Music

For video with lyrics, please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojx4CMMuORU

     This music video was made by Miley Ray Cyrus, an American singer and actress. In her teens, she was famous for playing the lead role of Hannah Montana, a television show about a girl who is trying to live two lives -- a rockstar and a normal girl (Wang, n.d.). The song The Climb is part of her album Can't Be Tamed, which was released in the year of 2010.

     The music video uses several creative techniques to attract my attention. One is the singer. I've heard of Miley Cyrus a lot of times ever since I was young, and I used to be a big fan of her show Hannah Montana. This shows ethos since Miley Cyrus' credibility was established since before. Second, the video uses pathos because the lyrics are made up of emotional language such as the lines "Every move I make feels lost with no direction. My faith is shaking." It evokes sadness because it brings a picture where one is lost in life, not knowing what to do. Lastly, it uses logos. In YouTube, it says that there are 209,393,197 views of this music video. Since many people have watched it, the tendency is for a person to think that The Climb is a nice song.

     The message of this song is that life is a journey. There will be mountains and mountains of problems we will try to push away. Sometimes we succeed, but sometimes we fail. We continue to push on until we reach our end goal, but what matters the most is not the reward or the goal, but the process in attaining it. It's the hard work, the perseverance, and the determination that matters. 

     I agree with the message. Many times when we have become successful individuals, we tend to look back, and what makes our position or our achievements special is what we have been through to attain it. Some might argue that it's the end that matters because without it, we would have nothing to live for. That is true, but as humans, we tend to cherish what we worked hard for than what we don't. It's the hard work that makes the end worth treasuring.

     The message is biased because it is subjective, and it assumes that all people go through the events she mentioned in her song; such as being disappointed, fighting hard for what they want, and living life as if everyday is an uphill battle. Not everyone feels that way. Some people are just really optimistic and think that there really are no problems in life.

     This message is being sent to encourage people to never give up, and to cherish every moment of their journey towards their goals. It also serves as a realization that problems are inevitable, and sometimes, we are destined to fail, but all those problems, failures, will one day be something to be thankful for.

Sources:

hollywoodrecords. (2009, February 13). Miley Cyrus - The Climb - Official Music Video [video file]

            Video posted to http://www.youtube.com

Wang, J. (n.d.). Miley Cyrus Biography. 

            Retrieved from http://www.people.com/people/miley_cyrus/biography/