DISCLAIMER: If you watch the videos I have linked in this post, there is explicit language in them.
“Hit like a man!” Georgia Me dares her invisible perpetrator as she delivers a moving spoken word poem to a spell bound audience on Def Poetry Jam. Def Poetry Jam, which is the brain child of Russell Simons, provides a platform for artist to share their own personal stories through the medium of spoken word poetry (a form of poetry that is preformed to an audience). My research into spoken word poetry as a life narrative has brought me to the conclusion that it is a powerful medium through which spoken word poetry can travel. The genre has the ability to invoke a very important aspect of audience participation called “empathetic identification”- a concept that the scholars Schaffer and Smith speak about in their article: “Conjunctions: Life Narratives in the Field of Human Rights.” Empathetic identification is when the audience becomes personally invested in a life narrative,sharing the experience with the person telling their story as if it is also their own(Schaffer and Smith, 12). When spoken word poems are performed on Def Poetry Jam, empathetic identification takes its form in the audiences vocal responses to the person sharing. I want to further explore the difference in responses the audience gives to varying subject matters of poems being performed on Def Poetry Jam. To begin examining this question I will be using two different performances on Def Poetry Jam, one is “Hit Like A Man” by Georgia Me, which is a defiant rant focused at her abusive partner and the second is “Wife, Woman and Friend” by Dana Gilmore, a lighthearted lament about a former relationship.
Georgia Me walks on the stage to thunderous applause but once she opens her mouth the audience begins to realize the gravity of her subject matter. Little to nothing is said by the audience- a stunned, reverent silence falls over the majority of the audience as her performance starts to build momentum with each word spoken. As Georgia begins to reach the climax of her piece she cries out and the only hoot from the audience can be heard in a brief pause before she barrels forward. Once the last word is spoken the audience immediately erupts in a thunderous applause clearly effected by the artist story.
Dana Gilmore’s performance takes place in a much different atmosphere. As soon as she begins chuckles can be heard from the audience as they find humour in her words about her past lover. Throughout the performance the audience whoops and moans with the ebb and flow of the piece, you can hear the accessional “yeah!” from an audience member as they identify with what she is saying. It almost feels like Gilmore is sharing a story with friends over drinks because the audience is so relaxed with her. It as though she is relating a struggle that everyone in the audience has felt at some point.
Looking at these two examples, there is a great difference in how the audience reacted to different content. I wonder if the audience felt as if it would be inappropriate to yell out when there was darker content discussed. Perhaps more people have gone through relationship struggles rather than abuse and therefore identify more with Gilmore’s performance.The audience was interested in both story lines but empathetic identification took its form differently with each performance.
Citation:
Schaffer, Kay and Sidonie Smith. “Conjunctions: Life Narratives in the Field of Human Rights.” Biography 27.1 (2004): 1-24. Web of Science, MLA international Bibliography. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.
SpokenPoetryTV. Georgia Me- Hit Like a Man on Def Jam Poetry. Online Video Clip. Youtube.YouTube, 28 May. 2013. Web, 8 Nov. 2015.
SpokenPoetryTV. Dana Gilmore- Wife, Woman, Friend on Def Jam Poetry. Online Video Clip.Youtube.YouTube, 19 May. 2013. Web, 8 Nov. 2015.