Overview: The documentary Louder Than a Bomb is a film about passion, competition, teamwork, and trust. It’s about the joy of being young, and the pain of growing up. It’s about speaking out, making noise, and finding your voice.
It also just happens to be about poetry.
Every year, more than six hundred teenagers from over sixty Chicago area schools gather for the world’s largest youth poetry slam, a competition known as "Louder Than a Bomb". Founded in 2001, Louder Than a Bomb is the only event of its kind in the country—a youth poetry slam built from the beginning around teams. Rather than emphasize individual poets and performances, the structure of Louder Than a Bomb demands that kids work collaboratively with their peers, presenting, critiquing, and rewriting their pieces. To succeed, teams have to create an environment of mutual trust and support. For many kids, being a part of such an environment—in an academic context—is life-changing.
Louder Than a Bomb chronicles the stereotype-confounding stories of four teams as they prepare for and compete in the 2008 event. By turns hopeful and heartbreaking, the film captures the tempestuous lives of these unforgettable kids, exploring the ways writing shapes their world, and vice versa. This is not "high school poetry" as we often think of it. This is language as a joyful release, irrepressibly talented teenagers obsessed with making words dance. How and why they do it—and the community they create along the way—is the story at the heart of this inspiring film.
(Summary from Louder Than a Bomb Website. Click the link for more information).
Directions: When we finish the film, please compose a comprehensive blog response of 300-500 words, describing your reactions to the film. Post the blog response in this blog space. Please be specific. You will be asked to compose your own spoken word poems, and your final assessment for Margaret Edson's, Wit will be to create a group poem.
My experience in poetry is minimal, but this awesome documentary broadened my view of poetry.
ReplyDeleteMy first poetry experience was in 7th grade when I first moved back to America. Not only did I have to adapt to a new environment, but also I struggled with my English. During the second week, my teacher assigned a poetry assignment. This was an enormous challenge for me when I still had a hard time trying to understand the language. I tried my best but the poem was void of any emotions or meaning.
Through the experiences of many talented poets, I begin to comprehend the beauty of poetry and its distinctive position in the realm of literature. In a few words, powerful emotions seep through pulling the reader immediately into the authors’ environment. It does not have the long and winding sentences of prose nor the awkwardly inserted descriptions of a drama. It only has a few words forming the most powerful message. Poetry is like a free blank canvas where no rules applied and no explanation are needed. One may simply be him/herself. The tone and expression of the poets, reading the poem add more to its meanings. Their joyous smiles or painful frowns vividly presents the emotions that surpass the words. In particular, Nova’s poem “Cody” and her performance especially struct me. Her pain and sorrow in her eyes are real. The strain in her voice tears me apart. With her performance, Coby becomes alive standing before me as he struggles in life. I struggle with Nova and her brother, feeling their pain.
I also realized that poetry is not just a piece of artwork. It holds a distinct meaning for everyone. For Nate, poetry is identity. Nate was identified as gifted and an academic prodigy at a young age. Different from people in his neighborhood whose incarceration is more the norm, he chose poetry, and has never looked back. Poetry is part of him as he becomes a poet. For Nova, poetry is therapy. She has a tumultuous upbringing hidden under her warm smiles and positivity. She is not only an honor student in school but also a diligent worker on the weekends. Helping her mom, she takes care of her 12-year-old brother who suffers from various genetic diseases. For Adam, poetry is his community. He is sweet and happy and a very gifted writer. He found his team at Louder than a Bomb with people who have similar interests. For the last group of poets, poetry means pressure. They did well when they participated in the Louder than a Bomb the first time and want to prove their skills in the coming years, but academics and daily lives are sometimes too busy to take on other responsibilities. They struggle as they continued. Through this documentary, I realized that poetry, with only a few words, may carry a heavier weight than I had imagined.
There is a strong sense that these teen poets have to write. There is no choice, they just do. This is particularly obvious when the English teacher at Steinmetz considers kicking out the students that created a disruption and questioned the true nature of their teacher. During the meeting, one of the students breaks down and cries, then gives a touching speech displaying his love for slam poetry and the community. These are not teens that one would expect to be all about poetry but they are. In addition, the Steinmetz students also show a propensity towards rap, which has very similar qualities to slam poetry, both being spoken mediums that require a certain tempo and poetic structure. Students like Nova need to talk about their family and slam poetry keeps her out of trouble. It was vital to her future success that her personality changes, and this occurred through slam. She too has this drive, something that I feel that I don’t have when I write, in that there is no pressure for me to release any emotion, to bring about tranquility through poetry.
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting to me how they group from Steinmetz continues to put on this façade of toughness even if they do have such soft insides. Was masquerading under the idea of being the underdog, the unexpected contestant, helpful to their success? This could be a an unescapable part of their identity, as their work ethic and attitude didn’t really appear to have transformed them into new people. Despite all this, the teens from Steinmetz now commend a new sort of respect amongst other slam poets.
It’s really difficult to eschew from thinking about the scores, to believe that presenting slam poetry transcended the results. In a genera where feelings and emotions are stark and very real, it’s almost dishonorable to reduce the contestants to a number, but it is a competition, so there must be a way to determine the winners from the losers. Nate was the first, a student who has stuck with slam for the longest. It was he who saw slam for being art, as it didn’t look like he had a bad life and needed to escape or figure out how to change himself to survive. His drive came from his love of poetry, and his pivot from master to teacher was symbolic of his evolution, and what it means to give back. This is definitely admirable, as he was stepping up to build up slam poetry at his school.
I, personally, really enjoyed this documentary because I loved seeing a glimpse into the students’ lives and then hearing their stories expressed in the form of poetry. All the students in the documentary are all so, so talented, and it is crazy to think that if they were not introduced to Louder Than a Bomb, they might not have even discovered their talent for writing and speaking. I also wonder how different their lives would be if it weren’t for poetry. Many of the students live difficult lives and they bear painful backgrounds, but they were able to find an outlet in poetry, in the writing and delivery of it. It would’ve been one thing to read their poems on paper, but to hear it spoken aloud with unparalleled passion and conviction is a totally different mic-drop situation. I was particularly moved by Nova and her story and personal growth as a result of Louder Than a Bomb. She grew up without a father, her mother worked multiple jobs, and so she had to raise her younger brother, Cody, who had Fragile X Syndrome. At school, she said that she would not talk to anyone, and if anyone talked to her, she would be very mean to them. In her first year of doing poetry slam, she wrote bitter, extremely heavy poems about her father, saying everything she had ever wanted to say to him. It was evident that performing her poems took a huge burden off her heart. This was the beginning of her coming out of her shell. After she was done writing about her father, she decided to write about Cody, and her coach told the camera that her poems to her father were full of resentment, but in her poems to Cody, there was nothing but pure love. Because of Louder Than a Bomb, Nova found her voice that she had been repressing for many years. She went from hating school and not wanting to talk to anybody, to deciding that she wants to become a teacher. It was also cool to see how Sloan, the coach of the Steinmenauts, took on a group of students who were seen as hopeless and transformed them into champions with a newfound purpose in life. Although they were brilliant writers, they were probably not the easiest group of people to coach, yet Sloan saw potential in them and pushed them to become the best possible version of themselves. I enjoyed seeing the Steinmenauts become a family and go through the high of winning in 2007 to the low of losing by 0.1 in 2008. This documentary showed me the power poetry has to rid burdens, change lives, and unite people.
ReplyDeleteI really liked Louder Than a Bomb for so many reasons. The story of a returning champion was fun, seeing how poetry affected so many people was powerful, but most of all was how it showed the different kinds of poetry. Honestly, there were a few times when I did not think a poem was extremely impressive, but it got high scores. Other times, I thought I had just seen the best poem even and it received “normal” scores. The concept of louder than a bomb is really weird for me. Grading poems in a tournament style seems so weird to me. There is never a way to place a value on how well someone performs a poem. Sure, you can deduct points for stuttering, but at that point it seems more like a classroom than a place to share poetry. There is no concrete definition of what a “good” poem is to me, so how can I score others? If I were to create a way to score poems, it would be much more democratic. Each poem would be presented, and then the crowd would vote for their favorite. This happens all the time in everyday music. When an artist or band releases an album, there are almost always the “popular” songs and the songs that do not get as much attention. This is simply because people are generally drawn to the same thing. Poetry is so different in this aspect. People do not drop albums of poems. They tell one poem at a time. This leads to a form of grading where people have nothing to compare the poem to. To me, another way to look at a poem is an album of lines, stanzas, or couplets, etc. We will probably have our favorite lines of a poem, and other lines that seemed forced. This was most of my reactions to the movie. There were some poems that were amazing all the way throughout, and others that I did not like as much. Overall, however, they are all amazing because they all had the entire heart of the creator behind them, which is the true beauty of poetry.
ReplyDelete“Louder Than a Bomb” is an amazing event. I’m glad that a documentary was made to showcase some of the students involved because otherwise their talent and the event in general would most likely remain under the radar. I had no idea there existed such a passionate community of young poets in the Chicago area. Despite their youth, characters like Adam Gottlieb and Nova are able to write some of the most passionate and expressive pieces of writing I have ever heard. What I noticed about the event is that while certain members brought very well-written and sophisticated pieces, others were able to woo audiences with their inspiring and emotional performances. Nova’s writings were only made special by the sensitivity in her voice as she spoke them and by the vulnerability she shared with her audience. This makes me feel like I, as an actor, could be just as influential as some of the young people in this documentary. Before seeing the “Louder Than a Bomb” students I assumed it wasn’t common for poets to act through their pieces, so it was really cool watching the competitors get so intense while reciting their poems, which were more like vignettes or short stories than what I think of when someone talks about traditional poetry. It’s not boring, it's actually extremely entertaining and uplifting to hear the inner thoughts of these marvelous writers. Their dedication to their craft and powerful spoken word pieces inspire me to work on my own performance craft. I appreciate “Louder Than a Bomb” for teaching me that poetry is more than just a cliche art form, but rather an impressive way to share your inner feelings.
ReplyDeleteI’ve always had this certain view of poetry in my head. I’d thought it must be short, it must rhyme, and it even has to have iambic pentameter. Seeing these kids my own age with such a grasp on the meaning of poetry and how it can be used was amazing. “Counting Graves” by the Steinmenauts was easily one of my favorites. They started talking and I assumed that there was no way that a poem with a story like theirs would succeed. It seemed too informal, like more of a play than a poem. They had actual dialogue, an actual scene, and that was something that I had never seen before. It shocked me, seeing them perform this tense scene so bluntly. Even earlier, seeing Nova talk about her baby brother and stating that he has Fragile X Syndrome, I was surprised. How can poetry be something like an essay? Is that all that poetry is: glorified papers? It makes me question what the difference is between something personal like a college essay and a poem. It makes me want to write poetry like that.
ReplyDeleteIt’s amazing to see what these kids are able to do. They waltz onto the stage, pour their hearts out in front of thousands of people that they had never met, and the most impressive thing is that they all feel the same. They’re able to take this audience into their shoes, or into the shoes of someone that they would have never expected, like in “Shooter” that Lamar performed. It was so strange seeing him proud to be the villain, the antagonist, but he twisted it in a way condoning his own actions. That, I think, is the difference between an essay and a poem. A poem allows its writers to spin the meaning, to change thoughts and interpretations into something completely different (also like how Nate does in his poem that takes him to finals). It’s a way to infuse a new meaning into something static, and human emotion is exactly that. It’s the feelings behind small things that happen that define us. That’s poetry.
In the documentary, “Louder Than a Bomb,” groups of students put their poems on display in a slam poetry competition. While it is entertaining for the audience and participants to judge the poetry and have a winner in the end of the competition, I do not believe poetry is something that can be compared especially through numbered scores. In the end the Steinmenauts lost by .1 of a point to the winning team. While watching the movie I could not comprehend how the judges could have scored each poem accurately enough so that that .1 of a point would be an accurate representation of the impact of the poem. The judges were volunteers with no required background knowledge of slam poetry although most had probably written a Haiku before. Choosing the judging audience as a mix of poetic experts and newcomers allowed the scoring to be based off the impact of the poems on people who are not critically analyzing every detail of each poem. As a result, the delivery of each of the poems was crucial and well thought out so they could convey their emotion. From the way each of them entered and exited the stage was impressive to me, because of my lack of experience and will to present in front of a large audience. Experts to poetry or not I believe how we interpret and react to a poem is based off of our personal experiences, feelings, and memories that no one else holds. Iis impossible to take a small group of judges and trust their scores reflect the opinions of the entire audience and represent the gravity of the poem.
ReplyDeleteLouder Than a Bomb allows the students involved to understand and get closer to people they wouldn’t have otherwise. It inspired me that so many different people had the ability to get together and be so vulnerable in sharing their lives together. Although the competition may not be a correct representation of the importance of a poem it did teach the students that doing it for the scores would be a lifetime of unhappiness and losing allowed them to gain respect for others and themselves.
I really liked the documentary because it gave me an insight into the world of other people my age that come from different backgrounds. Growing up in Andover I have not been exposed to many things besides what is in my community. The issues that arise in my community are nowhere near the intensity of the problems in their lives. These kids are surrounded by gun violence and drugs at all times, coming from broken homes, whereas Andover is a pretty safe community. One thing that really stuck with me from the documentary is the fact that at Steinmetz High School the kids have to go through metal detectors in order to walk into their school. They have to take everything out of their pockets and are searched before even walking into school. This really put into perspective how good we have it in Andover, and that the things we complain about such as not being able to walk in through the Field House doors in the morning are in the grand scheme silly. I was also amazed by the poems that these kids were able to create. These poems were incredibly powerful and talked about issues that are not easy to talk about such as gun violence and drugs. After hearing each and everyone one of the poems I was taken aback because they all had such beautiful and powerful messages. The one poem that really got to me was Nova’s poem about her brother. I couldn’t help but start crying when I heard her poem because I understand her poems more than most people. Having a brother with special needs, I have gone through a lot of the same things that Nova has, having to fight other people's opinions on people with disabilities so that they are able to see just how wonderful my brother truly is. He is my favorite person on the planet. The courage each of the people in the documentary possess is something I strive for. They are unafraid to share with the rest of the world their poems, even if the poems include their deepest darkest secrets. I on the other hand am afraid to be vulnerable with other people, nevermind with random strangers at a poetry competition. I am so afraid that I have to write another poem for our class because my first one I am too afraid to share for the fear that I will be judged by my fellow classmates or that the information that poem contains will be used against me. I hope that one day I can muster enough courage to share my poem with others because I am really proud of it and the metaphors in it but my fears of disapproval are getting in my way.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have been writing poetry since the sixth grade and the one time I felt truly connected to the broad sense of the medium was when I was selected to read my poem for an assembly on animal abuse. It was well received and I was chosen to present another one for an assembly on discrimination. I hd never felt more joy in my life when people started clapping for me when I cane up on stage, before I even had the chance to read my poem. I had affected and touched so many people with the my individual permutation of words and phrases. It feels amazing to evoke such a feeling in an audience and "Louder Than a Bomb" reminded me of those days.
ReplyDeleteThe documentary is not only amazing look into the underrated medium of slam poetry but also the backstories, mode of preparation, and the set up of "Louder Than a Bomb." I enjoyed delving into the thoughts and intricacies of all the students, especially Nova's. I especially felt connected to her and Adam's poems. My favourite poem of the bunch was a group piece performed by Steinmetz's students, I believe. It was called "Counting Graves." I couldn't believe they lost by one-tenth of a point. The way this was received leads me to my next point, my favourite scene.
It had to be the scene where the participants, student audience, and judges were talking about the impact of scores on the students who performed the slam poems. What is the point of assigning a numerical result to a competition about spilling out emotions, histories, and commentaries. These tests and competitions are not the main point at the end of the day, it is going up on stage to that audience and speaking your voice that matters. Numerical tests are not the end all be all. We, as humans, know that we are able to take holistic approaches to many situations in our life and simple curiosity and attempt of an art form can be part of one of these holistic approaches.
I feel like teens have a lot of things going on in their lives for it’s an ever changing and difficult period in their life as they move towards adulthood. This means that there’s all sorts of ideas and emotions going on inside their head’s and therefore it is vital that teens are exposed to different positive outlets and ways to express all of the many emotions and feelings that they have inside them. Louder Than A Bomb competitions definitely seems like such a therapeutic, powerful, and incredibly fun and supporting way in which many young people all across the country have the chance to freely express themselves in a supportive environment through the rich art of slam poetry. The way that this documentary followed a diverse group of students as they prepare for the Louder Than a Bomb competition. I personally found the story of the Steinmanauts to be quite moving and I could definitely tell that slam poetry had truly impacted these young people’s lives. A lot of these kids owe their lives to poetry and a lot of them are glad that they chose to pursue poetry instead of a life of substance abuse or street violence which can be quite difficult to avoid in the struggling suburbs of Chicago. The Steinmanauts view their slam poetry team as a family and I think that that is also very important for these kids to have, especially for those who may feel like they aren't good at sports and therefore find it harder to create healthy, strong bonds with their school community which can help keep them out of trouble.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that was quite difficult for me to grasp in the movie was probably the scoring of the event. The Louder Than a Bomb is a competition and thus it is being scored but you can definitely tell that it is something that many of the participants detested and did not agree with. The judges for the most part were just some random people and so you weren't always sure if the score was completely ‘fair’ or ‘as it should have been’.The poetry that these kids wrote goes beyond a number score and I felt like it was kind of wrong of them to kind of put a number on that. I understand that scoring is necessary to organize and advance the competition but you could definitely tell that it was the audience who more so wanted to choose who one and with slam poetry especially, I feel like it should be more of a people’s choice. Maybe they should consider installing a scoring system where the crowd can vote and score each other's poem’s through maybe some sort of mobile app because I feel like it’s the people who perform it and who are actually part of the slam community who understand each other's poetry the best.
"Louder Than a Bomb" showcases many different types of poetry, and I enjoyed that. It shows that poems do not have to follow specific criteria to be good. All the pieces have different styles and about such diverse topics, but they unimaginably touch people's hearts. I also like that the documentary follows the poets' lives. The viewers get a look at their lives and all their struggles. It gives us a better understanding of them as an individual and also their poetry. They all write about things that they have a connection with, and we learn about why they write what they write through looking at their lives. It also explains why their poems are all so different. They all struggle with different things that make their way into the poems, but they are all still so good because the topics are close to their heart.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed seeing the writing process. There is a lot of writing and rewriting that goes into a successful poem, and you can tell in the documentary that they are all hardworking and determined. Still, most importantly, they also believe in what they are doing. They are all talented, but without believing in their art, talent can only do so much. Writing is not always an easy and effortless process. They all struggle to write the perfect poem for the competition. There are conflicts between team members and advisors, but they overcome them. It is incredible to see them perform their poems because it is one thing to read a poem to yourself, but it is a whole different story to see it perform the way the poet wanted you to view it.
The documentary helped me realize that poetry and writing, in that matter, has to come from the heart. If you write about what you believe in, it makes it more meaningful and maybe even more manageable. Talent can only do so much, but it cannot carry you to success if you do not believe in your craft.
Louder Than A Bomb gives people a platform to speak the truth behind their feelings, embracing the unique qualities everyone throughout their writing. It gives students a chance to deliver and speak their voice in a personal perspective. Such as Nova, who from the outside, others saw as angry and quiet, but behind that, we can see she had so much going on in her life. She worked and attended high school at the same time, whilst balancing taking care of her younger brother. When she started working on poetry, it gave her a place to let out all of her anger and frustrations from her past out on a page. She is finally allowed to say everything she has wanted to say without fear. Each poem I heard spoke beyond the student’s personal lives and into bigger, topical issues, such as the poem on the school shooter. We are able to see the worries and thoughts these students go through in their everyday lives from a deeper perspective; like we are seeing it from their own point of view.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do not agree with poetry being graded and rated from first place to last place. Poetry is so broad and discusses so many different topics- it’s like asking someone if we should work to provide shelter or food for the homeless. They’re both very important in someone’s lives, they shouldn’t be an ‘either-or’.
“Louder Than A Bomb” was a spectacular showcase that made me realize how significant poetry can be to a variety of people. To Nova and those from Steinmetz, poetry was as an escape from their difficult lives and everyday struggles as they could freely express themselves in their writing. When Nova performed her poem on her baby brother, Cody, I got goosebumps throughout my body as she provided the audience with such vivid imagery. I loved her smooth transitions from her brother’s genes to his diabetes, seizures, and autism to then describing her great love for him. After she finished her piece I questioned how someone can compose such a beautiful poem and admired her for her bravery as I would not be able to perform such a personal poem without crying halfway through. I also loved Jesus Lark’s piece “Repaid” as he described his feelings about his inability to develop a real father and son relationship due to his partners wishes. His play on words was so genius as he spelled out repaid in his spoken word and then said that spelled backwards was diapers. I was really hoping to hear the rest of the poem but it was unfortunately cut out. When I looked it up online and listened to the entire piece I was surprised they shortened it because it was truly amazing. The last poem that is on my favorites list is the group poem “Counting Graves”. I couldn't believe that they had lost by one tenth of a point, like what. This piece was astonishing as they not only had the spoken word aspect of it but they even had the girl singing some of her lines! The way in which they structured it like it was a conversation between the family members and the way they talked over each other was so smart and such a good way to convey the Central Park 5 case. This poem was so good and well performed that I got chills all over my body and an urge to cry. After watching this film I wondered if I would have the courage to read a personal poem to the class and I think I probably can’t but I guess I’ll have to wait and see when the day arrives.
ReplyDelete