fire essay final

7/30/2019 Fire Essay Final

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Crespo 1

Anthony Crespo

Tupelo Hassman

English 2

April 3, 2012

The Fifth Season in California

California is well-known for being the wildfire capital of the world. The constant hot

temperatures, use of machinery, camp fires, and even arson are many of the reasons

why the Santa Ana winds blowing from the east spread the conflagration at alarming

rates throughout large verdurous areas of California. Residents and observers see Cali-

fornia wildfires in two different ways: A natural yearly process where firefighters antici-

pate the paths and power of these fires; similar to tracking the patterns of the also-fa-

mous California earthquakes. On the other hand, the frightening images of brush fires

portrayed in the media have people describing them as apocalyptic, life-threatening,

and terrifying. Joan Didions essay Fire Season and Bad Religions song Los Angeles

is Burning illustrate the causes and repercussions of wildfires in Southern California.

Fire Season is more of a factual discourse that includes statistics and explanations of

how fire-fighters detect and contain wildfires while Los Angeles is Burning is an an-

them to how the broadcasting of wildfires bring panic to everyone that experience and

see the terrifying infernos. Despite their factual and metaphorical differences in their re-

spective medias, Didion and Bad Religion both intend to point out how fire-fighters, vic-

tims, and spectators of the wildfires cope with the distress of dealing with the disaster.


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Crespo 2

The language in Fire Season and Los Angeles is Burning are notably contrasting.

Didions approach is academic and uses assuring language to inform her readers that

firefighters and residents know the terminology (controlled, contained, burn index, etc.)

and evacuation processes during wildfires. Early in her essay, Didion comfortably claims

that there is nothing unusual about fires in Los Angeles (Didion 504). Her title Fire

Season even suggests that it is a common term used to describe the routine proce-

dure. In addition, she does not point any fingers or criticize the firefighters or the media

for not being able to reduce the risk of wildfires or take advantage of a tragedy that usu-

ally receives a lot of media coverage.

Los Angeles is Burning uses an alarming tone in the lyrics to show the panic the

people of Los Angeles suffer when media outlets broadcast scary images of the wild-

fires. Part of the chorus that exclaims Even the stars are ill at ease deduces that even

famous celebrities (and Bad Religion themselves) grow uncomfortable when wildfires

start growing throughout the star-filled city. It can be argued that Bad Religion is saying

that Los Angeles is burning rather than was, were, oris done burning in their title and

lyrics because of the constant reoccurrence of the wildfires and the medias exploitation

of the scary images. This song is clearly exclusive to the media of Los Angeles (and

even around the world) that broadcast the news of wildfires in California. Lyrics like

Catch it on prime time, story at nine and The flames are stunning, The cameras run-

ning show that the media does not hesitate in covering frightening stories of the wild-

fires in order to receive higher ratings and get more money. The surprisingly upbeat

melody and rhythm can reflect the medias excitement when they are able to cover the

stories surrounding the wildfires.


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Crespo 3

Even though Fire Season gives more details in how wildfires start and how they

are compressed, Los Angeles is Burning uses many more metaphors to illustrate dis-

comfort and worry to the audience. Some lyrics like palm trees are candles in the mur-

der wind and Jacaranda boughs are bending in the haze give a slightly more detailed

description of how people see the actual burning during the wildfires.

Didion does not use such metaphors or abuse frightening images in her essay be-

cause she does not intend to scare her audience or make them panic when a wildfire

happens around the homes of the readers. She even seems tranquil when talking about

her daughters evacuation plans at the kindergarten she attends. When a wildfire occurs

and gets worse, the last-ditch site was a naval air station at Point Mugu, twenty miles up

the coast (Didion 509).

The California-born Didion and Los Angeles-based punk band Bad Religion express

the opposing viewpoints that they experience when they are in wildfire-ridden California.

Didion demonstrates the cool and calm Californian that changes the channel when they

see stories about the wildfires on the news and go about their business. Bad Religion il-

lustrate how the media drools over broadcasting stories of the wildfires and how people

in neighboring states and other countries watch these stories and feel sorry for the Cali-

fornians that have to deal with the ashy air and forty-foot flames. When the fires are se-

vere, neighboring states would sometimes end up sending help by letting California bor-

row their firefighters and helicopters. Bad Religion may make wildfires seem scary and

alarming, but Didion calmly assures people who are not familiar with wildfires that they

are just like any other natural occurrences (earthquakes, storms, etc.) and can be han-

dled in a timely manner and without anyone in danger of losing their life.


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Crespo 4

Works Cited

Didion, Joan. "Fire Season." Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology. New York: Li-

brary of America, 2002. 503-09. Print.

"LOS ANGELES IS BURNING LYRICS." Web. 03 Apr. 2012.

.
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Los-Angeles-Is-Burning-lyrics-Bad-Religion/BD94509E0C21749748256E6E000E4C91http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Los-Angeles-Is-Burning-lyrics-Bad-Religion/BD94509E0C21749748256E6E000E4C91http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Los-Angeles-Is-Burning-lyrics-Bad-Religion/BD94509E0C21749748256E6E000E4C91http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Los-Angeles-Is-Burning-lyrics-Bad-Religion/BD94509E0C21749748256E6E000E4C91

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