Writing Project 2: Omaha

“Omaha” is a music video written by the Counting Crows. This video does not have any famous people in it, or any one at all for that matter, not even any of the band members. It does not have the redundant back up dancers, or band members in black leather pants. It does, however, show various images from around Omaha. The video improves the song, makes it more powerful to the audience. The music video “Omaha” is about making people think about their hometown, and what it exactly means to them.
It shows pictures of the Missouri River down by Eppley Airfield, the airport in Omaha. It has a few pictures of trains at the Union Pacific train station downtown. There are also various shots of the Old Market, the historic part of downtown Omaha. It has brick streets, horse and carriages, nice little shops. It is an amazing place to just walk around at. It has the best homemade ice cream at Ted & Wally’s, which is also a locally owned business that promotes local and underground bands; it is really cool to just sit there and listen to music on the weekends.
The video also has a lot of landscape scenes. There are some of lakes, neighborhoods, plains, and corn, lots of corn. In addition to the landscape images, this video also has a lot of weather-related pictures. It shows Omaha all covered in beautiful snow. There are snows all over the buildings downtown, covering all the parked cars in a white blanket.
It shows drivers driving on busy Dodge street in the snow, too. It has a great picture of Memorial Park, which is located by the University of Nebraska-Omaha. It shows the sign to the University of Nebraska-Omaha, as well as the buildings, also. It shows almost all the places of Omaha that a person should think of when they are asked about Omaha.
The Counting Crows became a band in 1994. They proved that rock and rock was not dead after the late 1980s. Their influences are R.E.M., The Band, and specifically Van Morrison. They have a famous singles are “Doctor Jones” and “Accidentally in Love” which is from the soundtrack of Shrek 2.
The video “Omaha” that I chose shows a few rhetoric strategies. The first one is illustration, because it shows how it can impact a person’s life. It is a perfect example of “home”. Readers can see all the different parts of Omaha. They all can identify with at least one of the images of the city. These pictures remind them of something from back home, wherever that may be. It jogs their memory to something personal, something that hit close to home for each and every person. It is an extremely effective music video.
“Omaha” by the Counting Crows has a different meaning to every single person that sees it. Not only people that are actually from Omaha, but anyone that is no longer living where they grew up: home. The Counting Crows use the rhetoric strategy of narration in their music video. They lyrics tell a story. They talk about an old man, walking on water, walking all over me.
This music video could be even more to a person than just that. “Omaha” also shows the rhetorical strategy of division. It can totally be a part of a larger scheme. This means that while I think the video is just about your feelings towards your hometown, it could be more than that for some one else. If some one else listens to how the lyrics fit in with the images, it could indicate an enormous plethora of other different meanings. One reader could think that its meaning is something completely different than another reader.
Analogy is the fourth strategy used in the video “Omaha”. It is not used in the image part of the video, but in the lyrics of the song. “Omaha somewhere in the middle of America, …” I think the analogy for these lyrics are talking about your hometown-like it is the center of you like Omaha is in the center of the United States. It is what matters the most to you, deep down. Which again, is a range of numerous things for the readers.
Some readers may completely disagree, people from small towns or huge cities may not have any connection with the “Omaha” video. Those readers may just see the video as a bunch of random images that do not mean anything to them, that do not have any effect on them at all. All of the readers should be able to connect in someway or another to this music video, but who knows? Maybe some people do not, that would be a shame.
Out of the three well known rhetorical appeals, pathos is the significant one that stands out in the “Omaha” music video. It is about the emotions that overcome a person; it is very sentimental for people. It makes them think of extremely emotional memories. Some may be sad where others are heart-warming and joyful. It is about what appeals to the audience of the video. They become receptive to the video, and think about how the artist’s message is connected to them on a personal level
Ethos is another on of the rhetorical appeals that is in the “Omaha“ music video. It is connected to the main appeal of pathos through the nostalgia of the video-the reminiscence of home and being homesick in general. The empathy the music video has to each reader is part of this as well. It shows the compassion and understanding of the “home-y” feel that is through out the entire video.
Logos is not strongly used in this music video “Omaha”. But it is used a little bit in the lyrics of the song, if you pay attention to the words during the chorus: “Omaha, somewhere in middle America, get right to the heart of matters, it is the heart that matters more…” This shows the philosophy part of logos. It describes the values of a person’s life, their viewpoint or way of life. It is the logical reason behind the lyrics in this song through out the music video.
The video has several images of Omaha. It shows at least one image for everyone person to connect with, to find home in. One person could connect with the images of Old Market, and its several attractions. Another person could connect with the Missouri River down by the Eppley Airport, remembering their favorite trip. Another person could be connected with the image of Memorial Park, since it is a famous place go sledding at, with all of it covered in snow, as it is in the image during the music video.
“Omaha” is about making people think about their hometown, and what it really means to them. It makes people think of what they miss from home, what childhood memories they will never forget from home. Whether they go back for every holiday, or have not gone back in years, it is still their home. It will always be a part of them, no matter how far away they are from it now. It will always have meaning. It will always have a place in your heart.