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.
Kate Lyons
ReplyDeleteThe documentary, Louder Than a Bomb, you learn about 4 highschool students who use poetry to escape, as a source of therapy, a new found family or community. This documentary points out how something like slam poetry can offer an outlet, and a way out, for kids trapped in their circumstances. Being from Chicago, most of these kids have a tough upbringing and they can't escape until they are writing their poems. The documentary puts a fine lense into the lives of four teen poets Lamar, Nova, Nate and Adam and are clearly the outstanding poets of the competition, true success stories for what their high school slam poetry teams have done for them. These kids all have something going on in their lives, whether it be dealing with bullying because of their religion, their parents being addicted to substances, raising their siblings and having to work long hours of work. Louder than a bomb allowed kids who participated to express themselves freely and serves as an outlet for kids to let everything out.creates a safe space for the youth and a sense of community between unlikely people. Louder than a bomb is a competition that helps students raise their voice and helps them boost confidence. They make a difference in the world because they share their stories in the form of poetry and they are heard and they are proud and they inspire us to want to be heard and to have a voice. Not only did this documentary make me sad, for all of the sad stories that kids my age have to share, it also made me happy, that they didn't allow life to get into their way and that they were able to persevere on the cards they were dealt and were able to find such a successful outlet for them to use.
John Marshall
ReplyDelete"Louder Than a Bomb" was a wonderful documentary on the lives of four main students from four different schools who compete against one another in the biggest slam poetry contest in the United States. Though the documentary only really follows the lives of the four main characters, many other students from each schools are depicted as being insanely devoted to this craft of slam poetry. I learned that slam poetry and this contest is more than just the score received from the judges; all of these contestants care more about the love for the work and time that theyve put into their work than receiving a perfect "10" on their pieces. What means the most to the them is that they leave theirs hearts on the pages of their notebooks and onto the surfaces of the microphones. These kids are inspiring other kids who may not seem like they have a voice at their schools or in their lives to break out of their shells and to speak out and tell their stories.
In the end, most of contestants realize themselves that its more than those scores and that the friends they meet from competition will last longer.
It's very important that we protect this platform for students to tell their stories because people feel free while theyre up on that stage. They are able to get things off of their chests
The documentary Louder Than a Bomb was really fun to watch. I loved getting an inside look at the lives of 4 people who live in the same city but in different communities within that city. And how one force could unify these students who lived such different lives. I especially enjoyed getting an inside look at their families and their daily routine because it gave a deeper feeling than it would if we only heard all the poems. My favorite aspect of the film was how united all the students were, regardless of school, gender, race, the situations they wrote about; everyone truly wanted to see the others succeed.
ReplyDeleteEach teenager fought battles at home and in school yet they used Louder than a Bomb as a positive source of energy to power them through their lives, and create new opportunities for themselves. The poems written and performed by Nate and Adam Gotleib were so deep and well constructed it was almost suspicious. But the heart that each poet had for all the others and the respect they addressed each other with was something bigger. At local sporting events, negativity spills out of students and parents alike to the competing team, but it is not often we say positive things to root on our own. And if we were to have a poetry competition like this one, I feel like it would be just like those games. For example, if Lawrence, Andover, North Andover, and Methuen had a rendition of Louder than a Bomb there would be so much within the poems that would be lost from school to school because each town has a very different lifestyle. But being set in Chicago it seems to be more of a unifying factor, and I found that very telling.
Nova’s life was probably the most dramatic to follow, because she never had a dull moment, and that seems to be where she got so much of her writing material from. But hearing her shift from writing about her dad associating hate with pain, and switching to Cody full of love and care was really powerful because it shocked the audience and put her on her own level. The other emotional scene, where Big C cried, showed how passionate each student was and how badly the teachers wanted their students to succeed- which can be a hard balance when you go to school in an urban setting.
Regan Grygiel
DeleteThe documentary Louder Than a Bomb taught me a lot about something I knew nothing about. This documentary was about 4 highschool students from Chicago and they were competing in a poetry slam contest. With it being a contest the people kept making a note of “the point is not the points, the point is the poetry” which I think is puts a very good meaning behind this documentary. I think the creators of this contest know that each child is going through a lot of pain in one way or another. So I think they want them to keep with them that even though it is a contest the end point about all of this is poetry. I think this is so important for the kids to know. I love how I got to see it through these four kids and learned so much about slam poetry. I enjoyed learning about each of their lives and how they translated it into poetry. One person Nova, when she went on stage shared a story about her family. It was so amazing watching her explode with emotion and putting meaning behind every word. It really showed me how slam poetry is a whole performance. I think it is also a form of therapy for what these kids are going through. They are able to get their inner frustrations and feelings out onto a paper and turn it into a beautiful masterpiece. Then they go on stage to share these pieces and their story with people and they are able to let their emotions exert out of them. It's wonderful and it has brought a whole new meaning to what it is for me. I am amazed by these kids and how wonderful their poems are.
ReplyDelete- Justina Reppucci
The main point I was able to take from the Louder Than a Bomb documentary, was their very powerful saying “the point is not the points, the point is the poetry”. That being said the fact that poetry can bring together such diverse groups of people letting them express their emotions and personal situations, was very touching. To give some details, this documentary focused mainly on 4 highschool students all living in chicago who came from different backrounds. Each teenager fought battles at home and in school yet they used Louder than a Bomb as a positive source of energy to power them through their lives, and create new opportunities for themselves. Not only that, These kids are inspiring other kids who may not seem like they have a voice at their schools or in their lives to break out of their shells and to speak out and tell their stories. I saw this alot throughout the steimentz group when they had group discussion. It was really nice seeing how they come from chicago which is known for lots of violence, that they were able to use poetry to escape from reality keeping them back off the streets and onto the page. Steimentz helped view this. I saw so much emotion flowing through them at all times. From being on the stage, to group discussion, to getting in conflict with in the group. It was all because they care for eachother and are all extrmely passionate. Overall from Lamar, to Nova, to Adam, and to Nate each of their morals to the story were that THE POINT IS NOT THE POINTS, THE POINT IS THE POETRY!
ReplyDeleteThe documentary "Louder Than a Bomb" was one of my favorite videos we have ever watched in High School. It follows the team's creative way of getting their point across through words. They enter this competition every year, founded in 2001 by Kevin Coval and Anna West of the nonprofit organization Young Chicago Authors. It is now the largest youth slam in the world with over 70 teams competing in 2011. We follow the 2011 Championship race and all the stories composed by many great authors. Some people that stuck out to me were Nate Marshall, Lamar Jorden, and Adam Gottlieb. Although, they are all different, they all share the love for storytelling. Whether that be their own story or a made up one, there is always a deeper message. Nate Marshall's last poem, where he had expressed his dominance through the first half, and then switched it up and thanked everyone for participating and "being louder than a bomb". There is a reason Nate Marshall won individuals that year, and that is by perfecting his craft and saving the best for last. The emotion he had expressed while reciting all his poems was unmatched, it was stern yet calming at the time. All in all, even if it did not end in their fashion, Lamar and the Steimanvauts should have won the group competition. I remember hearing the "10-9-8" poem that described a teenager drug dealing and having ties with the wrong people. Things go South when his younger brother wears his clothes one day. The message was so strong that I am surprised they did not win, really surprised. But, it is a only a thing to learn for this team. They are relentless and know how to tell stories that hit differently while sounding up-tempo. I respect all of these kids for what they do and who they have become, because it clearly is making them happy.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this documentary a lot in class. Louder Than A bomb seems like a fun competition to be a part of but probably is not for me. The kids seemed really serious and committed to poetry competition and had lots of talent and potential. Slam poetry can be fun to compose and fun to see performed. It can be a misunderstood art form, exalted in places like Def Poetry Jam, or snubbed as a silly high school phase. Louder Than A Bomb points out how something like slam poetry can offer an outlet, and a way out, for kids trapped in their circumstances. These kids come from troubled neighborhoods and some of them may go off to college but probably will not finish and won’t have a solid future. Focusing on four teens from different Chicago high schools and their experiences with the Louder Than A Bomb competition, the film offers a look into this world and the impact it has on the lives of its participants. Lamar, Nova, Nate, and Adam stand out has some of the most talented slam poets in the competition each with their own style and story. Nova keeps it personal talking about her struggle with her family. She seems to be having trouble with her father and has to be a mother figure for her younger autistic brother who she cares about very much. Reigning champion Steinmetz (Lamar’s school) took the 1st prize trophy last year, upon their debut performance in the contest, with what seems like pure swagger, and they are struggling to prove themselves again to win the respect of the more seasoned veterans, represented by Nate, Adam and Nova. At the end the outcome seems surprising but worth a lot of meaning. The winning team lost but got the respect like they won.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the “Louder than a Bomb” documentary. It was very interesting to see so many kids from different backgrounds all sharing such a passion for poetry. I never knew how much practice went into preparing for a poetry slam. I also didn’t know what louder than a bomb was until watching this documentary. It follows the stories of several high school teams and individuals leading up to Louder Than a Bomb and their experiences at the slam. I loved to see how they took their struggles and used them to add emotion to their poetry and express their feelings. It is amazing to see how many kids are interested in poetry instead of playing sports, they don’t need to do that to be “popular” they pursue their passion for writing and performing. Overall I am really glad that I watched this documentary, although I am not particularly interested in poetry. Louder than a bomb spreads an important message.
ReplyDeleteNatalie Brennen