Rhetorical Analysis October 29, 2009

Luci Carl
Caroline Dadas
English 111
28 October 2009
Give Peace A Chance

In John Lennon’s Give Peace A Chance music video, images and footage from peace rallies, political protests, and police violence stress to the viewers the need to “give peace a chance”.
In order to understand the power of this video, we must consider John Lennon as a musician was well as a pacifist.  John Lennon strongly disagreed with the Vietnam War, and he made that well known.  He performed at political rallies protesting against the war and contributed much of his music to the promotion of peace instead of war.  In an interview in honor of the anniversary of John’s death, Jon Wiener states, “Lennon tried to figure out ways that he could use his power as a celebrity to help end the war.”  Contributing to his anti-war protest, Lennon passed out and posted fliers to people all over the nation stating, “THE WAR IS OVER (if you want it)”.  By this he meant that the American people have the ability to demand peace and end the war, all they have to do is do it!  With this in mind while we watch the video, it is no mystery what Lennon is trying to say.  It didn’t take long for the Nixon administration to become concerned.  With so much of the population adoring Lennon and agreeing with his anti-war position, he became a big threat to Nixon.  John Lennon frequently spoke unfavorably about Nixon and what he is doing in office.  Thus, the government watched Lennon closely.  The Nixon administration even tried to have him deported, but to no avail.
John Lennon’s opinionated boldness was not restricted to the anti-war movement alone.  It was not out the ordinary to hear about a somewhat outrageous quote from John Lennon.  In a 1966 interview, Lennon pronounced,

Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue with that; I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now. I don’t know which will go first, rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.

This, with no surprise, was not taken well by Christian Americans.  Following this comment, Lennon’s music was banned from some radio stations for a short period of time.  In writing a biography about Lennon, Anthony DeCurtis calls him a “restless voice of change and independent thought. He is an enemy of the status quo, a bundle of contradictions who insisted on a world in which all the various elements of his personality could find free, untrammeled expression.”  Like any individual who openly states his or her opinions, some agreed with him, some did not.
With knowledge about John Lennon’s role as a public figure, we can now rhetorically analyze the music video Give Peace A Chance.  The video appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos.   First, the video has logos because of its video footage.  The clips they show from the political rallies and protests actually happened!  Therefore, the viewer can see that what’s happening isn’t only affecting Lennon, it’s affecting the American public!  This also gives the video political purpose.
Second, if the viewer has any knowledge of Lennon and his beliefs, he or she does not wonder why Lennon wrote Give Peace A Chance.   As mentioned earlier, John Lennon dedicated his celebrity towards ending the war.  As an adored musician and lyricist, what better way could he have portrayed his opinions?  Additionally, in the last stanza John mentions several famous names of celebrity individuals including Bob Dylan, Dr. Timothy Leary, Tommy Cooper, Alan Ginsberg, and some others.  After mentioning these names, the song sings, “All we are saying, is give peace a chance”.  Here, Lennon is communicating that several people the public loves also agree with the need to give peace a chance and thus further convinces the audience.  All of these factors give the work ethos.
Lastly, the music video appeals to pathos, and in no little way.  In fact, it primarily depends on pathos to get his desired response from those who view it.  The video evokes much emotion from its public audience.  Lennon is clearly speaking to the public in this work because he uses actual footage of the public and how non-peacefulness has hurt the public.  He especially wants to get the message across to civilians who are on the fence about their opinions on war.  Much of the footage shows police beating people who appear to be everyday citizens on the street.  However, from this footage, combined with that which shows protesting, it can be assumed that these people were protesters.  However, the video fails to show why the individual people are being beaten.  It is very probable that the individuals may have caused a disruption or crossed a line.  Perhaps he or she had been previously warned but kept causing problems.  While all this may be true, Lennon and the video directors decide to omit this information.  Thus, the viewer feels negatively towards the police and blames them for disturbing the peace.  Which is precisely how the video makers and Lennon wanted the viewer to feel.  Furthermore, Lennon performs the song from a bed in a hotel.  He performs Give Peace A Chance from the bed with his wife Yoko.  A poster of himself, two posters, one saying “HAIR PEACE” and the other “BED  PEACE”, and roses are behind them.  These sayings may seem random, but they actually have significance.  Lennon was crazy about peace.  One could say his motto was, “Whatever you do, do it in the name of peace!”  In the video he and Yoko are dressed in white comfortable, pajamas.  The white clothes contribute to the peaceful appeal as well as make them appear pure.  Also, the couple is surrounded by people.   Some are band members, the rest are just people jamming to the music and clapping.  Whoever he or she was, he or she joined in singing at the chorus.  This shows the unity and happiness of these people, and all they are saying is “give peace a chance!”  The viewer can feel their excitement and fun.  As a result, this empathy the viewer is feeling, along with the songs message, makes he or she want to give peace a chance!  This is an excellent appeal to pathos.
Perhaps what makes this video so unique is its context.  What many viewers don’t realize when they watch the music video is that it’s John and Yoko on their honeymoon.  John and Yoko were so committed to the effort to end the war, that they dedicated their honeymoon to it.  Jon Wiener expands,

They decided to declare that their honeymoon would be a weeklong protest against the war in Vietnam. But instead of marching outside the American embassy at Trafalgar Square in London, they decided that they would stay in bed to protest the war. This outraged the mainstream media…

So this was John and Yoko’s customized way of protesting against the war.  Its abnormal nature caused a lot of publicity, which is what they were going for.  Now that’s dedication.
John Lennon wanted to aid the progression of the anti-war movement, and he certainly did.  Give Peace A Chance alone helped the effort.  Weiner states, “It did become the anthem of the anti-war movement. Half a million people sang ‘Give Peace a Chance’ in a demonstration at the Washington Monument in the fall of 1969.”  So, through John Lennon’s creation of the song and complying an affective music video with use of rhetoric, he achieved his goal to persuade the public opinion of war.

Works Cited
DeCurtis, Anthony. “Biography.” John Lennon: The Official Site. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. <http://www.johnlennon.com/html/biography.aspx>.

Wiener, Jon. “John Lennon 1940-1980: History Professor Jon Wiener Discusses Lennon?s Politics, FBI Files and Why Richard Nixon Sought to Deport Him.” Interview by Amy Goodman. Www.democracynow.org. 8 Dec. 2005. Web. 23 Oct. 2009. <http://www.democracynow.org/2005/12/8/john_lennon_1940_1980_history_professor>.

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