John Robinson

English 102 Rhetorical Analysis

Professor Ramos

March 8th, 2020

The Softest Thing We Can Ever Do, or Is It?

There are a lot of things in life that men are taught, one of them is to hide our emotions no matter how sad we really are. This seems to be almost a universal rule of thumb that affects everyone, even celebrities. David Burd is one of these Celebrities we will be looking at and how he will try and bring to light the underlying emotions that men face during a difficult situation where he is still in love with his ex and attending their wedding. Burd Aka Lil Dicky to the rap world will be doing so with his song and music video Molly.

The video opens with Burd looking into a mirror attempting to get his tie done in an orderly fashion but he is struggling. His friends are making fun of Burd in the scene and we can see him get uncomfortable. He then snaps at them telling them to be adults so they can be on time. Him struggling with his tie is a sign that he is struggling with his own emotions. This is a sign of emotional Overwhelm according to Good Therapy a website that explains the relationship with emotion overwhelm and simple tasks., Burd is visibly struggling with the simple task of his tie due to the not so visible emotional hurt on the inside. The music then cues up with the lyrics, “Man this is the softest thing I ever did”(Burd, Molly). 

The Scene changes to his group in the car. The camera focuses on his face with an hollow expression that is then explained with him scrolling through his old pictures of himself and his ex. The lyrics say “I really wish I didn’t care about anymore, but I do” He is admitting that he still does care for his ex even though he doesn’t want to. The door opens and we see him walk towards the church while hugging family and finding his way to his seat. His lyrics go into depth in this scene about how him choosing his career made them seperate and how busy he was with his career but says he would still give her his last name, meaning he did want to marry her. She walks up the aisle with her father and everyone turns to look but him, he keeps his focus forward, but only until she walks by him and he lets out a sigh with the hollow expression on his face of heartbreak. Burd sacrificed his love to pursue a career path that he loved. 

She arrives at the altar where her future husband is waiting. We get a wide angle view of this scene showing the entire church interior and guests, but there is one face in particular that stands out. While everyone is smiling and excited Burd is standing there with the same expression on his face of heartbreak. As the song changes its course from Burd voice and lyrics we hear Brandon Urie from Panic at the disco begin his part in the song. Which are perceived to be his own internal emotions coming to life as seen when the verse “you could find another me tomorrow and that’s the hardest pill to swallow”(Urie) when we see Burd break his forward focus again and look down and swallow looking back up to the now official bride and groom. As the video focuses on the newly weds the picture focuses on Burd in the background who looks completely hollow at this point. Burd said in an interview with Iheart Radios behind the scenes that he would look at their real pictures to get true emotion of himself. 

We now arrive at the reception where Burd finds himself Seated at a table furthest from the bride and good, This symbolises the distance that is now between the two of them as Burd begins to rap again about all the memories together as he spaces out again with a blank expression “Ever since I’ve been alone I’ve been thinking back, Listening to you auto-tune in my microphone making us laugh” Burd is slowly now accepting the fact that those memories will be nothing more than just memories now. We can see everyone laughing and having a good time at the party while Burd is internally struggling with his emotions. He decided to be there for his ex because he still cared for her. Burd is putting himself through a world of hurt for someone he cares about. I do not think that he should have to sit there hurting over someone he cares about and admittedly still loves given the verse “ Cause even when I can’t say I love ya, I love ya”.(Burd)
We forward to the party scene and this is the part that sticks out to me the most and is where I closely relate to this song. I have been put into a similar situation as Burd, while not a wedding situation my ex ended up in a relationship with one of my best friends. We stayed friendly for the sake of all our friendships but on the inside It was slowly eating away at me. I see myself in Burd as he seems hollow and spaced out trying to numb his emotions with drinks and other things. While everyone else is having a blast dancing and drinking we see Burd sipping on his drink spaced out and trying to hide his real emotions.

The last part of the video is the part which shows the greatest amount of significance is at the party when the music fades and is muffled. This shows the sign of suppression of his emotions and can almost be connected with a numbness of his emotions. I believe that in the video Burd suppresses his hurt combined with his drinking to come to a numbness of the pain he was feeling that entire day. As he leaves the party his ex stops him to speak with him, what is said is not known, but we can see his grip as he hugs his ex goodbye is strong and she has to tap him for the hug to end. He walks away broken and emotionally numb but it was never seen and his ex was happy he attended her wedding. Men struggle with their emotions, we suppress them, but just as this video shows there are subtle signs to it. David Burds Molly does an amazing job at showing the emotions effects of heartbreak on a guy who is directly involved in it.

Works Cited

“Depression (Major Depressive Disorder).” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 3 Feb. 2018, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20356013.

“Molly.” Youtube, Lil Dicky, 9 June 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZkVqLjGM_I.Team, GoodTherapy Editor. “Signs You Are Emotionally Overwhelmed.” GoodTherapy, GoodTherapy, http://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/issues/emotional-overwhelm.