I Used to Love H.E.R.

Metaphor Criticism

"I Used to Love H.E.R."

Common Sense

The popular song "I Used to Love H.E.R."by rapper Common Sense first debuted in 1994. It made major waves in the hip-hop community as a revolutionary song that placed a everlasting stamp on the history of hip-hop and redefined the word "metaphor" in rap. In this song, Common paints a beautiful portrait of words that describes the love of his life. The song shows her progressing from a girl to a woman. Common illustrates all of the obstacles that she has faced and how she has changed based on these circumstances. Although it seems as if he is talking about this woman that he loves throughout the entire song, at the end he reveals that he is indeed talking about the love of his life but that love is hip-hop. Once this is revealed the audience can further understand the metaphors used throughout the song that are describing the evolution of hip-hop and the changes it has made over the years.

I would like to use this artifact for my Essay #2 and analyze it using the metaphor method of criticism. I want to use this method because of the many metaphors in this song that builds up to the ultimate metaphor that is not revealed until the last line of the song. I feel that this will be a very effective way to analyze this song.

Can You Hear Me Now? Good!

Fantasy-Theme Criticism

Can You Hear Me Now? Good!

Verizon Commercials

For this method of criticism I chose to analyze the series of commercials by Verizon Wireless. The commercials that I would like to analyze are the ones that feature "the network". This enormous group of people that always seem to be following the main characters of the commercials around are the network. This network represents Verizon's constant wireless coverage no matter where you may be in the world. They also represent reliability. Verizon is known to be one of the powerhouses of wireless communication. This series of commercials highlights their best features! The commercials begin by hooking you in with a funny opening scene in which the Verizon customer is faced with a situation that may result in no cell phone coverage. In the midst of this ordeal, the network appears and reminds them that with Verizon, they well always be covered, no matter what the situation may be!

Now we know, that Verizon customers do not have a huge group of people following them around to provide coverage but the message that Verizon is trying to give off is very clear and effective. By providing viewers with something to laugh at these commercials hook the audience in and continues to captivate them with there impressive features and coverage.

Setting

• Literally anywhere in the world because Verizon's coverage is worldwide.
  

Characters

• The Verizon Network.
• Verizon Customers.
• On occasion, envious customers from other wireless networks.

Action Themes

• The network showing up everywhere regardless of the circumstance.