·        The cubes are all alike and symmetrical, proportionate, similar.

·        The space between each box is the same.

·        [the cubes are made of concrete and paint]

·        This is an indoor artwork.

·        The boxes are set on the floor.

·        This is a monochrome, a three – dimension artwork

·        There is some volume, some relief.

·        It insists on perfection, the perfect similarity and geometry of the shapes in space

·        There is the idea of repetition, looking alike, uniformity 

·        We could question the use of such boxes indoors ? Mere decoration ? Has it got any usefulness ? What could we use these boxes for ? to take a seat ? 

·        These boxes do not invade the whole space as if they did not want to take too much space but paradoxically, they are quite visible and take much space visually

·        Order and simplicity are the most important elements of his work

·        Meaning ? We all behave the same ? Follow rules ? There is no place for originality, newness, craziness in our lives ? We live in housing that look like boxes ? We are trapped in our lives, locked up on our lives ? As if we were imprisoned ?

+ THE PRESENTATION IN GROUPS OF OTHER SCULPTURES FROM MINIMALIST ARTISTS

CARL ANDRE, DAN FLAVIN, ANN TRUITT, ROBERT MORRIS, RONALD BLADEN, TONY SMITH

·  We observe without being asked to become involved in the story.

·  Bathing: A fairly mundane, every-day aspect of life and A ritualistic, religious cleansing (wash the pain away).

·  A cold bath -- forces one to wake up -- e.g., the parents begin to realize that life is tenuous (life hangs by a thread).

·  Most characters lack compassion and empathy.

·  The telephone: A symbol and an agent of modern communication (or miscommunication ?)

·  The mother and father :  attempting distance? displacement? -- their speculative observations of others: displacement? seeking connection? making it real? understanding it?

·  The ending -- deliberately ambiguous -- is it the hospital or the baker? -- leaves us hanging on the phone.

 

-     We witness Scotty’s last breath

-     We are told about the parents’ confusion as the doctors kept saying Scotty would wake up.

-     We have a baker – parents confrontation.

-     We learn about the baker’s life.

-     The baker apologizes and the parents forgive him.

-     The symbols of bread sharing / life goes on.

·        They wanted to stick to the new popular genre of literature that met success at the time : Minimalism versus realism.

·        Carver did not have his word to say and the collection of short stories ( What we talk about when we talk about love) was published wiithout his consent.

·        They went against Carver’s disapproval and did as they pleased ( all this was surely a money matter…)

·        GORDON LISH WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN CARVER’S REPUTATION. HE WANTED HIM TO USE 5 WORDS INSTEAD OF 15. 

·        CARVER NEVER THOUGHT OF HIMSELF AS A MINIMALIST , HE REJECTED CATEGORIES AND GENRE.

* Yet, he met a woman who carried out an assessment (mener une évaluation) for Employment Support Allowance(= allocation chômage) and after a few questions, she concluded he could work again.Thus, Employment and Support Allowance was denied to him.

* His doctor’s conclusion was not taken into account.

* As a result, the Job Center asked him to keep looking for work, and said that he could only hoped for Job Seeker’s Allowance, which is almost nothing.

3/ * Some needy people have to queue up and wait for hours to get some free food from the food bank. There are hundreds of people waiting. They can’t afford buying food.

* Katie is one of them with 2 kids. She is so starving / overcome with hunger that she secretly opens a tin and eats with bare hands.

Then , she felt ashamed and apologized endlessly. She completely breaks down.

* Ken Loach emphasizes on the distress, pain, need,shame, starvation  and extreme precarity of unemployed people in Manchester. 

4/* He stands up against unfairness, injustice. He feels people are unfairly punished, sanctioned  for being jobless and poor. He thinks people are trapped and tripped (be tripped on = avoir des bâtons dans les roues) on during the work capability assessment (= évaluation). 

Everything seems to be done to prevent them from being paid an allowance. Getting financial support is an obstacle course ( = parcours du combattant). What’s more, they talk them out ( = dissuader de )of appealing ( = faire appel).

5/ * He tagged the wall of the Job Center to draw attention on his harsh, sensitive  situation.

* He would like his appeal to be heard, to go through before the end of his allowance, before he gets nothing anymore.

* Passers-by are puzzled, amazed, astonished, supportive, amused, laughing.

6/ * He is walking past a wall, which must be the one he tagged.

* He is raising his fist to show how determined / srong-willed he is to go all the way (=aller jusqu’au bout), to keep struggling for his rights and for justice.

* He is not standing still but walking which shows he remains active, and he won’t give up.

 

 

How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long? How long?

'Cause tonight
We can be as one
Tonight

Broken bottles under children's feet
Bodies strewn across the dead-end street
But I won't heed the battle call
It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall

Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Alright, let's go

And the battle's just begun
There's many lost, but tell me who has won?
The trenches dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart

Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday

How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long? How long?

'Cause tonight we can be as one, tonight
Tonight, tonight (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
Tonight, tonight (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
Alright, let's go

Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away
I'll wipe your tears away
I'll wipe your tears away (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
I'll wipe your bloodshot eyes (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)

Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday

And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality
And today the millions cry (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)

The real battle just begun (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
To claim the victory Jesus won (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
On Sunday, Bloody Sunday, yeah
Sunday, Bloody Sunday

ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL by Pink Floyd, released in 1979 + the video clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U

When we grew up and went to school
 There were certain teachers who would
 Hurt the children any way they could
 By pouring their derision
 Upon anything we did
 Exposing every weakness
 However carefully hidden by the kids
 But in the town it was well known
 When they got home at night, their fat and
 Psychopathic wives would thrash them
 Within inches of their lives
 
 We don't need no education
 We don't need no thought control
 No dark sarcasm in the classroom
 Teacher, leave them kids alone
 Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!
 
 All in all, it's just another brick in the wall
 All in all, you're just another brick in the wall
 
 We don't need no education
 We don't need no thought control
 No dark sarcasm in the classroom
 Teachers, leave them kids alone
 Hey! Teacher! Leave us kids alone!
 
 All in all, you're just another brick in the wall
 All in all, you're just another brick in the wall
 
 Wrong, do it again!
 Wrong, do it again!
 If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding!
 (Wrong, do it again!)
 How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?
 (Wrong, do it again!)
 You! Yes! You behind the bike sheds! Stand still, laddie!
 (If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding!
 How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?)
 (You! Yes! You behind the bike sheds! Stand still, laddie!)

ZOMBIE BY THE CRANBERRIES, RELEASED IN 1994

Another head hangs lowly
 Child is slowly taken
 And the violence caused such silence
 Who are we mistaken
 
 But you see it's not me
 It's not my family
 In your head, in your head
 They are fighting
 With their tanks and their bombs
 And their bombs and their guns
 In your head, in your head
 They are cryin'
 
 In your head, in your head
 Zombie, zombie, zombie, hey, hey
 What's in your head, in your head
 Zombie, zombie, zombie, hey, hey, hey, oh
 
 Dou, dou, dou, dou
 Dou, dou, dou, dou
 Dou, dou, dou, dou
 Dou, dou, dou, dou
 
 Another mother's breakin'
 Heart is taking over
 When the violence causes silence
 We must be mistaken
 
 It's the same old theme
 Since nineteen-sixteen
 In your head, in your head
 They're still fightin'
 With their tanks and their bombs
 And their bombs and their guns
 In your head, in your head
 They are dyin'
 
 In your head, in your head
 Zombie, zombie, zombie, hey, hey
 What's in your head, in your head
 Zombie, zombie, zombie, hey, hey, hey
 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
 Hey, oh, ya, ya-

·        “Bloody Sunday” was a term given to an incident, which took place on 30th January 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland where British Soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians who were peacefully protesting against Operation Demetrius. Thirteen were killed outright, while another man lost his life four months later due to injuries. Other protesters were injured by rubber bullets or batons, and two were run down by army vehicles.

·        This massacre is reported to have the highest number of people killed in a single shooting incident during the conflict. The first person to have addressed these events musically was John Lennon who composed “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and released it on his third Solo album “Sometime In New York City”. His version of the song directly expresses his anger towards the massacre, which also shows his political viewpoints in the complexity of the longstanding problems that exist between the Irish & British.

·        This massacre is reported to have the highest number of people killed in a single shooting incident during the conflict. The first person to have addressed these events musically was John Lennon who composed “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and released it on his third Solo album “Sometime In New York City”. His version of the song directly expresses his anger towards the massacre, which also shows his political viewpoints in the complexity of the longstanding problems that exist between the Irish & British.

·        U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” version of the song is designed to transport the listener into 1970’s war-torn Ireland where your present watching the horror unfold as an observer. Their version of accounts are instead inspired by their passive-aggressive approach to the situation with verses like “How long must we sing this song?”, which signifies their anger towards the authorities’approach to the situation. However, that verse is immediately followed by ’Cause tonight, we can be as one, Tonight”, which signifies that the door is still open for a peace treaty.

 

 

 

 * In the second part, the narrator recalls his schooling days where his ‘evil’ teachers wanted nothing but to control him to do things in a particular way. He describes the teachers in a negative light. He apparently feels they gain some kind of gratification from mentally abusing and punishing children. The chorus urges a protest by kids against this kind of fixed technique which immaturely impedes creativity in young children. 
 

* The narrator also depicts the nature of certain behavioral controls that were introduced in schools during that period. Children were only served the extra pudding attached to their lunch if only they finished their lunch first. This kind of conditioning seems to have had an adverse effect on the singer who eventually qualifies it as another brick in the wall.
 
 * This is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back, and probably the most painful. The narrator can’t deal with his sadness/depression anymore. He now transitions into a defensive state where he does not want to have anything to do with people. Having no arms around signifies denying himself of any sort of comfort. He concludes that he does not need anything at all and justifies his motives for isolating himself with the wall he has built.
 
 * The “wall” itself is a metaphor for the psychological barrier (i.e. isolation) the singer has put around himself. The “brick(s)”, on the other hand, represent the individual traumas which made him withdraw even further. 
 
 

 

* Lead singer Dolores O'Riordan claimed that "Zombie" speaks about "the Irish fight for independence that seems to last forever." The lyrics even say, "It's the same old theme since 1916."

* This song takes the unassailable position that killing young children is tragic, but in venturing into the political fray, it created a great deal of controversy. This didn't surprise O'Riordan. "I knew that would be the angle of the song, because it was controversial," she told Songfacts. "But, I suppose I was kind of taken aback with the success of the song. I didn't know it was going to be that successful."

* The Cranberries claim they wrote "Zombie" to be a "song for peace, peace among England and Ireland."

* Let’s take a look at the historic context of the song :

Irish Republican Army (IRA), also called Provisional Irish Republican Army, republican paramilitary organization seeking the establishment of a republic, the end of British rule in Northern Ireland, and the reunification of Ireland.

In 1993, IRA made two bomb attack in Warrington, England, in the second attact, when two small bombs exploded in litter bins outside shops and businesses on Bridge Street. Two children were killed and dozens of people were injured.

In protesting this event, the irish rock band the Cranberries wrote the song “Zombie” . “This song’s our cry against man’s inhumanity to man; and man’s inhumanity to child” This is the quote from Dolores O’Riordan – both the acoustic guitar of the band and the writer of the song.

The song holds the vision of the artist: the IRA couldn’t speak for the Ireland and she believe it’s a group of people with hatred who live in the past.

So the elements of the song, the melody, the tempo, the timbre, the dynamics of the sounds seems to accompany the context and the lyrics of the song. The song feels heavy, dark and the themes of the song, which are war, violence are in coherence with the elements of the song. The use of the instruments: guitar, bass and drums and the accompanying singer form the overall sounds of the song.