For my final paper I would like to discuss (big surprise!) Tori Amos. Although I am not one hundred percent sure what I want to argue, I know it will be something about the Amos and the internet. I’m writing about Tori Amos for my advanced project so I’ve been doing lots of research. What I have discovered, though, is that there isn’t much scholarly work on Ms. Amos. But there are tons of fansites and youtube videos of her on line!
My favorite thing about the internet and Tori Amos is all of the youtube videos. Even though I’m still new to blogging, I appreciate when you guys have included a youtube video in your blog to either help your argument or for pure entertainment. As I’ve been writing my advanced project, I often find myself wishing I could include a video or song clip into the paper, rather than just writing about it. It can be difficult to write about a movie scene or a song because those mediums rely on much more than just words. Movies are visual and songs are meant to be heard. I recently read an article by Bonnie Gordon entitled “Tori Amos’s Inner Voices.” In this article, she discusses two songs and focuses heavily on how Amos performs them. Gordon begins the article by describing: Tori Amos performs ‘Me and a Gun’ on an empty stage. She sits on a barstool wearing an orange sweater that clashes with her read hear. Since a dark background engulfs the performance space, viewers see only her face until a backdrop of an eye comes almost into focus- sometimes closing and sometimes disappearing. Meanwhile her solo voice fills the soundscape, assaulting and mesmerizing the silent audience with blunt gripping words and haunting music. She sings about her own experience as a rape survivor, self-consciously turning a potentially victimizing experience into a powerful performance. (187)
I know the exact performance Gordon is discussing, but I think mostly only die-hard fans would have seen it. I think Gordon does a fine job of describing it, but there is still something lacking. That isn’t Gordon’s fault; it just seems impossible to fully capture the experience of it by just describing it. I immediately went to youtube and found the clip. I can’t help thinking, Too bad Gordon couldn’t plug this clip into her article. I guess, then, for one of the first times, I’m seeing the benefits of writing something on line. Since I am writing on line, here is the clip!
Gordon spends the majority of her article describing how Amos performs, what she wears, how she sits on the piano bench, her voice inflection, etc. It almost becomes exhaustive. I feel like her article would fare better if it was on line and she was able to include these visuals or sounds.
When I wrote my exploratory draft, I discussed this but I was not able, obviously, to include the clip. Sometimes I wonder if my advanced project would be better if I was able to write it on line and include videos and song clips.
