For my seminar essay, I plan to discuss how the sociopolitical climate of the Vietnam War-era in the United States directly led to the popularization of rock music in the 1960s and 70s. When I began to brainstorm ideas for this project, basically conveying the intent of my essay in a visual form, I originally planned to create a physical box, with a collage of images symbolizing my topic. I later scrapped that plan when I realized, due to the nature of my subject matter, where I would be focusing heavily on the role music played in the conflict, I could much more effectively convey my point through a combination of audio and video clips. I compiled live performances of anti-Vietnam War protest songs and film clips ranging from interviews, to war footage, to protests into my Bridge 3 project.
Many of my sources directly relate to and discuss the songs of protest that were written in response to the Vietnam War, which is portrayed through the songs used in the video- all of which were protest songs against the conflict. This includes Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater revival, Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones, War Pigs by Black Sabbath, and Give Peace A Chance by the Plastic Ono Band. My primary sources also include interviews of Vietnam War veterans, and their experiences in the field, as well as interviews of musicians who were writing the music. Both of these are portrayed in the video with interviews by both a veteran and John Lennon.
I interpreted the “cabinet” as an old fashioned television, which was implied by the cuts between videos with TV static. This would function as a “cabinet” in the sense that it was storing all this information, from war footage, to interviews, to protest songs, with the intent to inform the viewer of the information related to my thesis.
