Wings and consumer society Héloïse Rhita

                Wings, an apology of Nike?

          Macklemore in this song relate his childhood and his first pair of Air Maxes. The first Air Maxes by Nike was created in 1987. The singer begin the song by : "I was seven years old when I got my first pair".

 He explain the sensations what those amazing shoes provide, "I'll go so high, my feet won't touch the ground". He had the impression that those shoes make him fly. In the first verse, he said: "this is the best day of my life", so he is overjoyed to have those Air Maxes. He felt powerful compared to his friends in school because he could offer this shoes while his friends are less wealthy. He possessed the pro's shoes and for a little boy it is fantastic.
 "On the court I wasn't the best, but my kicks were like the pros." This little boy was ambitious just because of this shoes, Mike Jordan was his model. "I wanted to be like Mike, Wanted to be him,             I wanted to be that guy, I wanted to touch the rim...". During the first part of this song, it seems only a story of his sweet childhood but after, in the second part, the song takes a new turn.

          Macklemore tell the story of a friend's brother who was murdered for his shoes, in a poor American racketeering was common. Starting from this anecdote, the singer want to show the bad aspects of the consumer society.
          Macklemore sing : "My movement told me be a consumer and I consumed it". With this sentence, he wants explain that the society encourage the population to consumption but "We want what we can't have, So expensive !".    In this words, he  said the main things of this song. We are continuously push into doing expenditures : advertisement, televisions, and we are marginalized if you cannot have fashion (and expansive) clothes, shoes... Macklemore denounce the consumer society and the social disparities who became obvious because the brands. Macklemore finished his song by : "Consumption is in the veins". It is a metaphor : consumption is like the drug, we become addict and it infects us.  "We are what we wear, we wear what we are."




          To remain in the consumer society theme and especially shoes, we can make a link with the song "My Adidas".


It may be noted common points between the two songs. First, the shoes are considered as their friend:
We make a mean team, my Adidas and me
We get around together, now and forever
Me and my Adidas do the illest things

Also in the two songs, it talks about racket.
A sucker tried to steal em so I caught em and 
I thwart em
Racketeering is justified by the fact of social inequality in America.



At school, they want to be the strongest and accepted as they are the only ones to have them, often a lot.
Now enough Adidas possessed by one man is rare
Myself homeboy got fifty pair

According to them, these shoes make them stronger and they jump higher.
With the heal inside make me 10 feet tall


          The society play an important role in the education of children during their childhood. They are influenced by the brands and want to stand out from others. With these two songs, we saw that a pair of shoes, they gain confidence in themselves.   



                                                                        Rhita Abdelkhaleq , Héloïse Esnault