VOICE IN THE ATTIC - Golden

The plot of Golden sets a broad scope, beginning with disasters on a global scale: natural disasters such as hurricanes and bushfires but also man-made ones such as the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the atrocities of war and the suffering of the innocent. As the picture changes from colour to black and white the camera zooms in to local level. We see a military cemetery and sense the theme of personal loss and trauma. The key questions on the level of the individual are, how do you deal with a growing sense of powerlessness in the face of a world that seems gone from our control on so many fronts? How do you cope with all the violence and suffering portrayed in the media or even experienced first hand? Ancient playwright Sophocles gives an answer that sounds trite and momentous at once: "One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life. That word is love" he muses in the epithet to the video. Sophocles's statement is both particular and universal and would appear banal unless based on your own personal experience. At a moment of profound shock and existential crisis you may find that the only power strong enough to oppose the forces of chaos and death is the support of your loved ones. If it's a cliché that doesn't make it less true, as the lyrics of Golden reflect: "So you can call me naïve / or Mr Phil Misanthrope / But I've seen a friend on the end of a rope / And the easiest sure is to relativize / The academic's most comfy disguise / So I don't pretend to hold the answers / Who does? / But my own little life someday will have passed / And if there's one thing as sure as a stone in my shoe / It's that the answer to all my questions is you." Or, as John Lennon puts it: "If somebody thinks that love and peace is a cliché that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal."

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Music

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• Love
• song
• love song
• voice
• singer
• songwriter
• war
• disaster
• death
• violence
• media
• liberty
• morality
• failure
• friend
• loss
• suffering
• innocent
• acoustic
• guitar
• peace
• original
• original song
• sad
• artist
• tragedy
• golden
• 11 September 2001
• attacks
• terrorist attack
• terrorism
• World
• Trade
• Center
• bushfire
• hurricane
• flood
• news
• child
• crying