Discursive Analysis Of Asher Roth's I Love College

1419 Words3 Pages

In this discursive analysis of residential colleges there will be an investigation into two texts, both dealing with various discourses pertaining to college but are quite distinctive in their approach and style. The first text will be Asher Roth’s 2009 song “I Love College”, which has become embedded in popular culture through its idealized and hyper-masculine exploration of the college life. The multiplicity of texts should be considered in these critical readings – as any single text can be constructed around a variety of discourses. College in this instance can be understood through the discourse of Sex, which engages with notions of promiscuity, societal dominance, double standards and libidinous behavior. In the second text “Colleges …show more content…

The 2009 song “I Love College” by Asher Roth is an example of such socio-cultural authority as it dominated the Billboard charts and received in excess of 1-million digital downloads. This discourse contributed to normalised practices, configurations and structures (Barker, 2001) surrounding the topic of college by embedding highly distinctive perceptions in the general public psyche’s through rhetoric and popular culture. (Frow, 2005). Roth comments: “Do I really have to graduate or can I just stay here for the rest of my life?” which exalts the lifestyle as the pinnacle and epitome of life, he questions why he should ever move because college is unquestionably the best. It is through this questioning that the young rapper creates a hyper reality (Baudrillard 1988) by which the real and the perceived truth breaks down to create a glorified environment. A world in which the song praises delinquency, sexual deviants and promotes binge drinking, drug usage, strip poker and beer pong seen in the repeated chorus …show more content…

The discourses of Sex and Whiteness can be defined as “structural entities of difference where anyone discourse is constituted as an attempt to arrest the flow of differences and dominate the field of discursivity” (Kakar, N.D). Foucault wrote of when there is power, there is resistance, as he interestingly took the position that power struggles do not oppress individuals, it produces communities and relationships. Each produces their own “rules and practices that produce meaningful statements and regulate behaviors and institutions”. Each discusses the topic with very similar manner despite the distinction in discourse, genre and approach, utilizing colloquial terms and anecdotal language. Therefore disseminated ideas through the media and related presumptions aid in their social dominance – in its quest for societal hegemony and power. A core idea to be drawn from this is the fundamental importance of the systematic relationships that meaning (through language and discourse) is intrinsically based upon. It provides communication with a social capacity to influence behavior and the preconceptions and opinions, which motivate that action. (Frow,

Open Document