Jeannette Van Sickle
Friday, October 4, 2013
Audience Analysis of "War"
The listener that Edwin Starr was trying to reach with his 1970's hit "War", were people leaning towards anti-war or have not yet made opinions on the Vietnam war specifically. His catchy tune definitely targets the younger audience at the time. Starr addresses the young people in his song when he sings "war has caused unrest with the younger generation" and "war has shattered many young man's dreams". These lines hit close to home with both the young American men, and their mothers who do not want to see their sons go off to war. The young people of the time were the ones going to war at the time, so his song is most relevant to people under the age of 20. I think that the song resonated well with both the black and white population. Although Starr is black himself, all races listened to his music, and it was a particular goal of his record label, Motown Records, to build a multiracial audience. The song brought the brutal reality of war to the eyes of young people in the 1970's.
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First of all, I love you source choices! I think you're definitely right about this song being geared towards those who were not entirely against the war, maybe because they hadn't made up their mind yet. I wonder what kind of effect this song would have had on the older population. My guess is Starr's lyrics moved them too. It's pretty strongly worded, and the background images and video are awfully powerful regardless of the audience's age!
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Great job on explaining the many different demographics that this song could appeal to. It is amazing how one piece of music can affect so many people in different ways. Music is a powerful tool of persuasion and I believe you have analyzed it wonderfully.
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