This struck me as apocalyptic

Posted by hmarvin on Sun, 03/09/2008 - 23:59

This song and video struck me as apocalyptic. The video reminded me of the numerology of the 144,000 to be let into heaven with the way they did the duplication of people in some scenes. It also keeps going back four women who probably are not represenative of the four horsemen though the notion amuses me. The words Destination Unknown come at the "climax" of the repeated musical phrases. I believe "Destination Unknown" could be a reference to Heaven or the Afterlife or the New World Order to come. I am also reminded in the video of the notion of heaven as an orgasm, and of virgins in heaven, though I doubt that these women are supposed to be presented as virginal. Then again their costuming is a take on marching band outfits so I suppose it could be a part of the subtext.

Artist: Gaudino
Title: Destination Unknown

I left my job, my boss, my car and my home
I'm leaving for a destination I still don't know
somewhere nobody must have duties at home
And if you like this, you can follow me
So let's go

Follow me
And let's go
To the place where we belong
and leave our troubles at home
Come with me
We can go
To a paradise of love and joy
A destination unknown

Now I won't feel those heavy duties no more
My life gets better now I finally enjoy
Yes all the people wanna come here and so
Come on and join us you can do that now
Let's go

Follow me
And let's go
To the place where we belong
and leave our troubles at home
Come with me
We can go
To a paradise of love and joy
A destination unknown

We left the city, the pollution, the crowd
The air is clear, the ocean's blue, I love that sound
we're happy for this destination we found
And if you want this, you can follow me
Let's go

Follow me
And let's go
To the place where we belong
and leave our troubles at home
Come with me
We can go
To a paradise of love and joy
A destination unknown

* Warning * This video is risqué

In light of Lena's

In light of Lena's observations about this song and video and Jeff's response, let me offer a few key points to consider when analyzing images and rhetoric that have threads of utopian or dystopian ideas and whether it is accurate to call something apocalyptic or millennial. It is useful to ask these kinds of questions:

1. Is there a revelation or disclosure about that to which most have been oblivious? This relates to what the word apocalypse means. The video of course reveals a fair amount of female flesh, but that doesn't qualify it to be apocalyptic (more on that later).

2. Is it catastrophic? In this case, as Jeff points out there is no suggestion of a doomsday event.

3. Is there a utopian or millennial vision? This, I imagine, is what prompted Lena's interesting contribution in the first place. The name Destination and the longing for paradise are suggestive. They may be, as Jeff also points out, more escapist than utopian or millennial., but I can imagine a song like this working for the group who went to Jonestown. I disagree with Jeff's statement that it is really about a lover's tryst, since there are references to "all the people" and we." Love and joy may well be collective in the song.

The reverse of this would be dystopian and we have seen a number of instances of that vision in the films thus far.

4. Are there familiar dualisms of good versus evil? The words of the song split between an undesirable everydayness and a better place, but this doesn't seem as strident as the rigid dichotomy of the Book of Revelation and most apocalyptic discourse.

5. Are there gender and sexual dualisms at work? I don't see these in the song lyrics. The video, however, operates on a different register from the song's words. The portrayal strikes me as a blend of both a sexist portrayal of women and a parodic portrayal of that sexism, which gives it a humorous edge. The militancy of the marching band is undercut by the skimpiness of the uniform. The women are somewhat robotic, etc., reminding me of the old video of Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love. Fundamentalists would be likely to see the video as precisely what is wrong the our society. It trades on sexual suggestiveness, with the women licking the phallic shaped musical instruments. This raises a number of questions of interpretation. Is this a critique of patriarchal authority or a new version of it in which women's bodies and sexuality are commodified? What do others think?

6. Are there assumptions of capital T, transcendent truth, absolute morality, and certainty? I don't see this in the song or the video, which is one of the ways to differentiate between escapism and full-fledged apocalyptic/millennial vision.

I hope this "checklist" helps guide your sense of what constitutes the apocalyptic.

Posted by lquinby on Mon, 03/10/2008 - 21:47

well, I wouldn't exactly

well, I wouldn't exactly call myself a fundamentalist, but I would say that this video is a product of much sexual confusion within our society. besides for the blatant exploitation of women who fit the bill of american beauty (and perhaps, by disassociation, the women who do not), the video is remniscent of a very particular MTV-oriented sexual liberation movement. one can visulaize the 3rd wave feminists cheering as madonna twirls around in pasties and a thong, while the second wave feminists roll their eyes and the first wave feminists turn in their graves. The movement probably traces its heritage to the sexual revolution, but alliance with capitalism has steered the goal. the goal of the sexual revolution was to de-condition the sexual rigidity of the 1950s and grant women the same sexual rights (and many many other rights) as men. the goal of MTV's in-your-face-sex is to sell the viewer something. albeit the viewer believes that he/she is also responding to some time in the past where all sexuality was repressed, unlike the sexual revolutionaries, the viewer is completely unfamiliar with that era of repression and relegates it to the unfamiliar, regressive junkbox commonly referred to as "the olden days."

so, here's where the dichotomous apocalyptic ideology comes into play. the regular MTV viewer automatically associates all people "who believe that this is preceisely what is wrong with our society" (that would include not only fundamentalists, but yours truly) as the extant remnants of the "olden days." fortunately, the progressive future guarantees "their" (the olden-minded people's) extinction. meanwhile, fundamentalists would probably view those who support MTV culture as remnants of pre-christian hellenistic society, with its sexual immorality and what-not. fortunately, the progressive future guarantees "their" (the sexual deviants') extinction, especially when jesus returns.

Posted by rbenmoshe on Tue, 03/11/2008 - 14:45

Well...

I would say there are certain elements this music video has in common with apocalyptic thought, such as the notion of escaping the imperfect present ("my job, my boss, my car and my home", "the city, the pollution, the crowd") to a paradise. But the song is really about escaping with a lover to a trysting place.

I don't get a sense of impending collective calamity, an "in" group that must exterminate the oppressing "out" group, or the drive to usher in a new world order. Nor does the imagery seem particularly evocative of Revelation. At a stretch, maybe you could say the Whore of Babylon, Angel with the Trumpet, and Four Horsemen are all rolled into one.

This is an interesting artifact to discuss, though. To what extent do the impulses and themes of this kind of popular music share in the basis of apocalyptic thought, and where do you draw the line? What is it about the notion of sexual escape that makes it so easily built up into an idea about changing the world?

Jeff

Posted by jdrouin on Mon, 03/10/2008 - 13:54