Friday, February 27, 2015
"Working Class Hero": Audience Analysis
John Lennon wrote "Working Class Hero" to connect with the working class of the 1970s and give them hope of rising from inferiority. "Working Class Hero" is a folk blues song that speaks to the working class audience about the disparity between the elite and the hard-working middle class. As the gap between the social classes was widening, people were willing to express the discontent of their lives. These "rebels" believed they could mitigate the economic and social struggles. In this song, the audience is the working class who is being encouraged to challenge the status quo of inequality.
While the ruling elite tortures them, the working class has a change to get "to the top" if they follow Lennon's plan for social change.The audience idolizes Lennon for being the "hero", representing their quiet voice calling for action. Although they don't have many resources, the working class can become the champion of social progress by protesting for more ownership and better conditions.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like how you gave background information about the widening gap between social classes because that helped me better understand the issue at hand. Obviously the audience is working class people since the song is called working class hero, but you repeated working class way too much throughout the analysis. I just googled synonyms for working class and it came up with "blue-collar workers" and "laborers."
ReplyDeleteI think it is very interesting how John Lennon is targeting the working class and really trying to get them to rebel and make a change like he does in a lot of his other songs during the time.
ReplyDeleteI think it's also important to keep in mind how popular John Lennon and the Beatles were at this time. John Lennon was even quoted as saying that they were "more popular than Jesus." This much popularity drew a very large crowd with diverse backgrounds but united under the same struggle.
ReplyDelete