Sexual discrimination is wrong: a main message of same love music video

“ A preconceived idea of what it all meant, for those that liked the same sex.” Macklemore’s music video “ Same Love” depicts the qualities of the LGBT community in America and the need for acceptance and equal sexual freedoms. This text expands upon the idea that homosexuals share the same roles as heterosexuals in society. This text depicts a positive perspective on the gay community as an active entity of American culture. It also explores the problems of acceptance homosexuals face in society. After a brief summary of Macklemore’s music video “ Same Love”, I will analyze the text utilizing the Rhetorical method and the Gender and Sexuality method. I will then introduce outside sources that contradict my interpretation of the text, as well as evaluate how the text and its medium relate to the hegemony and ideology of the 21st century.

Summary

Macklemore’s music video “ Same Love” narrates the life of a homosexual male from childhood to old age. The text begins by depicting the childhood of a boy who came to terms with his sexuality at an early age. The main character struggles with his homosexuality at first because of his mothers denial and social disapproval of his peers. After years of bullying he eventually finds a homosexual partner. His family and friends begin to accept his identity and praise him for staying true to himself. The story then follows the two lovers through marriage and a long lasting relationship. The lyrics and the video portray the common struggles people face in society concerning sexual identity, acceptance, marriage, and love.

Rhetorical Method

The music video “ Same Love” by Macklemore possesses very obvious Equipment for Living. This text teaches its audience that marriage and love is appropriate for all people regardless of race, gender, or in this case, sexual orientation. Throughout the music video we follow the life of a seemingly normal man. Although this man is of homosexual orientation, he dresses and behaves like an average straight male. This Equipment for Living emphasizes the idea that homosexuals and heterosexuals are socially and behaviorally identical. The title of the text, “ Same Love”, symbolizes that all sexual preferences should be considered equivalent. It defines those who associate with the LGBT demographic as good hearted people. Furthermore, this text informs us that we ought not to discriminate against homosexuals and that it is inappropriate to use offensive words like “ faggot” in media or our every day dialogue. The text impresses its message upon its viewers with the use of logos, ethos, and pathos.

This text utilizes logos to impress its message upon its viewers. The storytelling is mostly linear. We follow the main character throughout his life and up to the death of his partner. This linear organization allows the viewer to fully understand that homosexuals are behave and treat others no differently than straight people throughout all stages of life. If the text had focused on just the main characters childhood or high school years, it would have had less of an emotional appeal or influence. The non-linear elements of this text are flash backs to days of Martin Luther King Jr. The placement of these flashbacks are logical because they coincide with the lyrics. When rapping about discrimination in America, Macklemore said, “ The same fight that led people to walk outs and sit ins, It’s human rights for everybody, there is no difference!”. The flashback to an African American protests during the equal rights movement of 1923 appeals to an audience beyond the LGBT community. Furthermore, it implies that discrimination of sexual preference is no more justified than the historical discrimination of black people. The extensive evidence of ethos in this text increase the effectiveness of it’s linear organization.

The relatability and believability of the plot, setting, characters and conflict represents evidence of ethos within this text. The plot is believable because it includes all aspects of a normal person’s life span. The holistic nature of the plot adds credibility to it’s message that the social roles of homosexuals and heterosexuals are the same. The text is set in present day America. The standard appearance of the middle class family home that the main character grows up in is relatable to Americans of all sexual orientation. This makes the text more credible to people who many not have initially agreed that homosexuals share our same lifestyles. Furthermore, the text addresses a pertinent social conflict. Sexual discrimination is a relatable issue for many Americans and most of us who have not directly experienced it are still aware of it’s prominence. The significance of this conflict in popular culture makes the conflict supports the believability and credibility of this text. The characters provide more evidence of ethos in this text. Although I can not relate to him, the main character’s expression of emotions is very believable. This is due to good acting and increased the music videos credibility. The extensive presence of ethos in this text resulted in the maximum effectiveness of emotional appeals.

Pathos is the most important aspect of this text. The intense social impact that this video had is largely due to the emotional appeals it evokes. When the main character is a teenager he is shown crying in his bedroom. This was after his own mother questioned him over and over again on why he chose to be a homosexual. This evokes the emotional appeal of sadness. This dimension of sadness can be found throughout the text and instigates viewers to feel empathy for the homosexual community. “ A world so hateful someone rather die than be who they are”, evokes the emotional appeal of fear. The audience fears that their insensitivity to homosexuals is the reason for the their pain and possible suicide. The music video “ Same Love” by Macklemore utilizes appeals to the emotion of happiness to persuade its audience. This is evident at the end of the video when the main character gets married and joyfully lives with his husband. These scenes evoke emotions of happiness in the audience. After seeing the obstacles he had to overcome, viewers will likely feel a sense of joy for the homosexual. Once evoked, feelings of happiness amongst may impose upon people a sense of humanity and influence them to support sexual equality.

Gender and Sexuality Method

This text actively represents the gay community. Homosexuals are present throughout the entire text. They are depicted as normal Americans with typical roles in society. The behavior of the main character seems indistinguishable from heterosexuals. He wears the same clothes and shares the same values as the rest of society. These evident values of family, love and acceptance are desirable by all social groups. These factors express the message that sexual orientation should not effect social equality.

Unfortunately, the representation of the homosexual community in media is often the opposite of this text. There are endless examples of texts in all mediums that belittle those with non-typical sexual orientation. In Eminem’s music, he often refers to people who did him wrong as “ faggots”. Those who are gay or act in a less masculine way are offended by demeaning hip hop songs every day. This reality is the reason that Macklemore raps about decreasing the presence of homophobic language in media.

The two opposing groups in this text are the homosexuals and members of society who do not approve of their sexual orientation. The main character is considered the good guy in this text, while the school yard bullies and those who disagree with his love life are portrayed as bad people. This group of discriminators share an identity which is dependent on the existence of homosexuals. At the beginning of the video up until the main character is allowed to marry his partner, his mom, his peers at school, and state governments maintain sexual power. IT was unacceptable for him to pursue homosexual endeavors and he had no control or power over this. Those who support the homosexuals hold the political and sexual power in this text. Power is handed over to the main character when he finds social acceptance and his homosexuality is not hindered by other people.

One of the main intentions of this text was to raise awareness and decrease sexual discrimination in this country. It eliminates common stereotypes and persuades the audience that the behavior, appearance and values of homosexuals are no different that heterosexuals. This text provides a negative portrayal of homophobic people and influences potentially homophobic viewers that their discriminative opinions are not justified. All these aspects improve this groups social standing by influencing the public to increase their acceptance of homosexuals. However, the music video’s dialogue has produced arguments which conflict my evaluation.

Article and Connection

The article “ Is Macklemore’s “ Same Love” Actually Homophobic?” by Matthew Tharett contradicts my analysis that this text has a positive impact on the gay communities social standing. This article impresses upon its readers the opinion that much of the video’s dialogue is actually homophobic and reinforces gay stereotypes. At the beginning of the text Macklemore sings, “ When I was in third grade I thought that I was gay Cause I could draw, my uncle was, and I kept my room straight”. This dialogue is a way for Macklemore to draw distinctions between himself and typical homosexuals in order to make it clear to the public that he is heterosexual (Tharett, 2015). Macklemore’s use of stereotypes in this text are surprisingly never falsified. When Macklemore explains that he knew he wasn’t gay because he was good at little league, the text reinforces the stereotype that homosexuals are bad at sports (Tharett, 2015). Macklemore does not reiterate that this stereotype is not true at any time through out the text. This is a main reason why this text is believed by some to have actually reinforced the negative social outlook of the gay community.

Evaluation

The analysis of this text has increased my knowledge of popular culture. “ Same Love”, the music video by Macklemore, exposes the heterosexual hegemony of our culture. The most popular media of our current culture, hip-hop, typically shames homosexuality. Partly due to this, homosexuals still face issues of acceptance. The text makes this evident through a visual narrative of a homosexuals life. The text describes heterosexual dominance as an undesirable hegemony and promotes the progressive ideology of sexual equality. Due to these qualities, the text makes the world a better place. This text goes against the stereotype that gay people are all camp and feminine. This was an important point which made me like the text a lot. The target audience for this text is clearly the homophobic or anti-gay demographic in America.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Macklemore’s “ Same Love” music video utilizes ethos, logos and pathos to persuade its viewers that sexual discrimination is wrong. The text appeals to emotions in order to influence people’s opinion of the gay community. The Gender and Sexuality method within this text depicts homosexuals to have normal roles in society and positively portrays them as good people. The article by author Matthew Tharett suggests that this text has had a negative impact on the social standing of homosexuals. However, after evaluating the text it is evident that it persuades public opinion towards a more positive outlook on sexual equality. It is now up to the American people to take the lessons learned from this text and ensure that they are implemented and enforced amongst all areas of media and society.