Thursday, October 1, 2015

Ethos of “You Don’t Own Me”

       Lesley Gore’s extrinsic ethos was established on her age, her gender, and the fact that she was a well-known mainstream pop singer. Lesley Gore was 17 years old when she recorded “You Don’t Own Me” in 1963, in which Lesley Gore told her lover to respect her and she is independent. Teenage girls thought Lesley Gore was credible and felt more related to the song since she was about the same age as they were. They believed that Lesley Gore faced the same trouble they faced in relationship that adults cannot understand. In addition, teenagers viewed her as a role model because she was successful and popular. Since “You Don’t Own Me” was written in a woman’s perspective, Lesley Gore’s gender made the song more persuasive. The intrinsic ethos of the song was created based on some shared values among teenagers. No teenager would disagree with the lines, “I'm young and I love to be young/ I'm free and I love to be free/ To live my life the way I want/ To say and do whatever I please.” Having a powerful ethos, the song was able to gain popularity and reach to a wider range of audiences.

-Pei-Jo Yang

5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. This post certainly captures the ethos of Lesley Gore's "You Don't Owe Me", specifically extrinsically. The use of direct quotations from the song improve the rigidity of this analysis. Does she further establish ethos in future works? Was this the beginning of her becoming a reliable figure in feminism related issues?

    — Jack Wisniewski

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  3. I liked how you extensively explained how extrinsic ethos played a role in the popularity of the song. I would liked to have read more about the intrinsic ethos. Other than that, I enjoyed reading this post.

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  4. I think you did a great job analyzing how Gore established her ethos. You mention that "teenagers viewed her as a role model because she was successful and popular." How do you think that added to her credibility? Was she a role model because of her fame and success, or because of how she used it to empower others? This is something you could consider adding more detail to in order to explain why you believe this helps establish ethos to anyone reading your post. Overall though, this was a great post!

    - Emily Kader

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  5. Really great post and comments. I agree that the lack of extrinsic could be further explored. How about the writers--do they carry extrinsic ethos that informs our perception of the song?

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