Theoretical Analysis Of The Song 'Glory' By John Legend

Improved Essays
Student's Name

Instructor's Name

Course

Date
Tune-Up
The song named “Glory” is an inspiring production by Common and his colleague John Legend. John is a famous American singer who has had other releases. Common is known as a rapper while John Legend is a songwriter. The song is a single from the album Selma. Selma refers to a movie documenting the history of events in the 1965 era. At that time, there was a protest march from Selma to Montgomery which led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The song was the theme song for this movie. Its release was on 14th December 2014. It is recorded by Columbia Records. It is categorized as a hip-hop or soul music genre. It went live on famous platforms including the 57th Annual Grammy
…show more content…
In doing this, critical thinking is important in drawing up the conclusions based on the information given. For the analysis of this song, we will use the conflict theory. It will help us know the state of the current situation, discrimination practices, economic impact and the solution to the situation (Abraham, 2015). As we can see from the song, there is evidence of racism. The Blacks have no access to civil rights and government services because of their color. The lyrics,” Sins that go against our skin become blessings”, portrays an element of racial discrimination. When Common talks of Selma, he refers to the protests from Selma to Montgomery demanding for voting rights of the Black Americans. It shows that they were biased based on the color of the skin which is racism. The lyrics are, “Selma is now for every man, woman, and …show more content…
They decide how people relate to each other and the way of doing things. They are passed from one generation to another to keep them. They form the basic rules of interaction across the society taking into account factors like gender, age and so on. In the past era, some things became a reserve for the White Americans and not for the Blacks. The White American culture enjoyed superiority to the Black Americans. These led to practices such as reservation of resources, public spaces, facilities and such. One was to follow them. However, they were not favorable and so there were conflicts between the two groups. A perfect illustration is that of Rosa who beats all odds to go against the norms. As an African-American, they wouldn’t occupy front seats in a bus. They were for the Whites. It is demonstrated in the lyrics, “That's why Rosa sat on the

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Selma is an Oscar nominated movie for Best Picture; the first film directed by a black female director (Ava Du Vernay) in history. The movie is based on the year of 1965 during the Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches, it shows the last final stages of the Civil Rights Movement. The sequence chosen for this analysis is the sequence where Dr. King (David Oyelowo) arrives to Selma. At his arrival to the “Black Belt” region of central Alabama Dr. King and his colleges direct themselves to the Hotel Albert where he gets “sucker punched” in the face by the manager of the establishment; an establishment that only served the “whites”. The sequence in general represents the violence that was still exhibited towards the “negroes” during the segregation…

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Controversy Surrounding Selma Critics are turning a sharper eye towards historical inaccuracies in Hollywood films such as “Selma” as people increasingly rely on them for accounts of the past. Ava DuVernay’s film, “Selma,” depicts the pivotal ending moments in the fight for voting rights and some of the major leaders who drove the fight forward. Martin Luther King Jr. and Lyndon B. Johnson play prominent roles during this vital time. While critics have cited several historical inaccuracies in the portrayal of Johnson in “Selma,” the film has fallen victim to more than just basic criticisms.…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This is particularly evidenced by stanza two which has lines that state, “All depends, all depends on the skin, / all depends on the skin you're living in” (Sundiata 21-22) and act as a refrain and recurs in stanzas two, four and five. Through such repetition, some kind of crescendo builds up in the short second stanza to the end of the poem and short and long syllables show how fast the life of a black man can change when he runs into prejudiced police officers. Therefore, the rhythm complements the message by criticizing racial profiling from the start to the end of the poem. Sundiata also demonstrates masterful selection of words that create varied tones and which combine with voice to criticize racism. Sundiata uses words to develop a…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Conclusion This paper showed how the song Glory by John Legend and Common is a rhetorical expression of the society in the modern time by reflecting at the past and drawing parallels. The Civil Rights Movement has been popular in history for the manner in which the peace symbol was popularized by it. Several artists and activists used the symbol to illustrate their and the society’s anti-establishment ideologies, and this was due to the fact that many wars that had erupted in the nation were causing losses to common people and making money for the rich. As the critical assessment shows, the song’s beginning lines were about the intention promoting peace in the society.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race, racial inequality and racial hierarchies exist in modern society and perpetuate a divide between races and social classes. Additionally, social and judicial structures contribute to marginalization, inequality and poverty as well. Therefore, conflict Marxism and critical race theory would state that the Manes case is not about five dollars, it is the result of a much larger socially constructed…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Propaganda, scare tactics, and other techniques have been used towards them to help the dominant group maintain dominance over the general population. This essay is to demonstrates the idea of contact zone which to Pratt, “cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other.” In 1963, Josephine Baker, presented a speech at the March On Washington, a march for jobs and freedom. In her speech she had discussed the different trials and discrimination she had to face as a black woman.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Selma Movie Racism

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Throughout American history, African-Americans have constantly struggled with the issues of racism and discrimination. Since slavery hundreds of years ago, African Americans have always been treated as inferior by white men. Even today, racism continues to be a big problem in American society. Selma, a film directed by Ava DuVernay, retells the events surrounding the march from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama. Led by Martin Luther King Jr., African-Americans along with civil rights activists of various race march to protest African Americans being denied their right to vote.…

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rebel Music In Daniel Felsenfeld’s narrative, he describes himself as a rebel, when it comes to the taste of music during his time. In the beginning of his narrative, Felsenfeld feels he is missing out on different aspects of culture, particularly music. At seventeen, he was a traveling, amateur, pianist. He was getting tired of playing the same music and started drifting from his passion.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The text urges readers to look deeper into an individual and confront the unknown. This book has great significance and relevance, especially in the trying times that we are now experiencing with race relations in our country. This book is a must…

    • 1186 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Brilliant Essays

    Even though people’s outside appearance is different like hair colour and skin colour are different but people are all the same. They should not identify people by their race as a person who has an Asian looking can born in Australian and share the same culture so people should not judge people by their look and race. In addition, all people are the same and equal, this is the concept that this song want to bring out. It is very important that people are not being racism as habit because habit could be easily created by a kind of interplay between two or over time although it is not neither free will’s result nor structures determined it. Also, its dispositions that are both shaped by past events and structures, and that shape current practices and structures and also, importantly, that condition people’s very perceptions of these.…

    • 1754 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Brilliant Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Texts Set Assignment Text Name: The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros What it's about: Chapter 4 focuses on Esperanza reflecting on her name. During the process, she reveals “marks” of her identity: how she identifies herself, what she values, where her family is from, and other topics that are relevant to this project. She talks about how she does not like her name and that others could pronounce it correctly.…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They are not justified by their actions and the song addresses the situation in clear. I got the idea that the song wants everyone to work together as one to make change in our nation for the better. The 2016 video of the song, Where is the love shows many artist and known celebrity names of any color to signify the…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Selma Movie Analysis Essay

    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Selma, a film directed by Ava DuVernay shows us Dr. Martin Luther King’s success in fighting all who challenged him in order to give the African American people the right to vote. This film outlines the harsh three-month period of King’s (with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s help) struggle in an attempt to secure what he believes is a basic American right, the right to vote, against extremely violent white supremacist. This was all made much more difficult due to the fact that he demanded his protests be non-violent. Towards the end of the film, more Caucasian people that believed in his cause also joined the protests, the most notable one being the march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery. Finally, President Lyndon Johnson (the…

    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “We Shall Overcome” was a song that stood by time and cultural meaning. This been sung for many years that deal with protest and hope. But the main focus was changing the underwent and the place of American civil rights movement. This song mean so much to the African-American community that have so many reason with history, how the words is means within the song, and how the people come together as one.…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I think the message that bring out from this song is to be proud of who you are. In the lyrics that said, “I’m Latin America, people without legs but can walk, you can’t buy the wind..”, is proving that the song writer is giving the listener a message. The listener could analysis that the fact who you are and where you come from cannot not change. People should be proud of who they are because you can not buy it. Maybe other hate this certain race…

    • 161 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays