John Ransom wrote:
> And there's also The Who's rock-opera, "Tommy." It doesn't have anything
> to do with Foucault, but it does sort of poetically deal with the issue of
> silence; society's attempt to overcome that silence; society's
> valorization of, envy of, censoriousness towards those who keep silent;
> the medical profession's desire to cure it, and so on. But perhaps
> something like this flies too low to make it onto your radar screen.
>
Maybe too high! I'm a fan of The Who...but I can't take the idea of rock
opera seriously. Then again I don't like opera anyway...but Tommy just
makes me laugh. Give me "Pictures of Lily" or "Can't Explain" anyday!
On the subject of pop music...I find Simon & Garfunel's "Sound of
Silence" quite intriguing. Its a song that has the phrase "the sound of
silence" echoing around it as the last line of the chorus...and
communicating with that is the opening line, "hello darkness my old
friend". It seems to me that this is something of a cultural norm; to
equate silence with darkness...or even odourlessness (happens in Pinter
on at least one occasion). The senses link is unavoidable, but if silence
is given the same qualities then I think it is being misconceived.
Silence isn't the opposite of noise as darkness is to light. I believe
silence to be too ambigious to be the opposite of anything. Then again,
is darkness really the opposite of light...maybe not...maybe the link is
stronger than I thought...but the point remains, I think, that silence is
far more likely to be equated with darkness than light...
Hmmmm....
I think I might be confusing myself...
Mark
> And there's also The Who's rock-opera, "Tommy." It doesn't have anything
> to do with Foucault, but it does sort of poetically deal with the issue of
> silence; society's attempt to overcome that silence; society's
> valorization of, envy of, censoriousness towards those who keep silent;
> the medical profession's desire to cure it, and so on. But perhaps
> something like this flies too low to make it onto your radar screen.
>
Maybe too high! I'm a fan of The Who...but I can't take the idea of rock
opera seriously. Then again I don't like opera anyway...but Tommy just
makes me laugh. Give me "Pictures of Lily" or "Can't Explain" anyday!
On the subject of pop music...I find Simon & Garfunel's "Sound of
Silence" quite intriguing. Its a song that has the phrase "the sound of
silence" echoing around it as the last line of the chorus...and
communicating with that is the opening line, "hello darkness my old
friend". It seems to me that this is something of a cultural norm; to
equate silence with darkness...or even odourlessness (happens in Pinter
on at least one occasion). The senses link is unavoidable, but if silence
is given the same qualities then I think it is being misconceived.
Silence isn't the opposite of noise as darkness is to light. I believe
silence to be too ambigious to be the opposite of anything. Then again,
is darkness really the opposite of light...maybe not...maybe the link is
stronger than I thought...but the point remains, I think, that silence is
far more likely to be equated with darkness than light...
Hmmmm....
I think I might be confusing myself...
Mark