.
ReplyDelete-Chris Burns
I really enjoyed your analysis of this song's appeal to pathos. I like how you mentioned that the audience empathizes with the astronaut in the song, because the singer is able to take the listener on an emotional journey, starting as a hero and ending up lost and in danger. I agree that this approach to sending a message does seem to be the most effective, because the feelings associated with the song sticks in the listeners' head, further engraining the message.
ReplyDelete-Amrita Mitra
I really enjoyed your analysis of this song's appeal to pathos. I like how you mentioned that the audience empathizes with the astronaut in the song, because the singer is able to take the listener on an emotional journey, starting as a hero and ending up lost and in danger. I agree that this approach to sending a message does seem to be the most effective, because the feelings associated with the song sticks in the listeners' head, further engraining the message.
ReplyDelete-Amrita Mitra
Bowie definitely used the slow melody of the song to construct his pathos. His choice of the first person perspective allowed his audience to empathize with the spaceman. Your post explained this well, well done.
ReplyDeleteBowie definitely used the slow melody of the song to construct his pathos. His choice of the first person perspective allowed his audience to empathize with the spaceman. Your post explained this well, well done.
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