Arctic Monkeys, Muhammad Ali, Enrique Iglesias, Vocal Point, and Saturday Night Live

Literature as the 'foregrounding' of language'
I think it's amazing that music is something that everyone loves. There are so many different types and styles, but music is a common bond that most people share. The lyrics in music are so different than every day talk. The way they're worded and the sequence they fall in often times makes no sense at all, but often times can be quite beautiful and poetic.

In the song '505' by Arctic Monkeys, the first few lines go:

"I'm going back to 505,

If it's a 7 hour flight or a 45 minute drive, 

In my imagination you're waiting lying on your side,

With your hands between your thighs,

Stop and wait a sec,

Oh when you look at my like that my darling,

What did you expect,

I probably still adore you with your hands around my neck,

Or I did last time I checked"

I find it so amazing that such a simple idea of "I miss this girl" can be portrayed so beautifully through a simple rhyme scheme. The different literary techniques take something ordinary and turn it into something extraordinary.

Literature as the integration of language.

This was the first thing that popped into my head when I was reading this section. "I'm gonna float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, George can't hit what his eyes can't see." This was given long before I was born, but these words are still used and widely known today. What do I know about Muhammad Ali? Honestly, not much. But through this speech, I instantly feel a connection with him. That's me! I can be soft and sweet, but then be sassy and stern when I need to be. This quote is something I think about often, and even though it was given long before my time period, it's incredible how it can still be so popular today.

Literature as Fiction
I'm about to get real cheesy here, so please forgive me. But after serving a mission in South America, you can't blame me for loving my homeboy Enrique Iglesias. In his song "Somebody's Me", it goes:

"Somebody wants you

Somebody needs you

Somebody dreams about you every single night

Somebody can't breathe without you, it's lonely

Somebody hopes that one day you will see

That somebody's me."

I think these lyrics are a great example of this portion of reading. In our mind, we're creating this fictional person who has all these qualities and characteristics. Listeners picture this fictional person of their dreams, and in the end we find a twist when he says that "Somebody's me," and we realize maybe that person isn't so fictional after all.

Literature as an Aesthetic Object
Being a religious person, when I read this section, I immediately thought of all my favorite hymns. It's quite wonderful how quickly the whole mood of the room can change when a spiritual hymn is sung. I love Vocal Point's version of "Nearer, My God To Thee". The different languages along with the general buildup bring a feeling of the love of God unlike anything else can.

Literature as intertextual or self-reflexive construct.

While reading this part, I immediately thought of all the parodies in the world. A lot of the time, the parody is funnier than the original thing. People will take an original idea and put a new twist on it. I think of Divine Comedy doing "Provo Utah Girls" or the BYU Library's version of the Old Spice commecial, "Study Like a Scholar". One of my personal favorites is Saturday Night Love doing a parody of "What Does The Fox Say." What started out as an annoying trend turned into something hilarious, and now has over 7.5 million views on YouTube.