Charlie And The Propaganda Myth Machine

"If every child chased dreams of societal reorganization in place of sweet wrappers and escape/Then we would see Mr. Cadbury’s enlightened industrialism for what it really fucking is:/Social morphine – we’d have ourselves a pre-school army."

this is an immediate reference to charlie and the chocolate factory. charlie, who lives in a poor working class family, does not start a revolution, but instead finds a golden chocolate wrapper in the street by chance, and is invited to willy wonka's chocolate factory. he ultimately inherits the business from mr. wonka. in reality of course is industrialism isn't magical, it's horrible. what we really need is societal reorganisation. dumb charlie.

"Walt Disney is pushing social and sexual hierarchy. My bed-time stories like a GMTV gomulka. Slumbering in my jimmy-jammies, My wondrous imagination long since closed and put away."

disney's stories are generic, unimaginative and unrealistic. most people would actually admit this, but have usually not thought about if this is the kind of thing we should be showing are kids.

"Willy Wonka was a capitalist confidence trickster. A poster boy for neo-liberalism. A full-stop on revolt"

willy wonka was obsessed with making chocolate, and seemingly had a monopoly on chocolate and candies in charlie's world. neo-liberals admire successful entrepreneurs above all else. he was also undoubtedly extremely wealthy.

"And the BFG a propagandist for an unaccountable regime. Orwell’s vision with a wrinkled face."

hm. i'm going to have to read the bfg again. all i remember is a violent revolution against the giants, who were evil and ate children. "orwell's vision" i assume is that of big brother described in 1984, but how does it relate to the bfg?

"Hold out the arm and quiet the voice."

one of my favourite lines. it's a quick description of the attitude held in schools - that children should not rebel. they should be quiet and do what they're told. to be put through school these days is to be molded into the kind of person that society wants you to be: quiet, accepting, apathetic.

"My first MacDonald’s visit a vaccination Like the time my parents took me to the school / clinic and handed me over to the teacher / nurse / whatever."

this is an extension of the above, the idea that parents hand their children over to teachers, who then precede to basically destroy them. not too sure about the macdonald's line. i'll come back with i've finished 'no logo'.

"I too got sucked in by the myth machine. Unattainable, but i just wish we weren’t so fucking mindless."

here frank is saying that it is unavoidable that children become obsessed with "sweet wrappers and escape". i mean, they're children, they don't care about society. he just wishes that they were allowed to think for themselves; that there weren't brainwashed quite so effectively. if they weren't, maybe the people of this world would be a little better educated when the time comes for considering politics and economics, and a revolution may become a reality?

"A little more suspicion in our fairy tales please. Mum and dad, I’m sorry, i won’t do what Enid Blyton told me."

here we come back to the stories children are exposed to at a young age. enid blyton's books contain outdated stereotypes, but are still read to children today. in 'the famous five', four kids and a dog own their own island, which they go to alone for their holidays. they eat sardines and make beds out of moss.

"The monsters underneath the bed are merely jaded failings."

says it all.

this is the kind of song that makes me think about things. this is why i like it, and why i like million dead so much. woo. laterz.

It's hard to explain what this song really means. I guess it's talking about when we are younger, we are sucked into being mindless zombies by the literature and television around us. Later on, he's saying how even he wasn't immune to the "myth machine". Just one question...what's a "Gomulka"?

Gomulka - referring to Wladyslaw Gomulka, one of the members of the Polish communist party after WW2; he wanted to make sure Poland did not end up as a Stalinist satellite to the USSR, but Stalin soon told him.... persecution ensues. The song is essentially about the ever-growing commercialisation of our lives from the onset, and how we fail to do nothing about it.

<font color=#ff66ff><b>Also, I love the bass at the beginning. Julz rocks!!! And still works a normal job when not playing in MD!!</font></b>

a normal job?! capitalist pig!

<font color=#3399CC><b>I never said she worked for a massive corporation! :D She could work for a small independant record store or summat. Plus, she has to pay the bills :D</font></b>

just kidding. only reason i don't have a job is because i'm really lazy. million dead rock. that's all.

I don't think it would matter whether she worked for a huge corporation or not. All that matters is that she (and the rest of the band) stay true to themselves, their music, and their fans. In that order. Which they do perfectly. This song is the perfect example of that, no verses, no chorus...just 3:25 of passion :D

I always imagined the reference to the BFG as having something to do with his job, he prowls around at night putting dreams into childrens heads and watching them, I haven't read the BFG in a fair few years but maybe he gives bad children bad dreams??

I'm guessing the McDonalds line is to do with the idea that vaccinations are given to prevent people from getting something. In this case, McDonalds is given to kids to try and prevent them from seeing the world from what is really is. As long as they have a Happy Meal, they'll never know what the world is really like and accept it for what they see. This song makes me feel bad for liking chocolate and Roal Dahl.