What the mass media doesn’t understand they always seem to
label as shallow, falling short of epic, and pretentious, not to mention
boring. However, I have found that whenever
critics review albums and movies this way, I should probably be making a bee
line toward it and will take to the story and theme like a fish to water. This concerns me because it is much easier to
miss a diamond in the rough than all the plethora of fools’ gold out there
because such works so quickly go into obscurity having been missed by the
masses. I have two examples this month
of popular artistic expressions that go a little deeper than the average work
out there.
1.
Cloud
Atlas
I raced to the this movie in the midst of
power outages because I normally end up missing movies like this one. The last one I missed of this ilk was the
Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. The
symbolism of this movie is very deep.
Critics have complained that it is both overly complicated as well as
being boring and pretentiously sentimental.
I was hoping that much like M Night Shayamalan’s
Lady in the Water, the critics just didn’t get it. I was so right.
This movie has so many layers of symbolism,
foreshadowing, and underlying themes, you must be a very active participant
through its 3 hours. For example, fire
opals keep showing up in the different time lines, and then even a screenshot
of the earth in the sky alludes back to the glowing blue gem. What is an opal, up a stone used in the uncovering
of past lives as well as a hydrophobic crystal that is mostly made of
water. What are we, what is the earth,
but a gem of mostly water, moving through time in cycles that never end?
People change sexual orientations, gender,
even the nature of their humanity or non-humanity, both corporal and
discorporate, throughout the film. The
themes go so much further than love and relationships but also delve into the
nature of society, status, humanity, freedom, responsibility, and destiny.
I hope to see it again this weekend and
plan to add this epic to my collection.
I look forward to reading the book as well. I commend the makers and actors that made
such an endeavor happen. These are the
messages and hopes much like the themes in the Matrix and Avatar, that need to
be exposure to greater society. Maybe a few
more people will remember their multitudes of pasts and believe in the
possibilities for their futures.
2.
Some Nights by Fun
What?
A pop song in a major key with a marching snare drum as well as
traditional African backbeats? That’s different. Oh, and you even add some major symbolism in
the lyrics and vocals that speak to people on more than one level? That’s fabulous! That also means that the critics will not
understand it and say that it has a weak hook.
http://thevine.com.au/music/news/number-ones-fun-some-nights/
I want more out of life than a catchy
hook. I am always looking for the next
anthem, the next cause, the chords of my heart that make singing and dancing in
the rain and fighting the good fight worth it.
Some Nights does this.
The song is in a major key and a march not
because it is a “happy” song. Think about
why marches were written! The tradition
of the march has been for thousands of years to impassion the hearts of
fearless, naive young men to run valiantly into battle and often to a gruesome,
early demise. This is the balance
between battle rage and standing for a cause.
This is the distance between the national anthem and the pledge of allegiance
and how our government is run by politicians.
This song is for some much more than teenagers heartbroken, confused,
and looking for meaning to life. This is
the human song of us all, children of the earth - children of the stars! This is the story of war, mistakes,
heartbreak, loss, joy, love, all at the same time, pulling on our heartstrings,
causing tears, struggle, and ecstasy. The
way the vocals go from staccato peals to the wordless high register cries to
gentle humming, further illustrates the dynamic extremes of emotional tides we
all experience when we are fully engaged in the base aspect of living our
lives.
As far as the music video goes, I expected
the war imagery from this march anthem. The
imagery here is not a dissonance and a strange contradiction but a graphic
representation of the struggle for life and the struggle for a life worth
living and loving.
Stars above me, the cold dark ground below
me, the snare drum and the cries of my comrades in my ears, my blood flows
through my veins and in my heart is a song.
Onward.
