Mr. Parabola
10-04-2006, 02:17 PM
I think all of the brand names, proper names, and pop culture references scattered throughout the song are really interesting:
Krispy Kremes
Birkenstocks
Chig Champa (I cannot find anything on this. Seriously, try google.)
SunKist
Sudafed
X-Files
The Matrix
Jackie Chan
Isabella Rosselini
The Greatful Dead
Peanuts
L. Ron Hubbard
When authors create characters, they often search for "illuminating details" - little pieces of information that reveal deeper traits about that character. So what do all of these references tell us about Rosetta Stoned's narrator?
Mainly, that he's very superficial.
Just look at his diet - Krispy Kremes and SunKist - which is incredibly artificial. He wears Birkenstocks, perhaps to identify himself as a member of an outsider group like "hippies." However, those groups stand for something beyond just wearing sandals.
Also, look at the way he describes his experience: "X-Files being," "blue-green Jackie Chan," "Isabella Rosselini lips, "slo-mo Matrix descent," "Peanuts parents." Through drugs, the narrator is having a spiritual experience with an alien lifeform, and the only way he can describe it is by drawing on references to pop-culture.
Which finally brings us to the Greatful Dead. Why is the narrator taking drugs? The Dead, man, the Dead. He's not doing it to have a spiritual experience. He's doing it because of some band.
As such, he is not prepared to have a spiritual experience on hallucinogens...and as a result he forgets the "message of hope" and the "warning." So, what happens after all this? Who knows? With his "L. Ron Hubbard upper lip," the narrator may misinterpret his whole experience and start his own religion. Goddamn, shit the bed.
Krispy Kremes
Birkenstocks
Chig Champa (I cannot find anything on this. Seriously, try google.)
SunKist
Sudafed
X-Files
The Matrix
Jackie Chan
Isabella Rosselini
The Greatful Dead
Peanuts
L. Ron Hubbard
When authors create characters, they often search for "illuminating details" - little pieces of information that reveal deeper traits about that character. So what do all of these references tell us about Rosetta Stoned's narrator?
Mainly, that he's very superficial.
Just look at his diet - Krispy Kremes and SunKist - which is incredibly artificial. He wears Birkenstocks, perhaps to identify himself as a member of an outsider group like "hippies." However, those groups stand for something beyond just wearing sandals.
Also, look at the way he describes his experience: "X-Files being," "blue-green Jackie Chan," "Isabella Rosselini lips, "slo-mo Matrix descent," "Peanuts parents." Through drugs, the narrator is having a spiritual experience with an alien lifeform, and the only way he can describe it is by drawing on references to pop-culture.
Which finally brings us to the Greatful Dead. Why is the narrator taking drugs? The Dead, man, the Dead. He's not doing it to have a spiritual experience. He's doing it because of some band.
As such, he is not prepared to have a spiritual experience on hallucinogens...and as a result he forgets the "message of hope" and the "warning." So, what happens after all this? Who knows? With his "L. Ron Hubbard upper lip," the narrator may misinterpret his whole experience and start his own religion. Goddamn, shit the bed.