Weekly Blog Post 6

"Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride is constructed into a context involving a three-part "musical PSA" on child abuse. The music video starts out with the introduction of a little girl, is briefly interrupted by some scenes of Martina McBride narrating the story, and ends with information for the National Child Abuse Hotline.

All of these three components are developments of logos and really help tie the video together. Martina McBride acts as the voice for the thousands of children that hide their pain from abuse. While acting as the voice, she also helps guide the story along by serving as a transition between scenes and narrating the story. The story of Angela serves as an example of one little girl and her battle with abuse. This helps pull the audience in and really make them feel the emotions that these abused child feel every day. Therefore, it deepens the understanding and emotions behind what Martina McBride sings about. After pulling on your heartstrings and making you think about this issue, there is a child abuse hotline displayed. This is the silent offer for you to speak up for a child as well.

While being very organized in how the video is presented, Martina McBride's "Concrete Angel" also comes off as very professional. The effects of the video, such as the little ghost boy at the funeral walking through the person, do not come off as "cheesy". While still being professional, the video designer of "Concrete Angel" also made the video personal. The clips of Martina McBride and her emotions involved with telling the story make the video more of a flashback than a computer-generated, staged video. This shows a good tie between logos and ethos and how they contribute to each other.

Pathos is not shown in this video in typography, but rather in the words themselves. Word choice is something that contributes greatly to the way we perceive things. Comparing Angela's abuse to a "secret storm" helps put an image to the "winds and rain" she endures: It's like a hurricane that tries to pull her in several ways violently and strong. But Angela is the "concrete angel" that endures this violence and appears, at first, unaffected by it. Looking deeper into the concrete, however, there are cracks and signs of the violence she has endured. Eventually, this storm breaks these cracks and she falls (dies). I think that this word choice really helps build understanding. You also need to look at auditory part of the video. Martina McBride never mentions a name in her lyrics. Everything is just referred to as “she”. This word choice helps the song pertain to any child, anywhere. It’s not just one child; it could be your child’s best friend. It could be anyone. This video's purpose is definitely meant to be a public service announcement in disguise. It is meant to make you think and maybe take a second look into the lives of the children around you.

Overall, these are just a few examples of logos in this music video and how they contribute to ethos and pathos. Using logos in these ways help build a better reaction from the audience- in thought and emotion.

Weekly Blog Post 5

The music video "Concrete Angel" By Martina McBride shows many examples of ethos, pathos, and logos throughout. The two most predominant of the three modes of communication are logos and pathos.

Logos is shown in the overall structure of the music video. The video starts out introducing a little girl named Angela and the life she lives. With this form of structure, the audience gets a chance to meet and know more about the little girl that may secretly live among them. It isn't a coincidence that most "life lessons" are built into stories: people can easily relate to them and begins to understand the deeper meaning behind them. This is why I believe the songwriter and video designer chose to use this as the form of logos. It allows the audience to put themselves in the story and maybe accuse themselves of being the teacher who didn't ask about the bruises or the neighbor who simply turned off the light. It makes the audience think about the world around them and how, in this case, child abuse that might be occurring just next door.

The title of this song/ music video also shows another form of logos. The title "Concrete Angel" isn't very straight forward and makes the audience wonder what the song/video is about. At first, you may simply think about an angel made from concrete, similar to what may be in a church. But listening to the story of Angela you come to learn how she is the concrete angel. "Through the wind and the rain, she stands hard as stone": Martina McBride uses these lyrics to describe Angela as the concrete angel enduring the "secret storm" of her abuse. Using word choice to describe Angela as the concrete angel helps put deeper meaning behind her lyrics and ties in pathos, another mode of communication into this video.

Emotion is often said to be one of the best ways to open an audience's heart to a message. Animal abuse commercials don't show cute, happy puppies. They show abused, sad animals to get your emotions running and make you want to help save that cute kitten on your television screen. I would say that pathos is the strongest form of communication in "Concrete Angel". While in some situations a lot of emotion can be more harm than good for communication, in this video it is necessary. It shows the story of Angela, shows how this epidemic of child abuse has touched Martina McBride, and how child abuse can affect the audience's life as well. It brings awareness and while you may not end the video without tears in your eyes, it gives you hope that you can help end child abuse.

Overall, I think that without these forms of pathos and logos, "Concrete Angel" would not be as touching as it is. Understanding logos, pathos, and ethos definitely helps form a better presentation: whether it is an essay, a painting, or in this case, a music video.