Vika Sousa

Creep

Existentialism is a system where an individual person is free and responsible for their own life.  Existentialists have free will to decide what they want to do and when they want to do it. The Stranger, by Albert Camus, involves Meursault, a character whose emotions are unknown and hard to recognize. “Creep,” by Radiohead, displays a great deal of emotion throughout the song. It has a slow beat to demonstrate the sad tone of the way the signer is feeling. The song “Creep” by Radiohead is existentially different from the character Meursault in Albert Camus’ The Stranger because it expresses powerful senses of emotion and freedom, whereas Meursault shows no emotion throughout the book and follows multiple absolute systems.                                        “Creep” is a song full of emotion. It begins with a slow beat, the drums and guitar playing at a soft tone. The music transitions into the lyrics, “when you were here before,” giving the listener the impression that the speaker is talking about a woman. The speaker moves on throughout the song with the same beat and the lyrics “you’re just like an angel, your skin makes me cry.” These lyrics give the reader an intense image of how the speaker is feeling about this individual. It gives the reader a sense of passion and engagement, then follows through with the same slow beat with the words “in a beautiful world”. The emotion catches the listener making them understand that the signer feels there is meaning in the world, and that it is worth living. The song moves to a verse with the beat moving at a faster pace as more instruments are added. The vocalist sings “but I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo, what the **** am I doing here? I don’t belong here.” This indicates the speaker feels he has no value in life and is a stranger in his own life. After the pattern plays out twice, the volume increases and grows into a shout “She’s running out the door she runs runs…” creating a sense of freedom. This individual has control of their life and is able to escape the limitations of philosophy religion and science.                   The Stranger has no sense of emotion to the character Meursault. He has lived his life as a part of absolute systems that he has no idea exist: they are inescapable. The phrase “you’re just like an angel, your skin makes me cry” is an example of the existential difference between the song and Meursault. He has no emotion towards Marie, and only talks about the physical attractions towards her.  Meursault’s is not interested in the passion and engagement. “When she laughed I wanted her again” (page 35) Meursault describes Marie and physically wanting her, not the way she makes him feel. “In a beautiful world” contradicts the aspect of absurdity. In the book Meursault would think that nothing changes and everyone just goes on with their lives. He doesn’t look at the world as beautiful, he feels there is no actual meaning of life.  Meursault is given an opportunity to go to Paris for work and thinks nothing of it. “Then he asked me if I wasn’t interested in a change of life. I said that people never change their lives, that in any case one life was as good as any other and that I wasn’t dissatisfied with mine here at all” (page 41). This quote shows that Meursault’s way of life doesn’t seem to matter to him. Lastly Meursault is stuck in this absolute system that he cannot escape. He is not able to become free because he is oblivious to the idea of his life being an absolute system. “She’s running out the door” give that individual their sense of freedom that Meursault is unable to escape in the book.                                                          In conclusion the song “Creep” displays emotion and freedom throughout. Its tone is slow and sad. The tone of the song is different form the tone of the book because “Creep” is full of an emotional tone, whereas The Stranger excludes the emotion. The existential difference between Meursault and the signer of the song is that Meursault is in the state of absurdity and anxiety. Meursault in the book The Stranger is unable to express his emotion and incapable to free himself from the absolute system that he is living in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk

Taylor Hennas

Existentialist Mix tape

                Albert Camus, an Algerian author, wrote The Stranger in 1942. The book is based on an existentialist Algerian character named Meursault. The Stranger is divided into two separate parts. The first part is a first person narrative of Meursault’s thoughts before he kills an Arab man. The second part is a first person narrative of Meursault’s thoughts after he commits his crime and how his execution will go. Both parts are written with existentialist themes in mind. Existentialism is a theory in which one makes decisions that will benefit oneself, follows no system that doesn’t accommodate oneself, and believes life has no universal meaning: every life is the same and death is death. Many modern bands, like The Shins, write music about philosophies like existentialism. The Shins are an American indie band from Albuquerque, New Mexico, formed in 1996. Music written by The Shins consists of hidden meanings of how every life is the same. Similar to The Stranger, the song “Nothing At All” composed by The Shins illustrates existentialism through the principles of absurdity, alienation, and absolute systems.

Similar to The Stranger, “Nothing At All” represents existentialism through the principle of absurdity. Absurdity is that there is no actual or universal meaning to life. Every life is the same. An example of absurdity in “Nothing At All” is the first through third line, “Well there’s an idea inside of me, That we’re nothing at all. There’s nothing threatening controlling me, In fact there’s nothing at all.” This quote illustrates absurdity because ‘that we’re nothing at all.’ means there is no true meaning to life, it has no specific definition.  This example of absurdity connects to The Stranger. “I said that people never change their lives, that in any case one life was as good as another and that I wasn’t dissatisfied with mine here at all.” (43)  This quote is Meursault’s response to his boss’ offer. This quote shows Meursault’s belief in a certain way of human existence. This comment also implies that each person’s life is essentially equal to everyone else’s. These are both examples of absurdity but that is not the only principle of existentialism represented in both of these articles.

Another principle represented in both The Stranger and “Nothing At All” is alienation. Alienation is a fact that a human being is a stranger in their own life. No one can completely understand the human being. An example of alienation in “Nothing At All” is in the fourth stanza, “I’m just a shell empty as can be, Yeah, I’ve got nothing at all.” This illustrates alienation because “I’m just a shell empty as can be” means this person has no emotion. Having nothing and no emotion mean a human being can be stranger in their own life. This lyric representing alienation also connects to a passage from The Stranger. “A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so.” (36) The quote also illustrates alienation because Meursault is talking about his feelings towards Marie after she asked him if he loved her. He does not truly understand his feelings therefore he is a stranger in his own life. No one can completely comprehend Meursault’s emotional behaviors. Both examples of writing connect to alienation, but also connect to absolute systems.

The Stranger and “Nothing At All” represent a theme of existentialism through the principle of absolute systems. Absolute systems are philosophies such as religion, the law, etc. Existentialists, such as Meursault or The Shins, do not believe in absolute systems. An example of absolute systems in “Nothing At All” composed by The Shins is in the beginning of stanza two. “You got a feeling nothing here is free, ‘Cause you grew up in a mall.” The Shins are referring to growing up in an environment where laws are enforced. Nothing is free, and no single person can do whatever they want to do. This example is similar to a passage from The Stranger. “It took me awhile to realize my life would change dramatically, since this was my first time in a police station.” (62) This passage is describing Meursault’s thoughts after he shot the Arab and went to jail. This is an example of absolute systems because Meursault did not obey by the law, an absolute system, and he is being punished for it. Meursault thought existentially before he shot the Arab because he wasn’t thinking about the consequences, he did not think twice about what he was doing; Meursault just went with it.

Similar to The Stranger, the song “Nothing At All” composed by The Shins illustrates existentialism through the principles of absurdity, alienation, and absolute systems. The Shins and Meursault from The Stranger are similar because they both have an existentialist view on life. They both believe life has no true meaning, every life is the same, absolute systems are optional, and decisions that help oneself are beneficial. The Stranger written by Albert Camus was one of the first books written with an existentialist theme. Maybe most modern music, like The Shins, is based off of The Stranger?

Lauren Kaltsas

Existentialism in Music

Throughout history, music and novels have always been tremendous ways to share and spread ideas.   One popular idea that is discussed in song and book is existentialism.   Both the song No Reason and Camus’ The Stranger embody certain elements of existentialism.   Existentialism contains many different aspects to it.   However the two most evident themes of existentialism that are present in No Reason are individuality and responsibility.   Both of these themes are sung about in the chorus.   They also take place in the overall song, itself, but aren’t as much of an impact to the listener.   Because the main ideas are written in the chorus of the song, this means that they are repeated the most.   The repetition of the chorus influences the listener to understand those views the most.   Also, the words remain stuck in their head after listening.   This further drives the writer’s idea home to the listener.   While No Reason centers mainly around those two existential themes of responsibility and individuality, it also includes pieces that relate to the novel, The Stranger.   This novel contains existential ideas, as well.

The idea of being responsible for creating the meaning of one’s own life is spoken of in the chorus of the song.   As stated previously, the writer of the song uses the chorus this to focus the listener to the point’s they’re trying to make.   The lyrics of this are “responsibility to/ create your own life/ no one can define you” (line 7-9).   They show that it is one’s responsibility to define one’s own meaning of life.   Also, the writer is saying that it is no one else’s job to do that for anyone.   Along with the theme of responsibility comes the idea of individuality.

Just as the concept of responsibility is written in the chorus of the song No Reason, the idea of individuality is as well.   The lyrics, “Couldn’t find a reason to change my life/ I’ve never been the one to please just anybody/ except for me” (line 1-3) provide evidence that the writer of the song stands for individuality.   Changing to fit into society limits one’s individuality.  The songwriter is saying, through their lyrics, that there is no reason to change one’s self to fit anyone else’s standards.

Many existential themes are apparent in Camus’ The Stranger, which is why both The Stranger and No Reason are similar.   Meursault, the main character in The Stranger is very much an existentialist.   Two of the themes that he follows are also responsibility and individuality.   Also, in the song, the lyrics “indifferent world” (line 10) and “turns out I was guilty/ for doing just this” (line 36-37) both relate to Meursault and the theme of existentialism.   Many times in the novel, The Stranger, Meursault speaks of the “gentle indifference of the world”.   This shows both Meursault and the writer of the song have similar existential views on the world.   The third verse of No Reason is about how the writer of the song was “guilty” for following their existential view.   Meursault, who was tried in court, was literally found guilty.   The main reasoning for this is that he was an existentialist and people didn’t understand him.   Though the writer of the song wasn’t tried in court and found guilty, they are guilty of believing what they do.   All of this connects The Stranger to No Reason.

The song No Reason incorporates both themes of existentialism and a relation to the main character in Camus’ novel The Stranger.   It’s repetitiveness drills in the two larger ideas of both responsibility and individuality.   Throughout the song, there are underlying lyrics that further present these ideas, such as the ones that relate to Camus’ work.   These concepts of existentialism, in the song No Reason, are parallel to those of Meursault’s in The Stranger.

Rebecca O’Dowd

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi1sBwV1-tU

Pink Floyd’s album “Dark Side of the Moon” released in 1973 highlights many different existentialist views. It describes the absolute systems of time, money, society, and what happens if you follow these systems. It also portrays views of absurdity and morality through the speaker’s abilities to understand that life has no meaning, and creating your own and good and bad occurs through your choices. In Albert Camus’s book “The Stranger”, the main character Meursault lives an absurd life. However, he is unable to realize this throughout the book, and does not use this to his advantage to create his own meaning to life. The album “Dark Side of the Moon” is more indicative of existentialism than “The Stranger” because of the portrayal of absurdity, morality, and death. The speaker is more apparent of his realization of existentialist themes, whereas in “The Stranger”, Meursault does not realize these themes until his death.

In “Dark Side of the Moon”, it highlights the importance of the absurd life and making something bigger of it, whereas in “The Stranger”, Meursault does not realize he has to create his own meaning to life. This is portrayed when the singer of Pink Floyd says, “all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be” (Waters). These physical things are something everyone experiences. If you do not create a meaning of these experiences, these physical descriptions are “all your life will ever be” (Waters). The one who realizes this will be able to define himself and his own morals through things he will do and see throughout his life. He also describes these day to day actions as, “all you create, and all you destroy, and all that you do, and all that you say” as everything that will happen in your life, but defining yourself through each moment gives the absurdity that life is, a bigger meaning. In “The Stranger”, Meursault explains that he had “pretty much lost the habit of analyzing [himself]” (Camus). The analyzation of oneself is the most important process in understanding the absurdity to life. Unless you are able to understand what your intentions are through your choices, and define yourself through these, a life with no meaning continues. Meursault is unable to create his own meaning to life, because he does not understand his own choices.

The speaker’s morality in “Dark Side of the Moon” chooses his values based on his choices and his personal beliefs, as opposed to in “The Stranger”, where he is unable to distinguish what he believes is right and wrong. For example, in a documentary about the making of “Dark Side of the Moon” the writers conducted interviews in which they asked the person they were interviewing about the last time they had been violent. When asking if they were in the right, meaning in the right state of mind, doing what is the right thing to do, they got a multitude of answers as spoken in the song saying, “I was in the right, Yes absolutely in the right” (Waters). All of those who had been violent claimed they were “in the right”, representing their own perception on the situation. There is no right and wrong in life, just how one perceives their own actions to create values. The ones who were violent believed it was right, and those affected may argue that it is wrong. Another example of this is when the speaker says, “There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it’s all dark” (Waters). “Dark Side of the Moon” implies that one side is darker than the other. The dark symbolizes the bad, and the light symbolizes the good. By saying it is all dark, it shows that it is all the same. You cannot find the light, or good parts of life, because you are left to find your own meaning in the dark. The speaker in the Pink Floyd album is able to understand this and create his own values based on what he experiences and how he perceives his own world. In “The Stranger”, Meursault is unable decide what he believes is right and wrong. This is shown when after killing the Arab, the Priest questions him saying, “Why, why did you shoot at a body that was on the ground?” (Camus). The priest believes that murder is wrong, and wishes to know why Meursault would do this. However, Meursault does not believe it was the right thing to do, or the wrong thing to do. He replies, “I didn’t know how to answer” (Camus). His response shows his lack of existentialist views because through his choice of killing the Arab, he did not define his own values of what is right and wrong. He does not see a difference between the two; therefore, the album “Dark Side of the Moon” defines its morality by creating values through the choices the speaker makes.

In Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”, their view on death is described throughout their lifetime, whereas in “The Stranger”, Meursault does not define himself throughout his life, but at the very end when he realizes he is about to die. The speaker in “Dark Side of the Moon” says “the time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say” (Waters). By wishing he had more to say, he is an incomplete definition. He is continually defining himself throughout his life by the choices he made, so when it is time to die, there are still more things he could do, because his story is never ending, it is incomplete. In the song “Great Gig In The Sky”, the singer’s voice says “I am not frightened of dying, […], why should I be frightened of dying? There’s no reason for it, you’ve gotta go sometime” (Waters). Existentialism emphasizes that death is the end, but not something you should be building up for.  Instead of being frightened, it is just a part of life that occurs as you continue to define yourself. In “The Stranger”, he does not realize this throughout his lifetime, but only when he is put on death sentence and realizes his death is near. He describes this as “whether it was now or twenty years from now, I would still be the one dying” (Camus). Meursault realizes the time of death does not matter, but defining yourself up until then is the focus. However, he says this line at the end of the book, when he is about to die. Previously in the book, he did not realize this. He failed to define himself throughout his life and was only able to do so at his death, whereas in “Dark Side of the Moon”, the speaker is aware of his perception of dying.

Through Pink Floyd’s ability to understand the difference between living a physical life, and taking these meaningless physical objects and turning them into morals and unique experiences, the existentialist themes are more apparent than through the eyes of Meursault. Although Meursault realizes this at his death, it is too late because he has wasted his life not creating meaning through the choices he made. Through understanding absurdity, creating values, and defining oneself until death, “Dark Side of the Moon” is able to show more apparent signs of existentialism than in “The Stranger”.

Teigue Young

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEm0HSGgckk

Existentialism is thought to be a ‘flexible’ philosophy, and can be interpreted differently by any individual, there is no clear definition. Because of this, it can be found and interpreted in many ways. Existentialism can be identified in many different forms of media, such as music, literature, and film. But there are many themes that are commonly associated with and define existentialism. The eleven main existential themes are: absurdity, absolute systems, alienation, anxiety, forlornness, facticity, responsibility, authenticity, individuality, passion and engagement, and death. These existential themes are the basis of existentialism and define the beliefs and thoughts of existentialists. “In the End” by Linkin Park and The Stranger by Albert Camus both show the existential themes of absurdity, forlornness, and death.  These pieces may not seem similar, as Linkin Park’s lyrics can seem obviously existential at some points, and Camus is more subtle with his existential approach, but there are many similarities between the two pieces, especially with the themes of absurdity, forlornness, and death.

A popular theme of existentialism shown in both pieces is absurdity. Absurdity is the belief that there is no real meaning to life, and some things just happen without any real meaning. Using the idea of absurdity is one way to interpret the chorus of “In the End.” “I tried so hard and got so far but in the end it doesn’t even matter” (Linkin Park 20-23). Effort, progress, belief, none of this has any real meaning. When it all ends, it didn’t mean anything. In The Stranger, Meursault showed absurdity when he yelled at the priest. “Nothing, nothing had the least importance and I knew quite well why. He, too, knew why…..And what difference could it make if, after being charged with murder, he were executed because he didn’t weep at his mother’s funeral, since it all came to the same thing in the end?” (Camus 121). Somewhere inside, everyone knows that there is no real meaning to anything. Everyone shares the same beginning and end of life, and everything in between is just a random occurrence of events. Both pieces show absurdity in the fact that whatever happens during life doesn’t mean anything when it all ends.

 

Forlornness is also an important topic in existentialism that is shown in The Stranger and by “In the End.” “Watch the time go right out the window trying to hold on, but you didn’t even know, I wasted it all just to watch you go, I kept everything inside, and even though I tried, it all fell apart.” (Linkin Park 13-19). This excerpt from “In the End,” strongly depicts forlornness. Someone left the singer, and they felt isolated, and realized that they were all alone. They tried to hide their emotions, but eventually lost it in the despair of being on their own. In The Stranger, Salamano was a great example of forlornness. He mistreated his dog, and then when he lost it, he had no idea what to do. “His life had changed now and he wasn’t too sure what he was going to do… and before he left he said, ‘I hope the dogs don’t bark tonight. I always think it’s mine.’” (Camus 45-46) After the dog disappeared, Salamano was lost. He became depressed and realized that he was truly on his own, and no one was there with him. In a way, everyone is alone. No one or anything is guaranteed to say with you forever. It could all change in a moment, causing a renewed sense of forlornness.

 

Another important existential theme is death, and it is shown in both of these pieces. Existentialists look at death as the biggest part of your life. By the end of The Stranger, Meursault had come to terms with death. “So close to death, Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again.” (Camus 122). This excerpt means that when death is imminent, people become at ease. When facing death, all feelings of responsibility and stress are lost, and all that is left is a sense of freedom and relaxation, and nothing matters anymore. With the song “In the End,” there is a portrayal of death just by looking at the title, as death is the end of life. Death is also another way to interpret the chorus: “I tried so hard and got so far but in the end it doesn’t even matter” (Linkin Park 20-23). This means that no matter what you do, no matter how well you do it, in the end (referring to death), it doesn’t make any difference. Everyone shares the same beginning of life through birth and the same conclusion through death, and everything in between does not matter. Whatever way it is looked at, death is the ultimate goal of life. Death is the only thing that everyone is guaranteed to experience after birth, so why not accept it.

Existentialism can be found everywhere from current music to classic books. It is a philosophy that has caught the eyes of many, especially since World War II. Maybe it became popular because it brought questions to simple things that no one thought about, or because religion or different philosophies, it doesn’t have set guidelines, or a paved path to follow. Or maybe because the life of an existentialist is truly in their hands, no ‘greater power’ determines their existence and who they are; existentialists have to find their own meaning without help. Everyone is virtually the same, sharing a life of isolation, trying to find meaning of an incomplete definition of existence up until the inevitable conclusion that is death.

Cailin Dix

http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=opDB5bY3YCg

Float On – Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse is a band, formed in 1994, who released their first album in 1996.  Modest Mouse primarily sings rock music.  The lead singer Isaac Brock got the name for the band from a short Virginia Woolf story called The Mark on the Wall.  Isaac Brock is known for singing in an angry, screaming, and existentialist style.  Much of Camus’s writing style is also existentialist, using Hemingway’s Iceberg theory.  In this way, Float On by Modest Mouse is similar to the book The Stranger by Albert Camus.   Hemmingway’s Iceberg Theory, portrayed in Camus’ writing of The Stranger, is also utilized in the lyrics of Float On by Modest Mouse because it has very little detail, references absurdity, and shows absolute systems.

Modest Mouse uses Hemmingway’s Iceberg Theory in the lyrics of Float On, in the same way that Camus uses it in The Stranger.  Hemingway figured out that omitting certain parts of a story can make the story stronger, and leave some parts to the choice of the reader.  In The Stranger, Camus writes in a similar way, omitting unneeded details, and leaving parts of the story unclear, for the readers to assess what is happening by ‘reading between the lines.’  In the lyrics of the song Float on by Modest Mouse, the words do not say exactly what happens, but, you can figure it out by looking at what happened between the words.  For example, in the song, there are only two stanzas of lyrics that are different from the lines that reference “we’ll all float on.”  The song is very descriptive in a way that uses little detail.

Absurdity plays a major role in the idea of existentialism.  Absurdity shows up in multiple instances in the song Float On by Modest Mouse.  Absurdity can be defined having an indifference towards the universe.  In the song, the line that represents absurdity most accurately is, “Alright don’t worry even if things end up a bit too heavy/we’ll all float on alright.”  This is absurdity because this explains how even if the unexpected happens everything will end up okay.  Absurdity shows up in other places in the song as well.  For example in the line, “Well, a fake Jamaican took every last dime with that scam/it was worth it just to learn from sleight-of-hand.” Basically this is saying that it doesn’t matter that the ‘fake Jamaican’ took every last dime, because he learned from it.

Another huge part of existentialism is absolute systems.  Breaking through absolute systems is what makes a person existentialist.  An absolute system is can be seen that any philosophy, religion, and science will always fail at making a meaning for existence.  Existentialists believe that they should not be followed because they limit an existentialist’s personal meaning to life.   In the song Float On, the first line of the song is about absolute systems.  “I backed my car into a cop car the other day/ well he just drove off sometimes life’s okay.” The absolute system is that a police officer would get mad, or give you a ticket if you backed into their car, but in this case the cop drove off and broke through the absolute system.  Another example is, “We both got fired on exactly the same day/well we’ll float on good news is on the way” this is an example of how two people got fired, but they break through the absolute system of being fired as being bad news, and they say that good news is on the way.

Float On by Modest Mouse is an existentialist song.  It has themes of existentialism as well as themes from Ernest Hemmingway’s Iceberg Theory.  The lyrics of Float On also connect to the writing style of The Stranger by Albert Camus.  The most repeated line in the song is “we’ll all float on okay.”  Modest Mouse is explaining that everything will be fine, and to just roll with it.  Existentialism is displayed in the song Float On by Modest Mouse through Hemmingway’s Iceberg theory, Absurdity, and breaking through absolute systems.