Charlie Driscoll Brings the Ennui to Theaters

An Official Video Presentation: Highlights of the Stranger -by Danny and Andrew

 

 

https://vimeo.com/52188370

Tears of Meurseault by Trysten

 

Click Here to visit Trysten’s Video

Flashes of Time by Sam Prue

Stauble Steps into the World of Existential Advertising

Bailey Ferris: Existential Photography

Click Here to see Existential Photography by Bailey Ferris

Missing Pieces by Mckenzie Larivee

An Absurd Scrapbook by Taylor Ellis

What would Meursault’s scrapbook look like?

The 8 Track Stack of Absurdity: Kansas, “Dust in the Wind” -Mitch Hale

All Camus is…Dust in the Wind

 

The Stranger by Albert Camus and the song Dust in the Wind by Kansas is remarkably similar. What began as a finger picking technique slowly transformed the sound of the already popular band Kansas, through existential lyrics and soulful melodies. This unique song climbed the charts in almost every country conveying a depressed, miserable message that could be mistaken as a soundtrack to Meursault’s life. Meursault, the main character of The Stranger is psychologically detached from the world around him. He has difficulty describing his emotions and is incapable of normal human feelings such as sorrow. All of these problems seem very absurd and incomparable and yet the song writer of Dust in the Wind, Kerry Livgren seems to relate to the book and the overall meaning of existentialism.

The slow melody and the philosophical lyrics of Dust in the Wind match the meaning of existentialism with death, absurdity, anxiety, and a sense of forlornness.  Kansas’ lyrics, “Same old song, Just a drop of water in an endless sea” tells the listener that everyone is very tiny and insignificant.  Kerry Livgren is saying that if we are so small, then that makes everything we do, including our problems even smaller. Why worry about things that are so minor and insignificant? This could be how Meursault thinks, and why he doesn’t care about anything. Maybe he realizes that we all live, die, and then are forgotten, so there is really no point in caring. Meursault’s mother dies and he seems to not care because he shows no emotion and he acts as if it was nothing. For example, a day after his mom’s death he said, “One more Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed”. This was a day after his mom had died and he doesn’t feel any different then before. He wasn’t sad or morning, instead he acted as though his mom being gone wasn’t such a bad thing.

Meursault does not react to death as most people would. A normal human being would be very sad if their mom had died, even if they weren’t too close with her, they would still feel doleful unlike Meursault. Dust in the Wind delivers a similar message through its catchy lyrics “Nothing lasts forever but the earth & sky.” Kerry Livgren understands how Meursault is feeling and transforms it into a mesmerizing song filled with distinctive melodic lines, beautiful twelve string guitars, and an uplifting violin solo. Kerry and Meursault both feel it is pointless to get emotionally attached to something because nothing lasts forever. This saves them both from the painful emotion when that something they get attached to finally perishes. Robby Steinhardt (violin, viola, backing vocal) and Steve Walsh (lead and backing vocal) could be compared to Maria Cardona from The Stranger because this American Rock band slowly drifted apart in the early 1980s. Meursault and Maria Cardona slowly drifted apart after he was sentenced to jail. Albert Camus might as well have made sequel to The Stranger but with Kerry Livgren as the main character.  The lyrics Kerry write and The Stranger written by Albert Camus are both filled with absurdity.

In the words of Kansas, “All we are is dust in the wind” Life is hopeless, and brief, so humanity must make the most of it.  The last minute track addition to the album Point of Know Return is filled with quotes of absurdity such as this one. The band Kansas believes that humanity is worthless and although many other people may believe this, it is very unreasonable and foolish. This line in the song was taken from a native American poem, which included the “for all we are is dust in the wind.” Meursault feels the same way because no matter what situation he is thrown into, he never complains because he understands there is no point. For example, when he was serving time in jail he said, “That after a while you could get used to anything” (77 Camus). Meursault seemed to make the best of every situation he was in. He always acted as though he didn’t care. He also did many absurd and foolish things like when he and his friend randomly jumped in the back of the trolly. Dust in the Wind and The Stranger are filled with absurd, humanly impossible thoughts which skew far from society’s social norms.

The unique Kansas album Point of Know Return includes one of their most famous songs Dust in the Wind which sculpted the classic rock sound of the 70‘s. The timing and note arrangements are something never tried before by this contemporary pop/rock band. The folk rock hit of 1978 and the French novel published in 1942 are amazingly similar by expressing unique existential ideas about death, absurdity, anxiety and a sense of forlornness. It is almost as if Kerry Livgren and Albert Camus, the writer of The Stranger, were the same person. Both song and book tell a story about an ordinary man who never or no longer sees the point in life. Meursault must’ve asked himself at one time in his life, what is the point? He realized that there is no point, he realized that all we are is dust in the wind.

Dust in the Wind

By Kansas

 

I close my eyes

Only for a moment and the moment’s gone

All my dreams

Pass before my eyes with curiosity

Dust in the wind

All they are is dust in the wind

 

Same old song

Just a drop of water in an endless sea

All we do

Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

 

(Aa aa aa)

Dust in the wind

All we are is dust in the wind

Oh, ho, ho

 

Now don’t hang on

Nothin’ last forever but the earth and sky

It slips away

And all your money won’t another minute buy

Dust in the wind

All we are is dust in the wind

(All we are is dust in the wind)

 

Dust in the wind

(Everything is dust in the wind)

Everything is dust in the wind

(In the wind)

 

(Ooo)

(Ooo)

(Ooo)

Impressions of Meursault

Look for the face….