Poeme Electronique
The thing that most intrigued me about what Pat said we should look for when listening to and experiencing Poeme Electronique was to question if there was a story hidden in it. I watched this Youtube video. Certainly the visuals add a very complex and intricate story of what I believe to be the start of human kind, and the subsequent creation of art and culture which is interrupted by death and war. To be specific, the World Wars.
The beginning illustrates the wonder in how we came to be, how animals came to be, and how scientists still puzzle over what we are made of. Hands and eyes are images that are used the most in the middle. The eyes are questioning the viewer, telling us to really see what is going on, to make connections. Eyes are the windows to soul after all. The skeletal hands symbolize what humanity can create. They are skeletal for two reasons: to remind us of death (foreshadowing!) and to remove any biases based on skin color or nationality. Those hands which can in one instant create life and beauty through art, can in the flash of lightning have the capability of war. Religious images follow this story of human suffering, perhaps to point a finger at the cause of the mass murders. They are all Christian images, which is making a strong point indeed.
From this we somehow rebuild, immersing ourselves in other cultures and other religions. The sound here definitely has some tribal elements to it. That of drums and chanting. Cut to scientists rethinking weapons, and inventing new ways of killing. Towards the very end of the piece our ability to destroy with what was at the time the new weapons of war comes off as something we should be afraid of. The piece began with the sound of a clock tower, and it ends with hints of ticking, perhaps we have ended our own time. It overlays our humble beginnings with the discoveries of DNA, and our ability to build towers up into the sky.
It ends asking the viewer a question: Where do we go from here? We have come so far leaving in our wake many beautiful things, but now that we have created something for the sole purpose of destruction, how do we redeem what we have done? Will we continue to kill others because of their skin tone, their religious beliefs, where they live? Pictures of babies tell that the next generation will be stuck with fixing it, and the high pitch tones we hear invoke guilt.
This is just my take on it anyway. I hope it makes some sense.
The beginning illustrates the wonder in how we came to be, how animals came to be, and how scientists still puzzle over what we are made of. Hands and eyes are images that are used the most in the middle. The eyes are questioning the viewer, telling us to really see what is going on, to make connections. Eyes are the windows to soul after all. The skeletal hands symbolize what humanity can create. They are skeletal for two reasons: to remind us of death (foreshadowing!) and to remove any biases based on skin color or nationality. Those hands which can in one instant create life and beauty through art, can in the flash of lightning have the capability of war. Religious images follow this story of human suffering, perhaps to point a finger at the cause of the mass murders. They are all Christian images, which is making a strong point indeed.
From this we somehow rebuild, immersing ourselves in other cultures and other religions. The sound here definitely has some tribal elements to it. That of drums and chanting. Cut to scientists rethinking weapons, and inventing new ways of killing. Towards the very end of the piece our ability to destroy with what was at the time the new weapons of war comes off as something we should be afraid of. The piece began with the sound of a clock tower, and it ends with hints of ticking, perhaps we have ended our own time. It overlays our humble beginnings with the discoveries of DNA, and our ability to build towers up into the sky.
It ends asking the viewer a question: Where do we go from here? We have come so far leaving in our wake many beautiful things, but now that we have created something for the sole purpose of destruction, how do we redeem what we have done? Will we continue to kill others because of their skin tone, their religious beliefs, where they live? Pictures of babies tell that the next generation will be stuck with fixing it, and the high pitch tones we hear invoke guilt.
This is just my take on it anyway. I hope it makes some sense.
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