Intro
In 1988, Michael Jackson released his hit song “Man in the Mirror” which peaked at the top of the charts at number 1 in the U.S. “Man in the Mirror” is a song with strong themes attached to the lyrics which address topics such as poverty and world-hunger. This was a song that was written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard, however, Michael Jackson did believe strongly in the message that it delivered to the audience. The message that “Man in the Mirror”
wishes to convey to its’ audience is that there are people in this world that lack food, shelter, and other essential life needs and those who have the power to make their lives better should do so and stop pretending that these issues are non-existent.
“Man in the Mirror” contains some powerful rhetorical tools to help sway the audience in its’ favor and to help analyze a few of these we will look to Jay Heinrichs’ Thank You For Arguing for some of the key elements.
The lyrics can be found by clicking here.
In 1988, Michael Jackson released his hit song “Man in the Mirror” which peaked at the top of the charts at number 1 in the U.S. “Man in the Mirror” is a song with strong themes attached to the lyrics which address topics such as poverty and world-hunger. This was a song that was written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard, however, Michael Jackson did believe strongly in the message that it delivered to the audience. The message that “Man in the Mirror”
wishes to convey to its’ audience is that there are people in this world that lack food, shelter, and other essential life needs and those who have the power to make their lives better should do so and stop pretending that these issues are non-existent.
“Man in the Mirror” contains some powerful rhetorical tools to help sway the audience in its’ favor and to help analyze a few of these we will look to Jay Heinrichs’ Thank You For Arguing for some of the key elements.
The lyrics can be found by clicking here.
Rhetoric
Ethos is a powerful tool of persuasion that is used well in this particular piece of music. Heinrichs asserts that "ethos employs the persuader’s personality, reputation, and ability to look trustworthy."(40) Michael Jackson uses his own personality, reputation and ability when he sings this song as there are many that look up to him and even study from him. It is comparable to how a boy sees his favorite musician playing the guitar and then he tries to learn how to play the guitar in an attempt to mimic him. This method appeals greatly to Michael Jackson fans and people who take the messages conveyed through his songs seriously.
Ethos is a powerful tool of persuasion that is used well in this particular piece of music. Heinrichs asserts that "ethos employs the persuader’s personality, reputation, and ability to look trustworthy."(40) Michael Jackson uses his own personality, reputation and ability when he sings this song as there are many that look up to him and even study from him. It is comparable to how a boy sees his favorite musician playing the guitar and then he tries to learn how to play the guitar in an attempt to mimic him. This method appeals greatly to Michael Jackson fans and people who take the messages conveyed through his songs seriously.
Values are another great rhetoric device that is shown well in this song. Heinrichs indicates that values are about "what's morally right and wrong."(27) The moral in here is that people are starving and it is wrong not to help and support them in their time of need. That it is right to try and make a change within oneself and around the world. This is illustrated perfectly in the story about the Scrooge. The Scrooge goes on with his life being greedy and not caring about others people’s lives, as a result he lives a very unhappy life. However, once he makes a change and begins to start giving more to others, his life becomes better and he begins to feel good about himself. The idea is great and would sit well with anyone trying to better themselves and change themselves for the better.
Choice is another good piece of rhetoric used in this song. Heinrichs voices that giving the audience a choice, is allowing your audience to act towards the future and allows for change to occur within the audience. (28) Within “Man in the Mirror” it is constantly reiterated that a change needs to be made, so that the world can be a better place for everyone. The audience is given a choice, to change or not to change as Shakespeare might have said. When it is stated in the lyrics “That there are some with no, Home not a nickel to loan.” It reminds me of those commercials where the lives of starving children are shown and sad music is playing in the background and they are asking the audience to donate. It is very appealing towards humanitarians and those seeking to improve life for all human beings.
Choice is another good piece of rhetoric used in this song. Heinrichs voices that giving the audience a choice, is allowing your audience to act towards the future and allows for change to occur within the audience. (28) Within “Man in the Mirror” it is constantly reiterated that a change needs to be made, so that the world can be a better place for everyone. The audience is given a choice, to change or not to change as Shakespeare might have said. When it is stated in the lyrics “That there are some with no, Home not a nickel to loan.” It reminds me of those commercials where the lives of starving children are shown and sad music is playing in the background and they are asking the audience to donate. It is very appealing towards humanitarians and those seeking to improve life for all human beings.
Thoughts
About a month ago, I was having a respectful discussion with a friend about this particular song and he applauded the song on the message it was trying to send out, but really tore into it when it came to the method by which change was supposed to arise from. He challenged the idea that simply changing oneself will not necessarily improve anything for another person and that change does not always come with the desired outcomes that we think would occur. My friend then further exclaims that perhaps it would be better to look at the external factors that affect poverty and starvation such as the economy, nation, geography, and GDP (Gross Domestic Product) rather than looking for internal change within oneself.
My first thought, was that my friend was just being too critical of a song that was written for entertainment, but after hearing his aforementioned thoughts on the subject I began to think just like my friend and realized that perhaps I wasn’t being critical enough.
Using Michael Jackson’s reputation and popularity to garner attention toward a cause is a good idea. A choice is given to the audience for a call to action in the bettering of the world and the moral values will appeal to anyone who shares the values that poverty is something that needs to be looked at with a microscope and hopefully changed. “Man in the Mirror” does a great job in relaying that a lot of times we tend to ignore or forget that there are people less fortunate than us somewhere in the world that suffer from abuse, neglect, poverty, and starvation. The song serves as a very appealing approach to these hard issues and as well as a reminder to the audience that we have to do what we can to care for our fellow human beings.
However, while this song does have all these great rhetoric devices within, it lacks a method or concept for how to go about making this great change that it is trying to encourage the audience to make. The song does convey that in order to start this great change you must first start with yourself and become the type of person that helps others, but it lacks any greater depth that goes beyond this concept. It needs to encourage change at the institutional level of how things are run and whom they are run by within those institutions. Such as how during the Great Depression, President Roosevelt implemented a series of programs called the New Deal which affected the individual lives of the American people.
The important message from “Man in the Mirror” is that regardless of how you go about trying to better the world, the important thing is that you make an effort to bring change. Because all human beings deserve to at least have the chance to live respectable lives and breed joy into the world.
About a month ago, I was having a respectful discussion with a friend about this particular song and he applauded the song on the message it was trying to send out, but really tore into it when it came to the method by which change was supposed to arise from. He challenged the idea that simply changing oneself will not necessarily improve anything for another person and that change does not always come with the desired outcomes that we think would occur. My friend then further exclaims that perhaps it would be better to look at the external factors that affect poverty and starvation such as the economy, nation, geography, and GDP (Gross Domestic Product) rather than looking for internal change within oneself.
My first thought, was that my friend was just being too critical of a song that was written for entertainment, but after hearing his aforementioned thoughts on the subject I began to think just like my friend and realized that perhaps I wasn’t being critical enough.
Using Michael Jackson’s reputation and popularity to garner attention toward a cause is a good idea. A choice is given to the audience for a call to action in the bettering of the world and the moral values will appeal to anyone who shares the values that poverty is something that needs to be looked at with a microscope and hopefully changed. “Man in the Mirror” does a great job in relaying that a lot of times we tend to ignore or forget that there are people less fortunate than us somewhere in the world that suffer from abuse, neglect, poverty, and starvation. The song serves as a very appealing approach to these hard issues and as well as a reminder to the audience that we have to do what we can to care for our fellow human beings.
However, while this song does have all these great rhetoric devices within, it lacks a method or concept for how to go about making this great change that it is trying to encourage the audience to make. The song does convey that in order to start this great change you must first start with yourself and become the type of person that helps others, but it lacks any greater depth that goes beyond this concept. It needs to encourage change at the institutional level of how things are run and whom they are run by within those institutions. Such as how during the Great Depression, President Roosevelt implemented a series of programs called the New Deal which affected the individual lives of the American people.
The important message from “Man in the Mirror” is that regardless of how you go about trying to better the world, the important thing is that you make an effort to bring change. Because all human beings deserve to at least have the chance to live respectable lives and breed joy into the world.