Song is Legend

The YouTube video titled, “I am Legend-Get Out Alive,” is movie clips from the film version of Robert Matheson’s I am Legend and a song from the band Three Days Grace. The lyrics from the song mesh well with the theme and tone of the novel. There are, however, inconsistencies between the novel and the movie adaptation. The main difference being that of zombie versus vampires the creatures in the movie appear to be zombie like creatures more so than that of vampires. This can also be seen in the video clips from the YouTube video, “I am Legend-Get Out Alive,” the shots picture zombie-like creature attacking Robert Neville, the main character in both the film and the novel.  The lyrics of the song are the most powerful linkage between the novel and this YouTube adaptation.

            “If you want to get out alive/ Hold on run for your life/ If you want to get out alive/
Hold on run for your life,” this is the chorus of the song and it rings very true in correlation with the novel, I am Legend. Neville chose to stay in Los Angeles in spite of the attacks that his homestead was submitted to night after night. I feel that this is why the creator of this video chose this song to mesh with the video clips. Neville wanted to stay he wanted to protect what was his.

            “No time for goodbye he said/ As he faded away/ Don't put your life in someone's hands/ They're bound to steal it away/ Don't hide your mistakes/ 'Cause they'll find you, burn you/ Then he said,” this is how the song opens up which is another reason the creator of this video clip chose to use this song in relation to the clips and the subject matter of the novel. Instantly upon hearing the opening of the song my mind flashed to when Ben Cortman clawed at Neville. ““Neville, Neville! Ben Cortman reached in again, his hands like claws cut from ice. Again Neville pushed aside the hand and jabbed at the starter button, his body shaking helplessly. Behind, he could hear them all screaming excitedly as they came closer to the car” (Matheson 43). The lyrics and the words from the novel mirror each other perfectly. Neville is putting his life in someone else’s hands and in order to survive he cannot keep living life this way. As the song says in when you put your life in someone else’s hands they are bound to steal your life away which rings so true with vampires. They drink a person’s blood for their own survival and then the bite in turn changes a human being into a vampire. As far as not hiding your mistakes, because they will find you and burn you. Neville was hiding he was living in his house with the windows boarded up and spent his days rubbing garlic to keep the vampires away and putting stakes in the ground.

            Neville was striving for companionship. Lyrics from the song that match his strive for companionship, “This is my last time she said/ As she faded away/ It's hard to imagine/ But one day you'll end up like me”. Neville met a stray dog in the novel that became his companion, but did end up dying from the plague of vampires. Which did raise and interesting an interesting question, is being a vampire just a human trait or can it cross over to animals as well? The song also talks about, “One day you’ll end up like me,” this is in relation to the dogs eventual demise. It is like a premonition that Neville will one day end up like the dog and meet his demise at the hands of the vampire brethren.

            The creator of this video clip chose to use three types of media in the creation of this clip. The use of video, music and the written novel help to clearly show connections between all three forms. The video shows not only things that happened in the movie, but things that happened in the novel as well. The creator created this piece and may not even know that I am Legend was a novel before it was even a movie. The use of video can compel an emotional response which makes video very powerful. Seeing in the video clip Neville with his dog in the bath tub invoked an emotional response because there were two helpless beings clenching onto life together in hopes that one day they can live together without fear.

            The use of video in combination with song in regards to any medium is meant to invoke emotion and pose questions and answers to the viewers mind. Song can often invoke so many feelings and be adapted to almost anything. A song about death can often give hope to listeners. Songs ring true for those who can adapt the words to their situation, much like the creator of this video did. They took a song that is not about vampires or the novel, I am Legend, and made it relate to both.

Lyrics to "Get Out Alive" By Three Days Grace

No time for goodbye he said
As he faded away
Don't put your life in someone's hands
They're bound to steal it away
Don't hide your mistakes
'Cause they'll find you, burn you
Then he said

If you want to get out alive
Hold on run for your life
If you want to get out alive
Hold on run for your life

This is my last time she said
As she faded away
It's hard to imagine
But one day you'll end up like me
Then she said

If you want to get out alive
Hold on run for your life
If you want to get out alive
Run for your life
If you want to get out alive (If you want to get out alive)
Hold on run for your life (Life)
If you want to get out alive (If you want to get out alive)
Hold on run for your life

If I stay it won't be long
Till I'm burning on the inside
If I go I can only hope
That I make it to the other side
If you want to get out alive
Hold on for...
If you want to get out alive
Hold on for

If you want to get out alive (If you want to get out alive)
Hold on run for your life
If you want to get out alive (If you want to get out alive)
Hold on for...

If I stay, it won't be long
Till I'm burning on the inside
If I go I can only hope
That I make it to the other side
If I stay, it won't be long
Till I'm burning on the inside
If I go, if I go

Burning on the inside
Burning on the inside
Burning on the inside

Two Questions I pose:
1. Was the dog a preminition as to what was to come for Neville?
2. Does song as a medium invoke more feeling that other forms of medium?