Saturday, October 21, 2017

David Bowie: The Next Day Follow-Up Threads


A few follow-up threads that I didn't address in my article, and that I hope to work into a future piece or later revision:

1) Not being able to fully work in the "fashioning of paper sculptures" line to the overall argument.  I'm also still not sure why Bowie included this line other than making a comment on general idolatry or perhaps on how our creations are a pale mockery of God's Creations.  Or maybe it's a call back to some art piece I don't know about, or else it's related to the idea of burning effigies of people.

2) Not mentioning my personal headcanons that the "HE" of the piece is, in fact, the criminal being crucified on the cross by Jesus who is promised a place in paradise in Luke 23:39-43 and that the "THEY" are the Pharisees (and then later the general Jewish assembly that persecuted Christ, His followers, etc.)

3) Trying to reconcile my ideas for bullet number two with the idea that "THEY" could also be metaphorical interpretations for sin or literal interpretations for demonic figures.  Additionally trying to figure out if "HE" could be Christ and "SHE" could be Mary for stanza one.

4) Wishing I could make the connection between Bowie's career and the song even clearer with more evidence from his past body of work (particularly connecting it more concretely with Scary Monsters and his other backlog with spiritual ties)

5) Thinking that I should've included the list of 42 words more clearly and how they relate to the song (when I did my notes I mapped out 35/42 given words that thematically appear in the song)

6) Including more Biblical references and general Biblical canon - I would like to add more detail related to the saints and traditions alluded to in the music video as well as the various art and literature pieces Bowie interweaves throughout the work

No comments:

Post a Comment