Language and representation

I chose the song 'back to black' by Amy Winehouse, having recently watched the documentary which was produced following her sudden death in 2011. Her death was significantly close to to the date of her divorce. This suggests the song will be about heart break and pain, with themes of sadness and some form of regret.

"We only said goodbye with words,
I died a hundred times,
You go back to her
And I go back to black"

The first line implies that the break up was conducted with little emotions, the significance of the word 'goodbye' in this line is key. It's ironic that this language has been used because although she was saying goodbye she would still be able to see this specific person, however she does eventually end up dying would then not be able to see them. 'I died a hundred time' is a very over exaggerated phrase, but when put into this context can be relatively understandable considering the state that Amy was in during this period of her life, which I only can imagine as being upsetting and gloomy. The way in which the number of times that 'goodbye' using a ' hundred times' is quite specific, and could indicate that the relationship has been rocky and that he couple have had their differences. The choice of colour that is used in this song is also of great significance, if the colour had been yellow for instance, we would recognise this as being a 'happy and bright' colour. However the use of the colour black can be representative of a very negative and gloomy character such as Amy who battled with alcohol and drug addictions. Her partner may have been a distraction from this, meaning that when were together her mood changed and in a positive way she became a different person in comparison to how she was on her own. The colour 'black' is representative of Amy and her past as well as her struggles.

Comments

  1. Unknown2 February 2016 at 03:04

    you have said how this song represents Amy well. The only thing I can think of is to maybe say what effect this will have on the reader and if they will feel the way Amy would want them to.

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  2. Abbie brain2 February 2016 at 03:15

    The producer is represented as someone who is having a very hard time when writing the song which was clarified later in he news as she was pronounced dead, she had been well known to the press to living her life to the full and often getting in trouble with alcohol. A lexicle field is used relating to death; the words black, died and goodbye all carry connotations of death, this is conveyed in this piece of text. Black is typically related to a negative atmosphere and darkness, which relates back to the theme of death

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  3. Unknown9 February 2016 at 08:38

    Some good choices of focus. Abbie's analysis is very terminological and the lexical field is significant. You need terms like hyperbole for over-exaggeration and you need to talk about the ambiguity, offering alternative interpretations of how the receiver might see her as being represented - what she might want to project and what a reciever might percive could be two different things.

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