| Skybox – Plastic Cups Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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once i heard this song i had to respond to it somehow. it is amazing. this song is about the plasticization of the world. this is interesting because of the dualistic nature of the word plastic. it's practical definition is to actually add a plasticizer to something as in PVC piping. The alternative, and more colloquial usage, is a 'plastic' personality like that of a car salesman. here's a little article to explain this in detail- http://www.abovehisshoulders.com/plastic-personalities/ with this in mind, the inquiry in the song works for both meanings. it presents plastic as a sterilizing, soulless, and short term solution to problems in an ecological regard, but i am struck with the accuracy that, and ease of which, this derogatory pathology may extend to the personality of an individual as well. the song shows this change in personality through the, albeit facetiously represented, predicament of having no other option. The people who were happy in a genuine way must now pour an abstract emotion in to a plastic cup as well. there is no more room for them to even hold on to an abstract semblance of possibilities in the world, as such. the description of the female characters guilt is particularly interesting. it emphasizes that to have guilt as an individual and to feel powerless in a change that you are forced to undergo despite your resistance, is an impossible feeling to fully process, or, digest as was metaphorically depicted in the phrase 'could never go down.' the notion of having 'nothing left' is an interesting paradoxical euphemism to employ. the demand of a plastic place could mean anything from a house to a city, etc... but the interesting theme at play here is the question of whether our world has some inherent nature or if the artificial, as such, is always at play in the often chaotic and overwhelming circumstances of 'natural' disasters. i could go in to a long explanation of this, but i think Slavoj Zizek does it best here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGCfiv1xtoU This is surely a great song that presents some powerful questions. I also like that it dispatches with the obscene tendency in most pop songs of relying on a clearly stated narrative structure/ linearization. |
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