"Good Life" by Kanye West Featuring T. Pain
1- The basic idea of this video is that Kanye lives a good life, which he defines as owning material possetions and having sex
2-one main contradicting idea I see is when he says "the best things in life are free" when at the same he throws specks that turn into diamonds, which obviously aren't free. Kanye is trying to visually express the importance of material items, throughout the video he's seen with expensive cars and money. He's also seen with a woman who wears very little clothing implying that sex also defines a good life.
3-In the chorus Kanye says "I got for mine, I got to shine" which implies that fame is important, hence the "i got to shine" which refers to shining like a star. The video which was done in a sort of marker/paint style expresses that this is a dream, much like a kid would draw out their dreams, and what he dreams of to have a good life is expensive cars, women, money and other expensive things
4-This video seems to build off of the common idea of Money+stuff+fame+women=happiness that we have in America, on his list of things that define the good life he doesn't have family, friendship or any sort of "free" source of happiness. Kanye and by extension pop-culture defines happiness as status and the person who shows status in the best ways ie: things like solid gold cars and other ridiculous things, is the best and lives the better life.
5 comments:
Marco:
I partially agree with you that he is trying to say material items are what makes a life meaningful, and how money + fame + women=meaningful life but i think he is also saying that following your dream is what make your life meaningful and completing what you dream of will give you a "good life"
I never considered the logic behind the stylistic view of the video. I think that that is very insightful of you and a valid point, because that would make logical sense. I also think that him not mentioning friends or family is an interesting commentary on the way that celebrities may define importance as only superficial things. Adding to your point on Kanye contradicting himself (with the diamonds being free), Kanye also says that "money isn't everything, not having it is", so what do you think he meant there? Is a poor life more or less meaningful than otherwise?
i like yours aot it is short sweet and is done very well. like how a person would wright observeashtions of any thing else. also how you used the style of the video it self to how a child dreams in a craolya way. YOUR AMAZING.
Yo, i don't particularly agree that what Kanye is saying is that money, cars, and sex=a good life, i think he's saying that he has all those things and that he's living a good life, but still the best things in life are free. I think if anything he might be contradicting societies ideas of a good life...
Yes,I agree with you on the meaning of life from this video. Its saying how materials,hot women,and sex is very important in order to have a good and meaningful life. In addition, I think it is showing you how you can get all of these things by working very hard and fullfilling a dream, but that still means that in order to have a good life, you need to be powerful and make a lot of money. I noticed while reading the lyrics to "Good Life" that he names drops a lot of things such as Ferrari so that we can get the big picture.
One of the many lyrics that stood out to me was "I'ma get on this tv mama." It shows that fame is also important and that he will make money off his fame and pursuing his dream for himself and his mother.
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