Introduction
by Rapid Eye Movement (R.E.M) communicates a strong message through both its video and lyrics. The song's lyrics evoke acquiesce and sorrow emotions, which is clearly captured in its recurring verse of "Because everybody cries, and everybody hurts sometimes" (Bradbury 14). The lyrics tries to relay a message of hope to its audience by giving them an assurance that they are not the only ones going through painful experiences as everyone has a personal misfortune to get over. On the other hand, Dead Troops Talk is a photograph composed by Jeff Wall. The photograph depicts conjure instances of resonance by combining historical references of art with subtle juxtapositions and conceptual strategies of critiquing contemporary living. Just like R.E.M's lyrics, Dead Troops Talk revolves around pain; where soldiers lose their lives and resurrect at the battlefield. Ostensibly, reality of pain is the most apparent theme that transpires from these two works. Therefore, the paper will focus on exploring how the authors relay the issue of pain by contrasting the two arts.
Everybody Hurts
Everybody Hurts provides manifestations of lethargy and despair, with tracking shots of various personalities showing reluctance to perseverance, and having sullen expressions through the traffic jam's notable metaphor. Since the lyrics aim at reminding people that everyone goes through a struggle regardless of class or race, R.E.M creates a metaphor of feeling stranded in a traffic jam; something that happens to both the rich and the poor. A shot of this video shows a boy who is apparently trapped behind the window of a car, and the lyrics sings, "they're all stuck" (Bradbury 19). This is symbolically applied to depict the struggles that the young boy is already going through even before he matures to a man. However, the phrase clearly tells the listeners that the boy is not alone in this pain.
Wall's Photography
In Wall's photography, he combines conventions from horror and war with those from historical paintings to come up with an intricate grotesque fiction. The photos showcase a scene of hallucination, where the dead soldiers are re-animated and are having a conversation, which Wall calls the "dialogue of the dead" (Wall 76). The three fighters lying and clowning with their wounds gives a clear scene of macabre levity. The soldiers demonstrate various emotional responses to their transcendence, from confusion to humor.
Universal Pain
Whereas Wall showcases an intricate fictional scene, which looks like historical paintings of war, R.E.M's lyrics and video depicts what happen to people in the real world; that is, some of the contemporary skirmishes that everyone has to persevere. Even so, it is important to note that both works relate to the universal pain to which the society is exposed. This is explicit in Wall's view regarding his photograph, where he says, "They have sacrificed for the State, for the plans of their society and now they are in a different relationship to all of that" (Wall 93).
Conclusion
In a nutshell, it is justifiable to recount that the scene and the mise where Wall and R.E.M covers their items works really well. Nevertheless, whereas R.E.M's costumes do not really resonate to the emotion shared in the lyrics and video, Wall's captions represent the true feeling of somberness and pain, which both artists strive to depict in their lyrics and photographs respectively. Whether in the traffic jam or battlefield, the audiences of these artists learn that life is surrounded by struggles and perseverance, which everyone has to go through.
Works Cited
Bradbury, Richard. Everybody Hurts-A Foray into the Minor Prophets. Pneuma Springs Publishing, 2017.
Wall, Jeff. Dead Troops Talk: A Vision After an Ambush of a Red Army Patrol Near Mogor, Afghanistan, Winter 1986. Guarnerio Editore, 1995.
