“The rap industry is primarily centered around flexing wealth and most of the music videos pertain to the rapper being surrounded by alcohol and women. Only a few artists use the platform and opportunities given to them for a good cause like spreading awareness on Mental Health. In 1800, Logic aims to reach out to people dealing with dark thoughts and suicidal tendencies and let them know that there is a resource available to them. The song’s title originates from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a hotline in America for anybody going through emotional distress. The song is powerful, with a video that conveys a similar measure of intensity and feeling. The song itself is intended to speak of a phone call between a self-destructive individual, and the person on the other end of the phone, working for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The song and accompanying video worked together to create real change. Hundreds, thousands of viewers reached out to Logic via social media in order to thank him for his work. The rapper’s work is unprecedented in the rap industry, and that did not go unnoticed.
A music video wouldn’t typically be 6 minutes long, however Logic presents a short film on the taboo topic of suicide. This music video attempts to show people that even though they are going through a hard time there will be someone to help you. The title of the song is a direct dial to a suicide hotline in The United States and shows the teens mostly that the number is always available to them in need of help. This is shown through the whole music video when the protagonist is portrayed as being homosexual and therefore is cast out of society. This appeals to the LGBT community who truly do suffer from high suicide rates. It points to teens that feel different from society and are therefore victims of oppression.
Logic presents this in a way as to appeal to anyone who has been close to suicide and proves that they are able to get over the pain and battles with will and perseverance. The powerful 6 minutes presents not only the pain and suffering most teens and adult face but presents an option to those who are on the brinks of death giving them a number to help them with anxiety and other worries. The music video is presented as more of a short film dedicated to helping his fans and giving people the opportunity to seek help. Delivering the video in this format allows Logic to go beyond the lyrics. It offers more content, and therefore more room for interpretation. Most importantly, it expresses more positivity and support.
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Although the music video seems to display a simple message, Logic expresses different themes throughout each part of the video. The viewer is presented with a small supportive family which is broken apart soon as the father finds out his son is a homosexual. This leads to the protagonist of the music video running away from home and portrays the isolation he feels as the family support goes away. The song begins with the suicidal individual explaining how they feel, stating that they “”just wanna die”” and in the first line go on to explain how they have been “”praying for somebody to save them””, which symbolizes a feeling of loneliness, and feeling of hurting deep down. Although he is able to find another family to fill this, that is broken too. Through all his ups and downs, he is ultimately able to reunite with his father as he is able to accept his son for who he is. Family is used in the video to represent unity and never-ending support. Although the video seems negative at first, the “happy” family at the starts appears even happier at the end. This portrays how far society has come and the father’s acceptance of his child by the end of the video.
The video interestingly displays quite a few opposites that are easily apparent, such as black and white, hetero and homosexual, old and young. Sexual orientation is the most emphasized one. The heterosexual men are unable to understand the situation of their homosexual sons, agitated upon discovering their sons are not straight. The hostile environment becomes apparent as one of the kids runs from home as he feared his dad finding out about his sexual preference. This was especially relatable to many of Logic’s viewers. By providing a concrete example of a situation that might negatively influence one’s emotions, Logic is able to speak directly to a certain audience. He might be suggesting that homosexual individuals tend to struggle particularly often, and is reaching out a helping hand.
Another theme explored in the music video is that of Isolation and the effect it can have on someone, especially a child. The protagonist is put in a tight situation where he is being outcasted by society in light of his inability to express his true emotions. Because of the lack of people understanding his situation he feels cornered by society and doesn’t know what to do with the predicament before him. The video attempts to reach out to the audience and appeal to them to reach out for help and not issues to ourselves in the time of need. We see through his various facial expressions and body language that this is a significant struggle for him. It offers the audience a good opportunity to walk in his shoes, to the best of their ability. This further appeals the emotion.
The second time around, the chorus takes a more positive tone, “You don’t gotta die, I want you to be alive”. This indicates the response from the person on the other end of the phone, explaining to the individual how it isn’t worth killing himself over this and attempts to reassure him that things will get better and suicide won’t solve anything.
The song progressively gets more and more positive in Alessia Cara’s verse with lyrics l like “seeing light in the darkest things”, symbolizing the ray of hope that still exists in even the darkest moments of life and how it isn’t worth losing everything over. Alessia and Khalid are portrayed in the video on screens in the hallways of the schools, almost as if they’re singing words of inspiration and encouragement to the students of the school passing by.
Unity is also represented through the school’s running team and the interactions of the protagonist in school. The cinematic shots of the bond between boy and his love interest in school is highlighted through cinematic shots of the two of them shaking hands and locking thumbs (1:03). This acts as a symbol of love and displays the unity of the LGBT community.
The video also aims to highlight the injustice and discrimination faced by the LGBT community. The struggles of the homosexual boy in the video display his lack of acceptance in school and society that he feels and how he is a victim of bullying for the same reason. The video further highlights the mental instability victims of such discrimination go through and the toll it takes on their day-to-day life. When things get from bad to worse, people resort to extreme measures such as the possession of a gun as seen in the music video. The video thus aims to showcase how to both reach out for help in tough situations and shines a light on the acceptance of all people regardless of their sexual orientation.”
Sexual Orientation Issue In Today’s Society
Sexual orientation has been and will continue to always be a controversial topic in today’s society. Sexual orientation is a person’s sexual identity in relation to the gender to which they are attracted to (Introduction to Sociology). There are known to be a few outcomes of sexual orientation but the most common ones are heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. There are two models in which determine a person’s sexual orientation. Kinsey model of sexual orientation and the Klein model of sexual orientation both display a scale that is based on Heterosexual to Homosexual. This scale is used to describe a person’s sexual orientation based on their experience or response at a given time. A complex part of human nature is based off of behavior, identity, feelings, attraction and also relationship. Although both models are very similar, they do have their differences of course. One of the major differences between the two models is that the Kinsey model is limited to its options and is only involved in only behavior. On the other hand, the Klein model is more dynamic and multi-variable which includes feelings unlike the Kinsey model. The Kinsey model ranges from 0 to 6, while the Klein ranges from 1 to 7. The Klein model introduced the fact that the sexual priorities of a person change due to age and cannot be fixed.
At first, the concept of sexual orientation was between homosexual vs heterosexual. The term homosexual refers to sexual attraction with people of the same gender, whereas heterosexual is the attraction of people of opposite gender. Yet, Alfred Kinsley argued that sexuality is more of an endurance rather than a strict concept of gay or straight. As a matter of fact, the Kinsey group introduced the first-ever advanced heterosexuality/homosexuality rating scale (Weinrich et.al 158). The scale indicates that sexual orientation isn’t only measured as homosexuality and heterosexuality. As it was mentioned in our textbook, his 1948 work known as Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, Kinsey writes, “Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats … The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects (Kinsey 1948).” By taking his scale test, I got a 0, which falls under the exclusively heterosexual category. This means that I am only attracted to an opposite gender which I was not shocked by. My entire life, those were my feelings and attractions; therefore, I am not surprised that I got placed into that category which features the same feelings and attractions I have had ever since I was old enough to understand attraction of the opposite sex.
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Another scale which focuses on a person’s sexual proclivities in a way more informative and detailed way is known as the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid. The scale was created by Dr. Fritz Klein and was first introduced in his book called “The Bisexual Option”. As it was mentioned on an institutional website called, American Institute of Bisexuality, “For each person, it sets out the seven component variables of sexual orientation, listed as A through G down the left side. The three columns indicate three different points at which sexual orientation is assessed: the person’s past, their present, and their ideal (GenderBodyReligion)”. There are 21 resulting combinations and the person gets a scale of 1-7 which indicates their sexual orientation. For this scale I also got 1, which means I am under the “Heterosexual only” category. The reasons behind my results were not something that I was intrigued because it mirrors the Kinsey’s test perfectly. One of the main difference is that the Klein’s scale also takes into consideration about your past, present, and future. Thus, in my opinion it is uses more variables to accurately demonstrate a person’s sexual orientation or otherwise called sexual identity.
Although it can seem similar, but the terms “sex” and “gender” are very distinctive from one another. As it was mentioned in our sociology textbook, the term “sex” has to do with physical or physiological differences between males and females”. On the other side, the term “gender” involves behaviors, personal traits, and social positions that society attributes to being female or male”. A person’s sex and gender do not always correspond with one another. For example, a baby boy can have male physicality but as he grows up he might identify female aspects which can have an effect on his gender identity, but not his sex. Regarding sexual orientations, a homosexual male can have the physical body and appearance of a male which means his sex is the same, but his gender changes due to a feminine aspect building up in his life. This also refers to the idea described in our textbook that the terms sex and gender are interchangeable. Of course, this also has to do with the social norms in different societies. For instance, as it was illustrated in our textbook, “in U.S. culture, it is considered feminine (or a trait of the female gender) to wear a dress or skirt. However, in many Middle Eastern, Asian, and African cultures, dresses or skirts (often referred to as sarongs, robes, or gowns) are considered masculine”. In my opinion, this is the biggest problem for maintaining sex and gender binaries is because of the society that we live in. Something can be normal in one society but taken and seen completely different in another. Moreover, a kilt worn by Scottish man would have been considered feminine in our society today; however, in Scotland it is not considered feminine and it is taken normally over there and is accepted and seen as unordinary over there. Thus, it is difficult and causes problems for a lot of people to maintain sex and gender binaries in society.
Whether you are bisexual, heterosexual, or homosexual; human is human. Our priorities change naturally due to the fact that we are human and we have feelings that we encounter every once in a while, but with time and age our feelings, who we identify as, our behavior and attraction all change. The reason that these rating scales are able to be accurate and visible is due to the concept of social interaction amongst the opposite gender. As accurate as these scales are, there are definitely more theoretical researches that must be completed in order to verify the sexual orientation of a person. Learning about the dynamics of sexual orientation of others and even yourself will allow you to be more diverse and appreciation the differences of sexual orientation that goes on in the world. It will aid in the understanding that no two people in the world are alike and that everyone has their own way of being unique, which is what makes them who they are. At the end of the day we are all human and what people define themselves as and who they are as a person should not matter based on sexual orientation and sexual interests.
