COURSE: COMMUNICATION, CULTURE AND MEDIA
Name: Frank Okwedadi
Date: 2008/2009
I confirm that this is entirely my own work; no part of it is copied from previous papers, nor does it include material from any published source without proper acknowledgement.
THE EFFECT OF AUDIENCE ON SPOKEN-WORD POETRY: AN EXPOSE’
Poetry slam or spoken-word poetry is the competitive art of performance poetry. Established in the mid-80’s as a means to heighten public interest in poetry readings. Although, initially seen as an evolutionary form of black poetry, spoken-word has evolved into an international art form emphasizing audience involvement and poetic excellence (Smith 2009). This infusion of performance on poetry has greatly increased its audience and the poetic experience, but has also provided an avenue for greater audience influence and expression. This essay seeks to explore audience influence on spoken word poetry as a media object.
UNDERSTANDING SPOKEN WORD
Spoken word poetry refers to performance poetry; poetry to be heard not read. This is a unique form of cultural and ethnic expression is a new rise of a cultural phenomenon with intense influence on its audience. In cafes and bars around the U.S., people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, ages and vocations are expressing themselves through spoken poetry (Fass 2003: 1-3).
Originally all poetry originates from oral tradition, in an oral format. The Iliad and the Odyssey were recited by professional strolling bards in ancient Greece and were put into writing only long afterward (Fass 2003). The Greeks also had poetry competitions as recently as the 19th century. Only relatively recently did poetry become a dead thing on a page, to be read privately, in silence. Yet traditionalists have been slow to award spoken-word any accolades. “I think the emphasis is probably on performance rather than poetry, says Joseph Parisi, former editor of Poetry Magazine (Fass 2003).” This statement reflects the rigid perceptions of mentally limited scholars trapped in between the hard covers of books with rhyme meters and outdated measuring rods for the poetry of modern times. Once asked to judge a poetry slam, Parisi replied:
“I’m really flattered and I wouldn’t mind having the free beer, but I don’t think you’ll need a judge–I think you’ll need a referee (Fass 2003).”
Here Parisi is refereeing to the spoken-word poetry slam competitions, and not spoken word directly, but this statement still reflects his views about this new poetic movement. It is true that post-modernity does present a seemingly chaotic cultural situation, but an open mind is required to live and be relevant in this new postmodern reality. Hence to reject new transformations of culture, art and life and cling to the old, is to stop walking with society and stand in a socially stagnant position to the point of the antisocial. Lack McCarthy, 64, a semi-retired computer systems analyst, doesn’t share Parisi’s disdain for spoken-word. He says, spoken-word has helped reawaken his own joy of the poetic experience, and he now has published several books of his own verse. McCarthy prefers slam’s democratic vitality to erudite, academic verses and experience. McCarthy Say’s:
“If Walt Whitman showed up today, you wouldn’t find him in a Master of Fine Arts program (Fass 2003: 1-3).”
One of the key uses for which Spoken-Word is applied is the cultural declaration of Identity through poetry. Using Spoken-Word as a tool, poets are able to say “see me; this is who I am; and this is what I am”, and more importantly “this is what I believe”, even in the rear case where these views just echo what they believe to be the popular opinions audience.
“It nice that you can claim your class of pure pedigree descendancy… but I’ll never deny the complicated, amalgamated afro-bariqua ancestry in me… The Marvin Gay in me… The hip-hop queen of soul in me… the darker shades of black in me (Calderon 2006).”
Spoken-word is a unique form of media object that must be digested and analyzed by the audience using completely different standards and tool from traditional forms of poetry because it brings the poetic discourse to the level of the audience.
POETRY SLAM COMPETITIONS
It’s not just the doggerel that draws audiences. It’s the performance, which goes by the name slam. Each poet striving to outdo the other, take turns performing before a live audience that responds by cheering, booing and stamping its feet. Judges picked at random from the audience rate each performer on a scale of zero to ten. Poets who exceed a three-minute time limit are penalized. The highest scorer wins (Fass 2003: 3). This is the slam not spoken word itself. The difference between spoken word and poetry slam events, such as Russell Simons Def Poetry Jam, is that spoken word is the art form that is used in poetry slam competitions events.
In a typical competition, all poets read one poem in the first round. Based on the scores they receive, the top-scoring poets go on to the second round, and from that pool, a smaller number of the highest-scoring poets in the second round go on to the third and final round. While the specifics vary from slam to slam, certified slams adhere to this basic structure, insuring that poets must seek to make immediate connections with the audience in order to continue on. Cash prizes or other prizes are offered to the winner as further impetus for performing well. In most cities, the slam series culminates with a final slam at the end of the season to determine which poets will represent the city at the National Poetry Slam. In the majority of slam series, organizers stage weekly or monthly events in a public space, such as a bar or cafe. Poets wishing to compete sign up with a host, and the host finds five audience members who wish to serve as judges (Fass 2003).
Poets must follow a series of rules: the poems must be of each poet’s own construction, the poet may not use props, costumes, or musical instruments, and if the poet goes over the time limit (three minutes plus a 10-second grace period), points are deducted from his or her score. Judges, who are encouraged to factor both content and performance into their evaluations, judge each poet on a 0.0 to 10.0 scale. The high score and low score are dropped, and the middle three scores become the score for that particular poet. To insure that the entire audience is involved, the host encourages the audience to respond to the poet in any way they see fit, be it impassioned cheering or lusty booing. The judges, in turn, are encouraged to remain consistent with ‘themselves’ and not let the audience influence them (Fass 2003: 1-3).
By adhering to a structure that factors in the audience at such a basic and integral level, slams have emerged as the most vital and best-attended of many cities’ regular poetry events. Whereas many ‘open mic’ events tend to serve either the poets who participate or a particular target community, slam’s emphasis on addressing the audience has garnered slam a more inclusive, more diverse audience than the typical poetry reading. By marrying poetry with competition, slam has allowed non-traditional audiences a tangible and intriguing avenue for experiencing poetry in a live prime-time setting (Fass 2003). Key point to note is the fact that success in the competition, the value of the poem, and the poet’s worth are all based on the audience’s opinion. Even in the case where judges are used, they are usually picked out from the audience. Hence, this form of audience empowerment, puts more pressure on the poet to please the audience usually by imbibing their views into his/her poems, in an attempt at drawing out positive responses from the audience that would stir the judges in his/her favor.
This system of organizing the slams has been effective but is not without flaws. The judges are member of the audience already; with friends in the crown and a community with idea’s, beliefs, and philosophies of life they interact with everyday. In this tangling of interest, popular opinion usually holds sway. For instance in if a poet comes up and speaks about white supremacy being wrong, the crowd will cheer, but if he did the same thing on the issue of black supremacy, he would probably be booed of stage for his guts. Although, both of these issues are existent in society today only popular opinion will win approval from the audience.
“I have gone home to Jamaica to read and been booed by the audience for my “nasty, illegal, homosexual performance.” I am getting another chance to see the not so glamorous side of the revolution. Here, there are no Lincoln Town cars, no “bling-bling.” It is just my poem–whatever I want to read that night–a mic and a bunch of people who may or may not look like me. Sometimes they are listening and sometimes I have to make them listen (Chin 2004).”
AUDIENCE EFFECT
The connection that the poets build with their audience through their performance is fundamental. It is important to understand the audience as co-performers, because artists and audience influence each other, and in the process a reflective and reflexive relationship is established among them (Pagliai 2003). This relationship helps artists receive some feedback from the audience, including evaluations, interpretations, laughing and applause. The fact that the poets often seek audience participation or at least acknowledgment is enlightening. The performance is created in the interaction between speakers and listeners, and through this interaction, a certain social reality is upheld; a certain representation of identity can be legitimated or delegitimized. According to John Heritage an objective reality exists so far as people agree on it (Heritage 1984: 228-229).”
The poet usually makes it his responsibility in the performance to obtain the agreement of the audience on the identities they would want him to portray of themselves or about themselves, that makes the poets part of their public. This identification can be contested if it varies too far from the audiences’ views. The point is that it is the moment that the people accept the poet as part of them that the poet becomes able to express the audience’s voice (Pagliai 2003). The people recognize the poet thus recognizing the poet’s ability to express their voice. They recognize the poets by accepting the performance and co-constructing it.
“everything human beings say and do when they assume the contrastive, but complementary, communicative roles of narrator and listener is an integral part of the event generated by their interacting; and this includes what they say or do in terms of such identities as those rooted topics such as in sex, age, religious affiliation, ethnicity, occupations, etc. thus the social ethic identities and communities to which they refer are imagined in the dialogue between the poets and their public (Pagliai 2003).”
The audience effect is the impact that a passive audience has on a subject performing a task. It was first formally noted in various psychology studies in the early 20th century. During some studies the presence of a passive audience facilitated the better performance of a task; while in other studies the presence of a passive audience inhibited the performance of a task. The effect has been observed in subjects ranging from cockroaches to humans (Icon Group International 2008: 220).
Looking at the effect of poetry on audiences from the view of the theoretical four models of effect; paying attention to both content and audience profile, it is obvious that the reaction model of most Spoken-Word audiences is mostly a combination of the conditional and cognitive-transaction effects model. This is saying that the way Spoken-Word affects audiences and the responses the poets will get from their reading is partly influenced by the audiences’ predispositions, personal attributes and belief systems, and partly by the consequence of individual audience’s cognitive responses towards media content in general (Ross 2003: 88).
In exploring Spoken-Word (black) poetry more than analysis is necessary. There is the need to recognize the cultural envelope of the poem, especially the audience being addressed needs to be established. The extent to which audiences control the form of the message in the poem must be established, by concentrating on the specific details of the audience, a fuller apprehension of the poem will be gotten (Reeves 1975).
There are various reasons why the poetic presentation and the content of the messages are tailored to reflect the audiences’ view. First thing to note is that the judges are still a part of the audience. Some might argue that they are the most important part of the audience. Since the judges have the final word on the results of each slam, poets keep their (the judges) political and philosophical views and perspectives in mind when they write and present. However, this notion is not all-inclusive; other perspectives are also taken into account in the artists’ creative process. Ultimately, the financial benefits come into play, and because pleasing the audience is the only way of guarantying a financially successful poetic career, their views come to the top of the priority list in content and presentation. Some performers view slamming as a ticket to fame, maybe fortune (Fass 2003).
“Taylor Mali, a four-time team winner of the grand slam, was part of the HBO Def Poetry show. He now earns about $2,500 per performance at venues such as college campuses. Last year he earned $60,000 in spoken-word income, including sales of his own book of verse, What Learning Leaves. ‘I made more money than I did as a teacher with ten years’ experience,’ he says (Fass 2003).”
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory (1943), illustrated in the figure below, just beneath the creative lays the need for self esteem and respect from others. This is the need for acceptance, but with a bit of narcissism involved. It can be argued that some of the poet’s reasons for adapting audience views are the approval they receive from the audience on and off the stage.
Source: A diagram of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow 1943)
For some poets, the drive is a superiority complex, a statement of literary supremacy; an elitist dominance of a subculture through the sub-cultural artifact. These believe that the glory of poetry should be for a select few; an elitist group of poets. Poetry, preformed and performed in an attempt at validation by the poets own personal sub-cultural elitist group. The use of personal idioms and anecdotes aimed not at the public, but the subgroup in the public that the speaker really cares about. In all of these examples of the driving force for poets adaptation of audiences’ views, there constantly exists the poets who write, present and live poetry with no ulterior motives at all, they just love it.
WHY FOCUS ON SPOKEN-WORD AUDIENCES?
We are all audiences to poetry, even as poets we are still audiences to our own poetry. There’s nothing about the poetic experience that is not linked to, sustained by and enhanced through culture. As culture and society evolve so does poetry. Media texts such as poetry need audiences in order to realise their potential for meaning. So a text (poem) does not have a single meaning but rather a range of possibilities which are defined by both the text and by its audiences. The meaning is not in the text, but in the reading; in the presentation (hart 1991, 60).
A focus on audience is important in media studies. There have been many different theories on how audiences respond to and interact with the media. This shows clearly the complexities of focusing on the audience and the ways in which audiences can be visualised (Hanes 2000). No audience member will interpret the media message in the same way. This alerts uses of the various media to the ambiguity of meaning and the richness inherent in the medium, aspects that poets need to be aware of in the creation of their poems (Hanes 2000). The limitations of a focus on spoken-word audiences are derived from the impossibility of investigating and measuring audiences and their responses. Existing methods of audience research are inappropriate, as they do not consider how the spoken-word is being used and what the various responses are of audiences to the specific texts (Hanes 2000).
“In a golden age of poetry the audience will not be just the workshop, where poets write for other poets, or the classroom—both of which have provided crucial sanctuary to poetry during the past half century. Its audience will lie also in that world of non-poetry readers who come to discover its deep sustenance. “To have great poets, there must be great audiences too (Barr 2006).”
REFERENCE
BARR, J. (2006) American Poetry in the New Century [online] available from <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/article.html?id=178560> [16 April 2009]
Calderon, A. (2006) Rhyme & Reason: BBC’s Spoken Word Poetry Documentary [online]. London: British Broadcasting Corporation. Available from <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqovPXRK2sQ> [16 April 2009]
Chin, S. (2004) ‘Almost famous: an original Broadway Def Poetry Jam cast member learns that the trick is to survive after the stage lights go down.’ Black Issues Book Review [online] available from <http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-20554669_ITM> [16 April 2009]
Fass, A. (2003) ‘No Velvet Hats.’ Forbes [online] 172, (6) 123-124. Available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/delivery?vid=6&hid=3&sid=b78b52df-159d-4b8c-978f-9> [16 April 2009]
Hanes P. J. (2000) The Advantages and Limitations of a Focus on Audience in Media Studies [online] available from <http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/pph9701.html> [16 April 2009]
Hart, A. (1991) Understanding the Media: A Practical Guide. London: Routledge
Heritage, J. (1984) Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell
Icon Group International (2008) Psychologists: Webster’s Quotations, Facts and Phrases. San Diego: ICON Group International Inc
Maslow, A. H. (1943) ‘A Theory of Human Motivation.’ Psychological Review [online] 50, 370-396. Available from <http://www.advancedhiring.com/docs/theory_of_human_motivation.pdf> [16 April 2009]
Pagliai, v. (2003) Sociolinguistics: the essential readings. United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell
Reeves W. J. (1975) ‘The Significance of Audience in Black Poetry.’ Negro American Literature Forum [online] 9, (1) 30-32. Available from <http://www.jstor.org/pss/3041232> [16 April 2009]
Ross, K. (2003: 77) Media and Audiences. [online] Berkshire: McGrawHill Education. Available from <http://site.ebrary.com/lib/coventry/Doc?id=10175272&ppg=88> [16 April 2009]
Smith M. K (2009) What is poetry slam [online] available from <http://www.slampapi.com/new_site/background/what_is_poetry_slam.ht> [16 April 2009]
