Rhetorical Analysis of "Elastic Heart"

            Initially hearing the song “Elastic Heart” by the Australian pop-singer Sia, I just thought it to be another song about love. After reading the lyrics and watching the music video, it is clearly not another love song. The song is about the battles that Sia faces in her own head battling with bipolar disorder. The video features the young star from the reality TV show “Dance Moms”, Maddie Ziegler, and famous actor Shia LaBeouf. Maddie’s character acts as another “self-state” of Shia’s character. The visual of the two fighting, laughing, and loving each other provide a visual for the daily battles that those with bipolar disorder face.

            In the opening lyrics of the song Sia sings:

                        “And another one bites the dust

                        But why can I not conquer love?

                        I might have thought we were one

                        Why not fight this war without weapons?”

These lyrics work to show an internal battle. “I might have thought we were one” depicts a point where Sia had thought had conquered those who were “fighting against her” (her mental illness), and was united as one with herself, only to have to keep fighting. Sia refers to these internal struggles as a “war”. She uses this word to create a powerful image. She is using the rhetoric tool of imagery to present a certain image to the audience to help further her argument. While these lyrics are being sung, the music video provides the image of two people walking around a metal cage. These two people have their eyes on each other, and are obviously ready to take on the other in a fight (0:31).

Right before the refrain Sia sings:

                        “You cannot break me

                        I’m still fighting for peace.”

These lyrics show Sia’s determination to fight against her mental illness. She is not going to give in and lose to the disease, but continue fighting in the hope that she will end up at peace with herself one day.

            At one point in the music video, the man seems to escape his other “self-state”, and he tries to make a truce. This truce looks like it is going to happen when he reaches a hand to the girl, but she then bites him proving that a truce is not going to happen (2:17). This shows how hard it is to overcome mental illness. At one point the girl slips right through the bars of the cage and taunts the man who cannot fit through the cracks, and he remains trapped in the cage (2:58). This is a very strong image that shows the entrapment in your head that comes along with mental illness.

            This video contains many tools that are used in rhetoric. Sia uses pathos to appeal to the emotional side of the person watching the video (Silvae Rhetoricae). Many of the images are hard to watch, and makes the person watching the video feel bad for those who suffer from these mental illnesses. Sia increases her credibility by demonstrating a knowledge of mental illness. The young girl in the video has the same blunt, blonde hair that Sia has, and the watcher cannot help to think that the little girl is a representation of Sia. The descriptive lyrics and the artful video create great imagery of what mental illness is really like. The video provides a strong argument to show how debilitating mental illnesses have the capability to be.  

Elastic Heart. By Sia. Perf. Maddie Ziegler and Shia LaBeouf. RCA Records, 2015.

YouTube.

Sia. "Lyrics." Sia -- Lyrics. Sia, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2015. <http://siamusic.net/lyrics>.

Burton, Gideon, Dr. "Basic Questions for Rhetorical Analysis." Basic Questions for Rhetorical Analysis. Silva Rhetoricae, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2015. <http://rhetoric.byu.edu/pedagogy/rhetorical%20analysis%20heuristic.htm>.