Opinion of Video Clips

1.  "People Will Say We're in Love" from the film Oklahoma, in my opinion, very much had the nature of a certain form of poetry.  I know that we have all been told time and time again that poetry does not have to rhyme, but a lot of it does.  This was my first signal that the song was a form of poetry, but also the small lines and some were repeated quite a few times.  Especially the title of the song, "People Will say We're in Love."  Poetry usually does have one repeating line, but then again so do a lot of songs that are not a form of poetry.  I think it either can or can't be just depending on how you want to interpret it, but in my opinion, it is very much like poetry.  This is; however, very acceptable as lyrics to a song.  As stated in the book, this is diegetic, or source music, which is part of the action on screen and thus audible to the characters in the story.  It is also considered a leitmotif due the musical theme being associated with the specific characters.

 

2.  The knowledge of Billie Holiday's troubled life would have had a big effect on the impact of this song.  Even today, people will take what they know of a singer's life, and try to distinguish whether or not they believe the song was written about the singer.  I can almost guarantee, that upon reading her autobiography, and then hearing this song, most people came to the conclusion that this song was written due to heartbreak.  That may or may not be the case, but this is what others would assume.

 

When it comes to Chris Porter, I believe it just depends on who is listening to the song. So many listen to music for different reasons.  Some may not have to have a profound understanding of his sexual preferences in order to have their own understanding and enjoyment of the song.  Others on the other hand, especially due to the era, may listen very closely and be confused without knowing this information and would then begin to speculate.  I don't think it matters one way or the other because it was his song and his preferences, but it would depend on the listener as to whether or not knowing his preferences were important.