"Loss of Innocence"

Innocence is a child-like ignorance to the use or presence of something evil. Something intangible can be lost when it is impossible for one to return to the same mental state that one had when the object or concept was "present". Dark shades tend to hint to something bad and/or evil. One can assume that in the painting, these dark shades represent the revelation of something maleficent to the woman featured in the painting. The colors in this piece seem to get darker as one looks from the left to right of the painting. One can assume then, that towards the left of the painting, more innocence was present in that version of the woman (shown three times throughout) then later on in the right side of the painting. To those who are not innocent, being naked is known to be a bad thing. This loss of innocence, occurring to the woman, is the cause for her trying to cover her bare body with her hair and with the cloth. It is a common belief that innocence is lost when one loses their virginity, which is what seems to be happening in the left of the painting, when the woman is with the man. He is holding onto her, on the left, and trying to blow the cloth off of the middle figure (which is also her).

"Young Life"

        The artist is trying to say that with age, comes responsibility. This can be implied by looking at the deer above the head of the couple and the gun in the adult male's hand. It is typical thought that the "breadwinner" of a family is a responsible male who hunts and kills animals to provide for his family. This is the thought that Bo would have grown up around, being an American male born in the 50's. This shows in his painting, where this responsibility seems to weigh down on the older male and his wife or girlfriend, while the younger male seems to be apart from this weight, holding a stick  instead of a gun. The artist is also trying to say that young adults are dependent on each other. This can be implied from the way the couple are standing; the male is only touching the ground with one foot, causing him to have a sort of lean on his girlfriend/wife, and she is in turn grasping onto his torso and leaning on his shoulder. The artist is also trying to show that responsibility is just as inescapable as age. As one can observe, the older male looks somewhat bound to the earth through the colors of the ground, his shoes, his pants, jacket, and even through the deer which is lying above him. This binding is less present in the younger boy, but still holds a presence in his shoes and the stick he is carrying 

"Blacbird"

The "blackbird" may be symbolic for certain groups/individuals in the society of the time that had previously held back by social standards restrictions. When the song says, "blackbird fly" it could mean that the suppressed peoples should speak out and take to new opportunities, and that "flying" would heighten their quality of life ("fly" has a positive connotation and is associated with freedom). The phrase "light of the dark black night" is symbolizing the promise of changing times. Because "light" has a positive connotation, usually meaning an opportunity, it implies that the "dark black night" (meaning the unknown of the changing times) may hold something good for the "blackbird" or suppressed peoples. All of these symbols come together to create the single effect of hope to those individuals waiting for social change.

"2+2=5"

The subject of the song is conformity and reactions to conformity. The tone at first is defiant of the conformist society, using words like "forever" and "stay" to express a firm resistance from the subject, but as the song comes to an end, the tone becomes uncertain using words like "maybe" over and over to express the faltering of firmness as the speaker begins to conform. The theme of the piece is "conformity is persistent and eventually inevitable".

"Dont You Want Me"

The two perspectives are from one person who wants to leave and another person who does not want the other to leave (in terms of a relationship). When the two met, the woman was a waitress at a hotel. During their relationship, the man helped the woman to improve her career. Now that she wants to become independent, he feels as if it's unjust because she owes him for all of the things he has done for her, while she feels like she would've done it on her own if necessary, and that it is her right to leave. The reason they see the same situation differently is because of their opposing wants, needs, and opinions. For example, I once had a terrible boyfriend. While I needed someone less obnoxious, he needed someone who was willing to put up with his obnoxiousness. Therefore, I dumped him.

"Shame" The Avett Brothers

The subject of the song is the mistakes the speaker has made, and the tone is humble. The first word that brings out the tone is "please", which gives the listener the impression that the speaker is begging the person whom the song is for, and thus creating this image of the speaker viewing himself as lesser. The title of the song, "shame", also adds to the tone by showing that the speaker has self-awareness and repentance. Thirdly, when the speaker talks about himself subjectively, using the term "strutted", he shows that he knows he was once arrogant and can now reflect on that and be remorseful for his actions. All of these words reveal how diction help tie together the "humble" tone and feeling of the song.

Sign Language

The single effect of this video was understanding
The monologue with the man speaking the things that were on his mind gives the audience empathy for the characters
The camera shots of the characters from far away at first and close up later (particularly the girl) help the audience to feel less distant from particular characters (the girl) as the video progresses
The upbeat music helped the mood of the video to be positive, creating a positive outlook on interactions between people