Akin to the interpretive interaction of reading a poem so goes the process of analyzing song lyrics. Reading or listening to the lyrics of the modern song by Arcade Fire called Modern Man lends to identifying its social and cultural significance as applied in the 21st century evolution of the age of technology from its birth with the Industrial Revolution of the 18th into the 19th century.
In the process of analyzing these lyrics some may find them somewhat enigmatic and fitting the observation as "the decline of middle class society contemplation became a school for social behavior; it was countered by distraction as a variant of social conduct (Benjamin, 1969, 236)." In the lyrics, the identification of the singer as a modern man with the angst of realizing he is standing in a line going nowhere juxtaposes the meaning to a vision of Charlie Chaplain's interpretation of the assembly line worker performing the same meaningless task for the benefit of the capitalist manufacturer in the silent movie Modern Problems.
At the same time, the study of the humanities involving the arts including drama, literature, sculpting, painting, and anything allowing human creativity as typified in this song becomes a statement about society through creativity'. The first of the lyrics of Modern Man: "So I wait my turn, I'm a modern man And the people behind me they can't understand (Arcade Fire, 2011)."
Clearly, the message fits into a modern reaction to feeling alienated from the rest of the human race. The collective consciousness of human development has always had the mirror of its collective development reflected from the consciousness of their actions. The entire historical process of human kind development is trial and error. It is a question neither of right or wrong but rather, human kind development as one other component of the journey that gives life meaning. (Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2011) Herein the lyrics are saying life has no meaning to the modern man standing in a line where no one understands him.
This lyric is indicative of a global consciousness of the human experience in terms of having choices making life qualitative. The United Nations studies the global human development of society. . "Development is thus, about expanding the choices people have to lead lives that they valueit is thus, about much more than economic growth, which is only a means —if a very important one —of enlarging people’s choices (International Human Development protocol, 2011)". The lyrics reveal this "modern man" has few choices.
Continuing with the next line of the song for analysis shows: "Like a record that's skipping, I'm a modern man And the clock keeps ticking, I'm a modern man (Arcade Fire, 2011)." The essence of this looks at the author saying there is no continuity to my existence, there is just time slipping away and life has no substance. Any educational topic at some point has everything to do with human beings.
Even the study of animals, plants, or inanimate objects leads to information some person or group of people determined through research by testing, observation, and theory. Researching society involves topics relegated to the sum total of everything involving lifestyles, ethnicity, development, likes, and dislikes of human beings. In this sense this song (and the acceptance by a measure of the global society) speaks volumes about those embracing the lyrics as an artistic endeavor expressing a modicum of the reality they view their existence. This brings the analysis to the next set in the lyrics: "In my dream I was almost there then they pulled me aside and said you're going nowhere They say we are the chosen few but we waste it And that's why we're still waiting On a number from the modern man (Arcade Fire, 2011)."
The first thing needing clarified with this set of the lyrics is how the human experience -- no matter its condition nurtures creativity. Within this process of art as the intellectual vehicle for understanding the world, art also exists within the influence of the rational and truthful realm. It is through art humans experience the marvels of the world even if the marvels, as expressed in these lyrics prove the author's view of the world remains dissatisfied, unconnected, impotent, and full of nothing. The next set in the lyrics provides - "Maybe when you're older you will
understand why you don't feel right Why you can't sleep at night no In line for a number but you don't understand like a modern man (Arcade Fire, 2011)."
There is hidden sense of hope in the abstract at this juncture of the song. The voice of one who views self wiser than the other people standing about prophesizing the epiphany of perhaps an older aged view of the reality of life thus, giving meaning to the inability of not understanding what does not feel right about life. This standing in line for a number may have the meaning that in today's society believing there is symbolically such a thing as a number aligned with identity; Adorno offers a possible meaning that the author of this lyric intends "as a necessary failure of the passion striving for an identity (1944, 1261)."
Whether there exists a specific meaning to the number as an explanation of a perspective of these modern technological times perhaps understanding that technology from the earliest of experiments with the ancients continuing today derives from intuition, imagination, and creativity and in and of itself, this substantiates the essence of human artistic ability. So does the author of these lyrics have a lost sense of self as a man in relation to the rest of society so the number is merely the symbol of a lost and more meaningful reality? Perhaps the reflection of the 20th century as a time of more meaning is too clear and the 21st century modern man feels deflated in identity and purpose. The 20th century endured, suffered, and survived two world wars. Moving forward brought new technology forever changing the world as did changes in medicine, industry, education, and space travel.
The American Civil Rights, South African Apartheid, the Beatles, and Hippies not to mention women liberation, and dozens of other branches of change, are representative of the political/social energy of the 20th and 21st century. Artists of this new exciting, mind expanding, and liberating era, like the diversity of change happening everywhere provide art making the onlooker aware of political/social change in the subjects and the medium used to create the works affording a valid representation of the world. In the case of this musical artistic rendering of the influential pop culture then the medium is the message.
Maybe the pop culture is not just for entertainment but possibly the villain of the modern man's understanding of self. Pop culture grows with the power of the mobs populating these cities with ever-widening gaps between have and have not demographics. Popular culture remains a threat as long as the generations remain leaderless in schools, at home, among peers for guiding and gauging entertainment and what remain literary treasures based upon their artistic, cultural, historical, and timeless value.
Instead of criticizing existing fallacies of the popular culture taste in what makes life worth living contradicting the precepts of the life worth living handed down by the language literature of the ancient Greeks, the more prudent approach remains challenging engaging methodologies introducing structured approaches to the value of this song as literature whether as a message or not. So is the message about a number the crux of the meaning of the song?
Numbers rule education, work, and even play leaving behind any aesthetics conducive to people realistically applying literary experiences to real life. Herein, lay the roots of the negative affect of popular culture toward appreciating literature in general. People understanding how the Iliad gives examples of how combat related post traumatic stress disorder in as ancient as wars then have something to relate to their lives, society, and the state of the world as structured evidence of only one value of what most believe is outdated about this oldest of literary pieces.
So understanding this repeated reference to a number in the lyrics (there are more to the lyrics) the main message is prudently debatable now of the analysis. This song like film study classes intellectualizing Star Wars has its own symbolism of the state of the intellectual practices of the 21st century academic journey.
Reading or listening to the lyrics of the modern song by Arcade Fire called Modern Man lends to identifying its social and cultural significance as applied in the 21st century evolution of the age of technology. This journey to now from its birth with the Industrial Revolution of the 18th into the 19th century to this part of the conclusion of this analysis proves like any well written piece of literature - even the lyrics of pop culture song there remains the value of it as a creative expression of the human experience.
Works Cited
Adorno, Theodore W. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.
Arcade Fire. Modern Man Lyrics. Retrieved from
http://www.metrolyrics.com/request.php
Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations Schocken Books New York 1969
Encyclopedia of Psychology. Learning and memory. American Psychological
Association. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/topics/learning/index.aspx 2011 Web
International Human Development. Retrieved from
http://hdr.undp.org/en/humandev/ 2010 Web
]
