In this post I will be analyzing Lennon and Maisy’s version of “That’s What’s Up” using metaphoric criticism.

The song was originally created and sung by Edward Sharp and The Magnetic Zeros but Lennon and Maisy have done a cover of it in their own fashion. The song uses many metaphors to glorify the love between a couple by using two objects that require each other to exist, implying that the lovers need one another to be complete.

Here are some of the explicit metaphors that compare a couple’s relationship:

• “I’ll be the church, you be the steeple”
• “I’ll be the sun, you be the shining”
• “You be the clock, I’ll be the timing”
• “You be the book, I’ll be the binding”
• “You be the words, I’ll be the rhyming”
• “You be the bird, I’ll be the feather”

Also, here are a few more explicit metaphors in the song that make comparisons about love:

• “Love, it is a shelter”
• “Love, it is a cause”
• “Love, it is our honor”
• “Love, it is our home”

Through these metaphors the couple (the “I” and “you”) and love is the tenor while the comparisons (church, steeple, sun, shining, etc.) are the vehicle. As I shortly described in the context, the vehicles need one another to exist. Without the shining the sun would be a totally different object and a book needs its binding to be a book. If you take one away than the other loses its full meaning, thus without one of the lovers than the relationship would also not have its full meaning. Love is used as a metaphor to show the gravity it has on people. It is where people are safe (shelter and home) and it is their reasoning behind doing what they do (cause).

1.Tide Commercial (2013)

Most laundry and cleaning commercials tend to fall into stereotypical tendencies of using women to promote their product. Tide’s 2013 commercial continues this stigma with a mother as the main spokesperson encouraging the use and purchase of Tide. Ideally the audience would be for anyone that washes their clothing, however, the company narrows this down to a smaller group of people: mothers. The stereotype that has grown from our society is that mothers are the most likely to clean clothes.

2. Preliminary Ideological Criticism                                                                              a. Presented elements:

• Bargain detergents are inferior to Tide because they do not remove stains (1 Tide cup vs. 6 cups of other detergent brands),
• Mother quit her job to take care of children
• Mother is cooking, poorly
• Mother is painting planets with children
• Nana is better at doing laundry and cooking

b. Suggested elements

• Mothers must quit their jobs to take care of the children
• Mothers should be the cookers
• Older generations know what is right
• Mothers are expected to help with children’s school projects

3. Ideology evident                                                                                                   The ideology articulated from the 2013 Tide commercial is that mothers are expected to portray stereotypical mother roles of taking care of the children, cooking, and doing laundry. The commercial does not include any other groups of people which prevents it from appealing to diverse groups. The artifact successfully asks the audience to avoid alternative laundry brands, thus leaving them as the best option. It is stereotypical to assume these gender roles onto a mother role; the Tide commercial discredits her even more by implying that it took her multiple attempts before finally turning to Tide and that she is an unsuccessful cook that has burnt the muffins. She would have been given more power if she was seen as the most intelligent for purchasing Tide.                                                                                                                                                                                        Preece, David. “Tide Laundry Detergent Commercial 2013 – Muffins.” Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0cAK9ouRXU. Accessed 13 March 2018.