Rhetorical Analysis Macklemore

1510-120
10/18/2013
Rhetorical Analysis I picked the music video “Same Love” by rapper Macklemore and director, Ryan Lewis. Macklemore is confident and proud of the fact that he is fully supportive of everyone’s sexual orientations. Although Macklemore’s audience is more toward homosexual people, the message also reaches out to all different kinds of people because he put it in a song, so everyone who listens and likes the song will hear the message. Throughout the music video and lyrics, he supports people’s decisions and lets them know their sexual orientation, whatever it may be, is okay. In this video, Macklemore preaches the message of equality amongst individuals through music by saying regardless of one’s sexual orientation all people
His uncles could be the influence for this song, or maybe Macklemore just feels very strongly about gay rights and equality. He doesn’t try to hide his feelings toward gay rights and he incorporates his opinion in many of his songs. In ‘Same Love’s lyrics, he says that he thought he was gay in the third grade because he was artistic and he kept his room clean, which are things that are considered more feminine. Also featured in the song is Mary Lambert, who sings the chorus. Mary is a lesbian who grew up in a Christian household, so she can relate to the video. The songs chorus has these lyrics: “I can’t change, even if I tried. Even if I wanted to, she keeps me warm” (Same Love), this shows ethos because the fact that she is a gay woman and she knows the struggle that homosexual people go through first-hand. She sings in this song makes it easier for her to relate to her homosexual audience and for them to bond and trust
There are visual appeals in this video as the main characters life is shown in clips as he grows up. One clip shows him playing football with his father, another clip shows him playing spin the bottle, and fighting with his mom as a teenager. Macklemore uses these clips to show how this man is the same as every other teenager, despite being gay. The video goes on to show the man all grown up, working a job in his own office and having a boyfriend. These clips show that this man is just a regular man and that if the boyfriend wasn’t shown; no one would know the difference. Macklemore also expresses his feelings about religious and politics views toward gay marriage through visual techniques and powerful lyrics. “The right-wing conservatives think it’s a decision and that you can be cured with some treatment and religion”(Same Love). Gay marriage is a common battle between people that will probably never end. Some say that it is a decision to be gay; some say people are born with it. As Macklemore says, some people still consider it a disease and that it can be cured with religion or therapy. He challenges other’s religious and political views by giving his opinion about how they are wrong about being gay being a decision. Macklemore adds short video clips all the way through the music video of past historical controversies. He uses African American rights videos, women wearing illegal bathing suits,