So, what better thing to do at 3:14 on a Saturday morning then write a blog? Correct. Anything else, really. But since I'm a night owl, I've decided to share some late night (or should I say early morning?) thoughts with you.
This past week in English, our class reviewed two songs with the same theme of alienation--the feeling of being alone; not belonging. Rather than just simply listening to these songs, we dissected them. Here are the clickable song links:
Listen, as or while, I explain the logistics--or some of them--on how we broke apart the songs. Of course there are multiple themes, but alienation is one we decided to focus on. Now I left all of my notes elsewhere as I am not home, so I'll do my best!
First, I'll start off with the song "Lost In The Supermarket". The very first line explicitly evokes the theme of alienation with the choice of diction. As a matter of fact, the whole entire chorus does. "I'm all lost in the supermarket, I can no longer shop happily. I came in here for that special offer, a guaranteed personality."
The word "lost" sets us up for the theme of feeling isolated. He doesn't even know how to be his own individual, hence him wanting a "guaranteed personality".
A couple of stanzas later, he sings, "I'm all tuned in...I've got my giant discoteque album, I empty a bottle and feel a bit free". Basically, he gets away from life and is in his own world by being a drunk. There, is where he doesn't necessarily not feel alienated, but the feeling will disappear temporarily.
The song ends by stating, "And it's not here. It disappear. I'm all lost." Very effective. He still is disgruntled. He falls prey to being an outkast.
Next, the song "The Fear". I bet you are all thinking, Why is that picture there? (At least, I hope you guys are questioning that). Well, the meaning behind this picture, you ask? The individual represents all of us as a part of society, whereas the television represents the media. Replacing our own thoughts and what we believe, is the media's perception on everything. Compared to "Lost In The Supermarket", these lyrics are a bit more vulgar.
This song has a different take on the theme of alienation. "And I am a weapon of massive consumption. And it's not my fault it's how I'm programmed to function." It's take is that the media is starting/trying to dictate our lives, forcing us become a certain way, but our fear of the media alienates us.
"I look at the Sun, and I look at the mirror", is a clever line. Both are actually the title of national newspapers. This truly represents her point of the media's influence. There is also inner dialogue on what to believe (as the media depicts), and why she is scared and lost, "'Cause I'm taken over by fear" (everyone's desires).
Now that is my short little rant that took me until 4:08am to finish. I'm exhausted. I hope you all enjoyed! Thanks again. :)
Wow - I hadn't made the connection between the Sun and the Mirror (duh). Noticing that reference really brings it into high relief that the song is critiquing media, too. It shows goes to show that the broader our general knowledge (knowing the names of major national papers), the more likely we are to make meaning of the texts we read.
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