What do you think of when you think about country music?
More than likely you’re thinking of American flags, lots of beer, large trucks, and generally just a very conservative message/GOP-sponsored message for a very conservative crowd (not always, but most of the time). When Tyler Childers released the music video for In Your Love, which was based on the relationship between two gay men who work in coal mines in the South, it would be an understatement to say, it stirred up the crowd. There was a lot of support; however, calls of boycotts, protests, and rage on social media followed this music video put out by Mr. Childers.
Country music has not always been this pro-establishment country music used to be anti-establishment. For example, Johnny Cash wasn’t known as much for his patriotism, but rather for his protests of actions taken by the US government. He wanted social change, not comfort.
It’s confusing and extremely frustrating. But, let’s go back and focus on “In Your Love,” which is a perfect example of a civil artifact. This music video’s plot and the lyrics not only satisfy qualifications for really incredible sounding music but also offer strong advocacy.
Advocacy for the LGBTQ+ Community. Advocacy for overlooked workers (the coal miners) who will always suffer from health complications from their occupation.
To tie this into the UN’s SDGs, this advocacy is in line with Goal 10 (reduce inequality within and among countries) and Goal 8 (decent work and economic growth). This resonating message in the song, whether you agree with it or not, creates a space for overlooked individuals to feel heard, and to make their voices known.
The song creates a rhetorical situation for the audience to enter, Are these individuals worth advocacy? Do they deserve representation for their problems? Does it take a country artist willing to put his career on the line, to bring these people into the spotlight?
This article was so well-written. You immediately captured my attention when you asked me to think about country music, and then you came in with a direct contradiction to what I think of normally. From there, you did a great job of analyzing rhetorically like how it challenges commonplaces and how it connects to the audience.
I love how you used a real life example that depicts the conflicts of the SDGs so well! This is so interesting because you were absolutely right about the commonplace that country music represents conservative ideals, and I wouldn’t have heard of this example of someone defying that stereotype from anywhere else.
I’d heard about controversy surrounding a Tyler Childers song, but I hadn’t really looked into it. This is well written and did a great job familiarizing me with the situation. I like how you noted country’s change in root message overtime with the reference to Johnny Cash’s anti-establishment music.
I loved how you choose i different form of artifact like the music video over a photo or ad campaign. I also think your topic was well selected and not talked about enough. I loved how you add hand gestures and spoke slowly and passionately. I liked how you included commonplaces revolving around conservative America and country music. Keep up the good work!
Class presentation: I like the prompt that you had us think about in the beginning. I like how you show that there is a breakthrough in country music for more advocacy. I enjoyed how comfortable you were with presenting and the message that you portrayed just from a music video.
I like how you created a trivia in the beginning of your speech and asking people what genre your song is instead of telling them immediately. I also like how you explained why the music video is special and mentioned about the commonplace. I also like the structure of your speech which brings out the message really well.
class presentation ^
Class Presentation: Your analysis of the music video was very comprehensive and the connection to the SDG’s was full circle. Using commonplaces of country music was effective, and serves a juxtaposition of the purpose of the music video and its rhetoric overall. Despite the topic being potentially polarizing, you keep an objective lens on the civic artifact.