Song 1

Young Hoon Song

Professor Gregory John McClure
Writing 39B
29 September 2015
Reznor vs. Cash Response
After watching both Reznors and Cashs version of the song Hurt, you can
clearly see some conflicting themes between the two videos. Both songs definitely
feel tragic, but there is a clear distinction in the kind of tragedy displayed in the two.
While one looks outwards from a persons perspective at what death may entail,
another looks inwards. Both possess the theme of the reality of death, but differ in
the fact that they take opposing perspectives. Reznors video displays types of death
that can be felt through sympathy while Cashs video forces a sense of empathy.
Reznors video takes on the form of very vague and distant displays of death
that many in the audience may recognize but not fully understand. For example, he
shows pictures of soldiers, children, plants, animals, and explosions, most of these
examples arent human, and the examples that are human arent really things that
his audience would understand either. It is evident that his live audience isnt full of
soldiers or children, but young adults and maybe teenagers, which are people in the
prime of their lives just like he is. His video depicts how death is a tragedy in that it is
destructive and violent emotionally and physically by showing pictures of injured
veterans, decaying animals and plants, and distraught children. He shows the
damage that death causes, but it really lacks any human emotional link, and leaves
you feeling emotionally distant from him.

Song 2
(There is somewhat of a disconnect between the points It is evident... like he is and
His video depicts and distraught children. It sounds like these are two different
ideas or there needs to be some transitional sentence in between the two.)
We know that there is a strong emphasis on the idea of death in Reznors
version of the song because of a long pause on a picture of a snake. Now in the
book of Genesis of the Bible, the snake, or Satan, convinces Adam and Eve to eat
the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Also in Genesis, God states But
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. The words surely die seem to entail
the idea that, once the fruit of knowledge was eaten, Adam and Eve were doomed to
die, maybe not immediately, but were at least destined to have to partake in death.
We can then link this idea back to the snake and say that the snake gave mankind
the gift or curse of death.
(The preceding paragraph has the substance and the evidence to support the topic
sentence but could use more analyzing of the evidence. The paragraph is mostly
factual. The paragraph comes to somewhat of an abrupt end.)
We also know that Reznors version of the song strongly pursues a feeling of
tragedy through the way the video was displayed. The video itself was in black and
white, which makes the video look almost hopeless, while the song, in comparison to
Cashs version, takes on many more minor chords. Theres also an emotional
distance created through the lack of any color visually or audibly, which is why
emotions other than despair and emptiness arent very accessible while watching the
video.

Song 3
(It feels like the analysis of the lack of color and the minor chords could be extended
more. Its almost as if theres just a jump from describing the video to talking about
the emotional distance that was created.)
In Cashs video, on the other hand, there are many scenes of himself when he
was younger, snippets of his own life. Theyre all happy moments and show that the
life he lived was indeed fulfilling with scenes from roles hes played on film and
videos of him and his wife when they were younger. His audience, simply by having
lived life, will empathize with these happier moments. This will lead them to better
understand Cashs current state of mind, which is the hard reality of how these
moments must come to an end and that death is the imminent shared destiny by all.
The tragedy of this video comes into play when you realize that all these happy
moments are at an end when faced with death, and that no more are to come.
(The first sentence states a fact about the video and in itself isnt the strongest idea.)
Cashs video, in contrast to Reznors, has the same intense feeling of death
simply due to his age and how his age symbolizes how close death is to him. The
video depicts him sitting and not really moving, almost waiting to die while singing
which contrasts greatly to how Reznor was standing and moving so passionately in
his own performance of the song. The video also spends a lot of time looking
backwards, instead of looking forwards, which shows that theres not much life left in
the future, another reminder of death.
Cashs version of the song also uses major chords and lacks the stunning
minor chords as Reznors version of the song. The video also looks to be filmed
within golden hour, or at the time that the sun is setting, which basks him and the
video in a golden light that almost gives you a feeling of how real and tangible Cash
is, making the feeling of death also more of a reality instead of an abstract idea. The

Song 4
emotional distance that Reznor creates just isnt present in Cashs version of the
song.
(The first sentence doesnt seem to relate to the second sentence about the golden
hour. It sounds like there needs to be some analysis that glues the two sentences
together or some type of transition between the two ideas.)
Cashs version of the song makes me, as a viewer, feel much more as a
participant. While Reznors song was based in much more widely and may be easily
accessible portrayals of death, they simply didnt feel as strongly as Cashs did. It
really did feel as though Cash was sharing his experience of death while Reznor was
simply sharing his thoughts on death. Cashs reality of death just made his message
so much stronger to me as a viewer, which is why his video had a much stronger
impact with the sense of death and the tragedy it entails. Although the theme may be
the same at the core, in one word death, they are almost complete opposites in the
perspective of it. Cashs video takes on the theme of how death means the end of
your own life while Reznors seems to be more about how death means the ends of
others lives.