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.
Seeing as I only saw the last thirty minutes or so of the film, I feel somewhat unqualified to write a reaction blog. Yet in a sense those thirty minutes of seeing the actual performances, I think, gives me the ability to see the film as no other since I only saw the result, and not the process leading up to such.
ReplyDeleteThe poem’s were powerful, of that there is no doubt. I may not have been given the author’s backstories and inspiration, but instead I learned of who they were through their poems. I learned of the neighborhoods they grew in, where violence and police brutality run rampant and where the author feels empowered enough to sing out a poem with tears in their eyes and flashbacks to the events they witnessed before their very eyes. I learned of a girl and her fear for her handicapped brother who may forget his own sister when she is gone for longer than a month’s time. I learned of the love of an uncle for his nephew, and his hopes that his life may be better than any he could of hoped for on his own.
Writing in itself is powerful, but to hear the authors speak the words of their own work is a whole other experience in itself. Because when a work is created to reflect yourself (and often they do, they perhaps not with such foreknowledge), no one can express such emotion better than yourself. Tears weren’t a sign of weakness in the competitions from Louder than a Bomb, but a show of true emotion and effort given into a poem. Stuttering to me showed an overwhelming rush of thoughts that rendered its readers unable to speak in the moment, from either than power in the emotion or the fear to share such personal thoughts to a room of others. Shouting became a sign of desperation for others to hear what the authors had to say, to understand what inspired the words in their poems.
The part that spoke to me the most was when the teacher was getting annoyed that the kids weren’t showing up on time, and he sat them down into the hall to speak with them. I originally did not know how to feel because I started watching the documentary at about this point, but it really made me think about kids and education and how society shapes the way we act. When I first saw the kids, I noticed what I could see. They were all of color, mostly black, and they seemed to have a mentality that mocked the poetry that the teacher was trying to “inject” into the students. I thought on the lines of, “oh, these kids are not going to cooperate. They’ve been exposed to a culture and society that doesn’t care about the way they feel, causing them to not be able to find stimulation through the arts.” But when the one kid apologized, he broke through the barriers that kept him grounded to the social constructs of students in school by sharing his feelings and letting himself express the guilt he felt for disrespecting the teachers. While it may have looked before like he didn’t really care so much about the poetry and the teachers (I don’t know for sure I hadn’t watched enough before), he was able to show deep down in his heart that he felt sorry and that he was burdened with his choices, something that so many people are not able to do because doing so makes us “soft” and “weak.” In a way, he was speaking a poetry of his own that he never knew he had inside him until that point. The scene made me emotional because when I walk around school, I witness so much social construct that prevents people, including myself, from expressing how they think and feel just because they won’t look cool or normal. But, seeing this moment gave me hope that deep down, everybody has certain emotions that make them grow and develop, even if they feel like they can’t express them or that they think expressing them is bad. It gave me hope that one day, everyone will be able to express the way they feel, whether it be through poetry or art or music or actions or even just words of affirmation, without fear or discrimination.
ReplyDeleteI did not expect 400 words to take up this thought alone, but it shows that everything, even just the little scenes of our life, has some sort of worth and value if you apply enough thought. I think that is why poetry is so important because we can take time to think about and appreciate the things we see and observe.
Although I was only able to see the last half an hour or so of the documentary, I was blown away by what I saw. I was struck by the power of poetry to change lives. It not only provided a platform for students to amplify their voices and a common passion for students to build bonds over and build eachother up as a team. Writing is often a very intimate task that you wouldn’t think could be aided by a team effort. But these schools used the art form to support each other. Living in poverty with unstable family lives and frequent violence, this was the only source of love and support in these student’s lives. I was left speechless by the poetry performed. Like I’m sure many people were, I was particularly struck by Nova’s poem about her brother. She didn’t use any complicated metaphors or rhyming schemes, her words were so raw and genuine they spoke for themselves. Her delivery was powerful yet composed leaving the audience in awe of her words. Switching from such heavy difficult material to a lighter note, another student then spoke about his love for his nephew. This derails the misconception that poets may only speak about hardship and sorrow for their poems to be impactful. Mastery of words and sadness are not necessarily connected. The documentary itself was completely defiant of this stereotype and proved that poetry is accessible to anyone anywhere. These poems remind us that school and life are not compartmentalized. Life and school are intertwined. Schools often forget that students have more to do than homework and are worth more value than their grades. “Louder than a Bomb” emphasizes the power behind every student and the breathtaking art that can be produced by allowing students to create and share experiences. I truly enjoyed the film and was inspired by every poem.
ReplyDeleteWow, that was really powerful. As someone who is always trying get people to care about issues such as gun violence, immigration, and feminism, it was eye-opening to see how these teenages made people care. The audience was captivated. A few weeks ago I went to a Bernie rally. The Strokes played. They were good. BUT NOT THIS GOOD. He should have had a slam poet instead! The cadence and rhythm kept the audience attentive because they weren't said like regular words in sentences.
ReplyDeleteNova’s story was so powerful and made the whole audience be still with shock. I hope it was a kind of therapy for her to write and perform the poetry about her dad. Relationships with parents are unceasingly complicated. I wonder why this is. Maybe it is because despite anything they do, you have an indescribable bond with them. They did, after all give you life. But what happens when they do something unspeakable? Is it ever ok to walk away? And even if you wanted to, could you?
I am in awe and have so much respect for Adam who performed the poem about being Jewish and acknowledging that Jews have been discriminated against and victimized and yet still being aware of the struggles of black people. Last week I was talking to my mom about how representation of Arabic women in film. It's overly sexual and “mysterious” and my liberal mom retorts that white women don't get accurate representation in film either. The thing is, I was never denying that. I was pointing out that women who are not white face different, more extreme challenges. She wondered why I care about advocating for others when “you will face a lot of prejudice as a woman.” Yes, I know that but I also know that as a cisgender, white, straight women, I will have a lot of privallege. I also know that she faced a lot of sexism as a women doctor and still does so she is acutely aware of that sexism. I thought adam articulated this balance between advocating for yourself and for others very effectively. I think both generations can learn from him.
This documentary really spoke out to me because I don’t think I ever understood how much poetry can mean to some people. Although it is an amazing form of literature, I haven’t heard of a poetry club or SLAM after school that students go to - at least at AHS and am not sure if there is one. But, I think it could be pretty cool and interesting to hear what students can come up with. A lot of the poems read at Louder Than A Bomb seemed to be way beyond what I ever thought they would be. Some of them hit me, in particular the one regarding school shootings and another regarding suicide I believe. Of course I know there are poems about those topics in the world, however none that I would ever think high schoolers could write as bad as that may sound. I was beyond impressed with the work ethic of them as well and the amount of time that goes into writing these poems just to win one big competition. It is so time consuming and all worth it of course, but I feel as if no one would expect poetry to be something so serious. I loved how in this documentary, there were all sorts of different students participating. Whether they be different races, religions, from different schools, or have different interests, they are all working toward one goal with the same intentions and all listen to each other no matter what. When someone is performing their poem, it was crazy to me the silence that broke upon the room. No one was talking, everyone was just listening and if one poem was good enough, it changed the vibe of the audience as well and left everyone discussing it after they left. I thought this was the most beautiful part of it all because although there are teams, everyone is astonished by the others’ capabilities to have poetry hit other people - which a lot of the poems in Louder Than A Bomb did. With many of the topics in the poems I heard, it was really mind-blowing that one has the ability to make so many people feel a certain way and I find that to be one of my goals in life - to make others feel and be happy/changed by me. I think by writing a piece of poetry myself, I will hopefully find that and this documentary really helped me to see that I can write something like these students.
ReplyDeleteThis documentary was so interesting to me because I did not think that something like poetry could bring people together like it did. I think that maybe that is because I have never really been very interested in poetry. However, after seeing Louder Than a Bomb, I have a new appreciation for poets and their work. Nova’s poems were especially striking to me. I was in awe of how she was able to pack so much emotion into a poem using only her words. That skill is a very impressive one. Seeing Nova’s performances showed me how spoken word poetry can be a way to process your emotions and share how you are feeling. I definitely understand how an experience like Louder Than a Bomb could be such a freeing and incredible thing.
ReplyDeleteSpoken word poetry was also not something I knew a lot about before seeing this documentary. It was so interesting to see the community of poets come together and share their work with each other so openly. The other thing that was interesting to see was the complete respect that all of the other competitors and people their had for other’s work. It was so cool to see so many people from different backgrounds all in one place all because they shared a love of one thing: poetry. Because of Louder Than a Bomb, people like Adam Gottlieb, Nova Venerable, and Nate Marshall all got to meet and share their stories with each other. I am envious of the courage that the teens in the documentary had. It takes a lot of strength to be able to share stories as vulnerable as theirs were. Spoken word poetry sounds so different than other types of poems and it feels like it has a lot more emotion to it. I think that is why it is so powerful to hear. The one thing that was more striking to hear than the poems was the silence that they left the audience is. That sound shows the power that words have.
I was left feeling so inspired after watching this documentary. These kids have such strong voices and their writing is just out of this world. I was so inspired by Nova. Whenever I heard her preform she gave me chills, and the poem for her brother brought me to tears. Personally, I use poetry as a way to vent. When I feel any kind of extreme emotion I always funnel it into my poetry, because I'm not thinking to hard, I just let it flow. I write my poetry for myself, I never share it with anyone, because they are often about emotions that I'm embarrassed about. It was refreshing to see people who are my age freely talk about their emotions and express that not only in words, but through performance. Not only are they talking about personal issues that effect them in their every day life, they are also talking about topics that affect a greater population. One of the poems that I'm still thinking about is about the school shooter, and how it was told in the shooters perspective. It was so powerful and equally thought provoking as the other pieces of writing that are in the victims perspective. It was also odd because it almost made me sympathize with the shooter, and one part that stuck out to me the most was when he said, "I wanted to be seen so I put a bullet in my own head." Another issue that they touched upon in counting raves is gang violence. We got multiple perspectives, one from the older brother, the younger brother, and the mother. Not only did we get a look into their family dynamic, but we also got to see how one person getting lost in a violent lifestyle gets a larger group of people involved and in danger. Overall this doc has inspired me to keep writing, and to dig deeper into my emotions, even if im ashamed or embarrassed by them.
ReplyDeleteI loved Louder Than a Bomb. At first when I found out we were going to watch a documentary on poetry slams I was kinda like eh this will be boring. Poetry slams have such a bad rep in pop culture. Any movie or tv show that mentions a poetry slam, which is already few and far between, totally wrecks them. Like they'll have a person who participates in the slams to be the really weird non main character who is being made fun of and used for comedic relief. It's sad. But the documentary was so much better than the fiction most media is popping out. The 4 main poets as well as the other poets accompanying them are incredible. Of the 4, Nate was my favorite in terms of his total devotion to the poetry life. It's the thing he lets define him, which is really cool. Adam also was a great poet. His energy and passion was something everyone adored, and when they mentioned having a sort of spirit award for a poet everyone knew without a doubt it would be him. Nova's story hit deep and hard, especially the emotions tied to her little brother and how much love she had for him. The entire saga that was the Steinmenauts was insane. The entire group had so much love for poetry they cried for every high and low. Counting Graves still hits hard and I can't believe how close they were to the end and the final scores being so close. Overall, I loved this movie. It's so crazy to think they're all 30 now and living their own lives, whatever that might be. I hope I can write a poem that comes even a fraction close to their passion and just overall goosebump factor you know?
ReplyDeleteThroughout the whole documentary I was super intrigued. I have recently become more interested in poetry, both writing and hearing what others have written, and this took that interest to another level. I had actually gone to a small poetry slam during my February break and had thought it was the coolest thing, but once I saw how big a poetry slam could get in the documentary I was in awe. Many aspects of the poetry slams were exactly the same, like the scoring, and the energy people had while performing their pieces. My sister who lives in Chicago has actually been to the slam herself and found it to be an amazing experience. The atmosphere and energy in the room was super supportive and encouraging. From her description the documentary’s depiction seems accurate.
ReplyDeleteWhen watching the documentary I had a lot of respect for some of the people there as they had put so much time and effort into poetry, and wrote some incredible pieces. Two people who stood out to me were Nova and Adam because I found their poems to be the most moving. Adam was incredible on the stage on top of having such engaging and artistic poems. He truly has a gift in his ability to write the way he does. No one there could even compare to his sheer passion and talent. Something like that is amazing to see. Nova was also very noteworthy. While she wasn’t quite as talented as Adam, she had a lot of passion, and a lot to say. Her poems were extremely personal and took a lot of guts to be able to tell so many people the stories she does. She also writes in such a powerful way, it’s hard not to be moved by it. She wrote about the things that hurt her in such deep and mature ways that it really sunk into the audience. She knew exactly what words to use to make the impact she wanted. I also think it’s worth mentioning that the teachers were so undervalued. At one point in the documentary Nova was reading a draft of a poem she had written, which was very good but was lacking something. Her teacher told her to essentially reword the majority of it except for the one key visual that had stuck in his head. His advice was really good and wouldn’t have been something most people would pick out. While the students had immense talent, the teachers also played a big role in their poetry being so jaw-dropping.
I LOVED louder than a bomb!!!! My initial reaction was pretty much "WOW this is so cool". I really admire those kids. They are so intelligent and kind and honest. Besides their amazing poetry, I was really impressed by their group atmosphere. It seems like such a positive environment, especially for kids who previously felt isolated or lost. Poetry is an amazing outlet for people and louder than a bomb really highlighted that. Now- for their actual poetry. It was just so striking. Their words are so carefully selected and placed. I love how they can make such impact with everyday words (if that makes sense) Like we use words everyday, but poetry squeezes all of the juice out of them. Not only do they write these pieces, they memorize them - with hand motions and annunciation and even group orders etc. IT is sooooo impressive. I am really inspired by these kids and it has made me want to be more in touch with my emotions and things around me. I think poetry is a great way to do that
ReplyDeleteThough I missed the first segment of Louder than Bomb, I must admit to thoroughly enjoying the last section. I would assume the first half hour set up who each of the teams the documentary would be following are, and why they participated in the competition each year. In all honesty, if that’s all that was discussed, then I don’t mind having missed it. The interactions between the teams were interesting to watch, but by far, my favorite parts were the poems. Watching the poets, you could feel the time, energy, and dedication that went into each and every line. I loved the poem about school shooters, and the group performance about a little boy killed in a bad neighborhood, but the poem written by Nova about her youngest brother takes the cake in my opinion. While I’m sure the other poems were written about topics dear to the poet’s heart, none were quite so personal, so raw with emotion as this poem. I honestly can’t imagine being in Nova’s shoes as an author. It must have been painful to even acknowledge her fear of being forgotten by her brother to herself, much less to incorporate this into parts of her poem. Perhaps this is why I have always disliked writing poetry: the best works, in my opinion, are the raw emotional ones, and I’m not one to spend hours pouring my heart out. I admire Nova for doing this, and more so for her powerful performance of the resulting poem. I’ve always thought poetry should be quiet, to be read in the back of a dim cafe, followed by snaps, but true slam poetry is the exact opposite of that. In seventh grade we had a poetry slam, but even that was a relatively quiet affair. There were a few poets who attempted something comparable to the performances in this documentary (loud, moving, powerful), but even the teacher didn’t understand what they were aiming for, and as a result, they were not encouraged to create a piece that lived up to its greatest potential. In the documentary, each of the competitors was lucky enough to have a coach who encouraged them to make their piece the best it could be, and to teach them some life skills along the way. While I would never want to perform in a poetry slam, I have great admiration for those that do, and love listening to their work.
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ReplyDeleteThe movie was spectacular, I really appreciated the storytelling style it had. The documentary was very heartfelt and it truly made me fall in love with the characters. The way in which it incremented the students' stories created a background to the poetry they wrote, giving it a deeper meaning and understanding. I really related to Nova, and her ability to be vulnerable in front of so many people and talk about issues many attempt to conceal. Her stories about her father and brother were deeply touching, and it’s presence in the movie increased my awareness of her writing.
The stories of the people in the movie made me more aware of the issues so many people face in their daily lives, and yet, it gave me hope for these individual’s capabilities to take these experiences and focus their energy on things that will be enriching to them and their communities. The themes used in those kids poems were deeply touching, ranging from family dynamics to gun violence to mental health and even poetry itself. The maturity seem within these individuals was refreshing, and a direct correlation can be drawn between these aspects and their ability to convey their feelings, not only in writing, but also in person. One of the most touching moments of the movie in my opinion is when the three students from the Steinmenauts drifted away from the group, and were capable of having an honest and vulnerable conversation with their teacher explaining the reasoning behind their actions, and being able to say they were sorry, and show just how emotionally involved they were with the team. I found it fascinating to see three young black males mature enough, and confident enough, to cry in front of the people they admired, especially when that certain demographic has been historically affected by societal pressures that oftentimes impedes them from being vulnerable or talking about their feelings.
The movie was great, and it made me appreciate even more the power of poetry, and art itself, and its ability to transcend social-economic factors, and uplift entire communities. The film has made me more open to the idea of poetry.
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this documentary, it was inspiring to watch. The fact that they were all our age is incredible. They have gone through so much and turned it in to something beautiful so they can relate to people and express themselves. It's something I hope I can do as gracefully as them someday (hopefully soon). We have so many stereotypes about people, whether we are aware of it or not, and it is just so nice to see those broken. And to hear the power in their poetry was amazing. It really proves that you don't have to be old and have lived a full life to write moving stuff. Their poems were real, they were emotional, they were touching. It was moving to hear all those things in their voices and tones. It also made me think about performing my own poetry. It had me thinking about how I should stand and when I should pause and gesture and shout. I just never thought of poetry as so... loud. But it is, it makes sense now. Poetry should be and is louder than a bomb. Not only that, but it must've also had such an impact on their lives and futures.
ReplyDeleteThis documentary showed me a different side of poetry I wasn't as aware of. It is helping to write my own poetry in a way that can be read aloud, understood, and entertained by. Maybe my poetry will compare to theirs, maybe it'll be completely different. Either way, I am glad we watched the documentary and I am even more excited for this poetry unit.
The documentary “Louder Than a Bomb”, despite the fact that I started watching twenty minutes in, was immensely powerful. I know how important poetry can be in terms of expressing oneself, but the emotion and meaning in each of these slam poetry style poems is on a whole new level. I have rarely, maybe even never, found myself unable to verbalize my reaction to a poem such as that. I felt a few of those on an emotional level, not necessarily because I could relate to it due to things happening in my life, but because of empathy, and the raw feelings contained in each of them. I think my favorite was counting graves. It had such a strong message, and the way they switched from counting to singing was so well done. The hard work that each student put into their performance was quite amazing. Furthermore, the amount of care from the teachers as well as how close knit the kids became were very heartwarming displays. Personally, the best way to describe my reaction to some of those poems is that I was stunned. After “Cody”, “Counting Graves”, the Shooter poem (not sure what the real name was), I was simply in awe of the feelings they could invest in words, and that they could evoke with words. I would love to be able to do that, but I’m not even sure where to start.
ReplyDeleteThere are very few documentaries/movies we watch in school that I get into, but “Louder than a Bomb” was definitely one of them. First, I felt that I really had an actual connection with the participants. Because they were all in our grade, or near our age level, I felt that I could understand at least a little bit of what they were going through. And for them to carry out those feelings into a poem really amazed me. Also, I was amazed at how mature the participants were. If I had to deal with half of the things that they had to deal with, I surely would have burned out.
ReplyDeleteNow going back to “Louder than a Bomb,” the way the documentary was constructed, I felt that I was part of the journey. The way it would cut between the different schools made it seem like I was part of every school. This effect carried over to the actual “Louder than a Bomb” event. After some of the performances, on the inside I would hear myself cheering. And after a school got a low score, more specifically Steinmetz, I would hear myself booing. This active participation on my part carried over after the documentary. After I saw what students my age were writing, I became motivated. I wanted to see if I was able to create something as good. Hopefully this can be seen in poems.
Okay I actually loved this documentary. I am not the documentary type especially the ones we watch during school but wow I really liked this one. It was so moving because a lot of the students performing their poems had emotional backstories and them writing and performing their poems helped some of them get out of their misery I guess. It’s actually crazy that they are all around our age like I don’t have the guts to do that. I know they’re only reading poetry in front of an audience but idk it seems SO intense like I was getting nervous for some of them when they were getting on stage. The way they say the poems really changes their whole presentation. If they were to just say their poem normally it wouldn’t have had as much of an impact and it would definitely not be as powerful. Nova’s story was very touching about her helping her mom take care of her special needs brother because of her absentee father. I loved all of their poems so much and honestly I did like poetry from before but this documentary made me like it a lot more and understand how much of an impact it has on people. When some of the contestants were performing their poems it even got me emotional. Overall this documentary was a ten outta ten and I LOVEDDD ITTT. The documentary ended on a good note and everyone was happy no matter what place they got.
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