A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall-- Bob Dylan

Artist are one of the most important and influential way of spreading activist ideas, The song was wrote by on 1962 by Bob Dylan and it is one of the most idiosyncratic protest songs ever written.

It is a complex and powerful song built upon the question-and- answer refrain pattern of the traditional British ballad “Lord Randall” (Wikipedia). The song reflects the issue of the discovery of Soviet missiles on the island of Cuba, “I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken. I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young”, He is trying to get the listener, young American to think of the issue and to aware people with the social issues. I met a young child beside a dead pony I met a white man who walked a black dog I met a young woman whose body was burning I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow. This part of the song remind me of the “Death of Alan Kurdi”, the tragedy of a three years old Syrian boy who was found on the Mediterranean beach. Although many year passed, this song from the 60s still has a special place in the modern society, the imagery of injustice, pollution, war and suffering created by Bob Dylan are very strong, and it still exist now, all around us, although we might think that we are living in peaceful world, but there are many people and country that is facing life threatening tragic everyday. As an artist, it is our job to notice the issues on the planet we live in and always stay activate and aware of the issues in the world.

Considering Narrative Voice in Documentary Film

1. Considering the articles you've read for class today, which documentary mode or modes does the film borrow from? Please explain specific elements from the film to support your observations.            

Thing to remember using experimental documentary expository and poetic mode, the film uses photographs combined with emotions and feelings. The film also uses a very unique automate narrative voice to tell the story, and a Non-linear way to present using cuts and special editing ways to show the documentary, such as the elements of flashing images and slowly dissolving photographs of landscapes. 

2. Why do you think the filmmaker chose to automate the voice of the narrator? What does it add or detract from the film?             

Personally I think the automate voice of the narrator is very different than a real human narrator. When people read some thing, they would somehow add their own feelings and understandings in their voice, however, the automate voice tells the story in a cold emotionless feeling. Automate voice is very inhuman, similar to a direct quote and fact from dictionary or Wikipedia, which make the real historical contents of the film even more serious and believable. The robotic voice making the historical event “the atom bombing Japan” seems hyper-realistic, as if its such a truth that nobody can deny.

3. What were some of the more experimental aspects of the film in terms of image and storytelling?     

The film tells the story between America and Japan, and the influences on both side when the atom bomb happens in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The use of experimental images seamlessly connects two worlds into one, drives the audience back and forth, and provides strong contrast to each side. The flashing images sequences of wings and images, which symbolizing flying and preparation of the bombing; and the slowly dissolving mountains transferring into another mountain, brings the audience into a surreal state of mind, as if someone just woke up from a tremendous event.