Sigur Ros video: what does it mean?

Re: Food for soul

kenlee said:
The first reaction I experienced when viewing the video was one of depression. The ballerina girl looked like she was a ghost, an earthbound spirit trapped in-between worlds endlessly repeating some kind of traumatic experience that she was enslaved by, within her own mind, like she was caught in some kind of automatic dream loop or trapped in some kind of recurrent dream without consciousness and sensitivity of which she could never escape. So right there it made me depressed.

This is how it spoke to me:
Scene opens with abandoned and dilapidated town. I saw it as allegory of our civilization which consumes everything and spits it out. A man who looks like someone who has wasted his life faces a new day, same day like any other in his existence - washed out and dead. He is putting a wedding ring on and we can guess that he has lost his wife and daughter. This is confirmed with his self talk and as he goes through his day trying to find comfort in booze he is haunted by his dead daughter. We are actually watching a redux of his lifetime stuck on a repeat in regret and self-contempt until finally he drinks himself into the ground. Whether he is just a coward unable to face life, an alcoholic who accidentally set his house with wife and daughter on fire, gambler who has lost everything including his family could be any of these things - we see a horror of a failed human being- and this is especially painful because it seems to be a norm on this planet. Words "God trusted me with your life but I'm a fraud" - are especially poignant - life is one of greatest mysteries in this universe and we tend to have pretty careless and wasteful attitude towards it.
As he is dying he gets reunited with his daughter and has a moment of clarity ("Remember that this life is just an illusion ""fear only brings death to the soul"). He will be reincarnated but will he repeat the same mistakes? Probably - the whole cycle will be repeated over and over again. But those moments of clarity offer some hope. With every new beginning ( baby) there is hope.

kenlee said:
The music was even more depressing! So the music just enhanced the affect. I felt the depression all the way thru and could not understand it not even from a (subjective) meaningful or symbolic level. I then read some of the comments from the viewers hoping that they would explain it but all I got is that it was 'beautiful," "emotional", it's all "about love" and so on. Actually, imo it was all about 'feeling' as if intense feeling (in this case depression) was indicative of deeper meaning. But no one could explain it, even at a purely subjective 'meaningful' level.

Dunno - for me the music in this video is exactly that- just beautiful and it directly touches the soul. As if anyone can explain this properly?! But again that is the matter of taste and resonance I guess. I love Sigur Ros music and I am definitely biased. Many people would probably find hard rock or heavy metal more moving and they find the high pitches of Sigur Ros singer's voice which border on off key irritating. I experience it as imperfection that completes perfection.
I have been following Sigur Ros project - they commissioned bunch of artists to give visuals to their songs. And I thought the experiment was quite successful. One of the commenters mentioned this video is reminiscent of Tree of Life movie (https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,23701.msg323167.html#msg323167) , which I loved to bits although majority of the usual cinema goers found it incomprehensible and completely pointless.

Just in case you are open to learn more about their music this is for me one of their most powerful tunes which always "connects me to the source" for the lack of better words to explain it.

https://youtu.be/8LeQN249Jqw

kenlee said:
I think what this video lacked was 'common sense' that is, a sense of reality to it that is common to thinking, feeling, and organic instinct which includes the higher realities of spiritual creative inspiration, symbology, and psychological dynamics where everything is interconnected and rightly fits together so as to express meaning and understanding at several levels of reality simultaneously. 'Higher' does not mean better or superior since all levels of reality are equally necessary to convey deeper understanding. They just must fit together 'rightly.' Imo, it especially lacked the 'down to earth' touch to it which left it ungrounded in this everyday mundane reality so I just could not relate to it. It sorta just kind of floated in some hopeless netherworld without meaning or inspiration which made me even more depressed!
I am afraid you lost me here, could you try to explain what you meant in a more simple way.
 
Re: Food for soul


What if the girl was really a ghost - "tattered angel wings" - and when the guy died, he was "born into a new reality". It wasn't about a new baby in this world, it was that he was a baby in the next, picked up and carried off by his "daughter/angel with tattered wings."
 
Z said:
This is how it spoke to me:
Scene opens with abandoned and dilapidated town. I saw it as allegory of our civilization which consumes everything and spits it out. A man who looks like someone who has wasted his life faces a new day, same day like any other in his existence - washed out and dead. He is putting a wedding ring on and we can guess that he has lost his wife and daughter. This is confirmed with his self talk and as he goes through his day trying to find comfort in booze he is haunted by his dead daughter. We are actually watching a redux of his lifetime stuck on a repeat in regret and self-contempt until finally he drinks himself into the ground. Whether he is just a coward unable to face life, an alcoholic who accidentally set his house with wife and daughter on fire, gambler who has lost everything including his family could be any of these things - we see a horror of a failed human being- and this is especially painful because it seems to be a norm on this planet. Words "God trusted me with your life but I'm a fraud" - are especially poignant - life is one of greatest mysteries in this universe and we tend to have pretty careless and wasteful attitude towards it.
As he is dying he gets reunited with his daughter and has a moment of clarity ("Remember that this life is just an illusion ""fear only brings death to the soul"). He will be reincarnated but will he repeat the same mistakes? Probably - the whole cycle will be repeated over and over again. But those moments of clarity offer some hope. With every new beginning ( baby) there is hope.

Your interpretation sounds good to me. I didn't understand it when first watching it but I do know I had a depressed feeling as soon as it started that was pretty strong and lasted throughout the video. I looked over the web to see if there were any interpretations of it but couldn't find any. Had I read any interpretations of it at all, at least to give me even a little perspective, my little 'review' might have been more favorable. The Sigur Ros music I don't particularly like. But as you said it's simply a matter of taste and resonance. I could also be biased to it because of my initial reaction to the short film since I'm not familiar with his music. Maybe I'll like it if I listen to him more. Don't know though.

kenlee said:
I think what this video lacked was 'common sense' that is, a sense of reality to it that is common to thinking, feeling, and organic instinct which includes the higher realities of spiritual creative inspiration, symbology, and psychological dynamics where everything is interconnected and rightly fits together so as to express meaning and understanding at several levels of reality simultaneously. 'Higher' does not mean better or superior since all levels of reality are equally necessary to convey deeper understanding. They just must fit together 'rightly.' Imo, it especially lacked the 'down to earth' touch to it which left it ungrounded in this everyday mundane reality so I just could not relate to it. It sorta just kind of floated in some hopeless netherworld without meaning or inspiration which made me even more depressed!
I am afraid you lost me here, could you try to explain what you meant in a more simple way.

Simply put, when you said that this video was 'food for the soul' I expected it to help put me in a state where I would feel creative inspiration along with the enhancement within me of the deeper contemplation on the nature of reality. But at least for me it did not. Instead I instantly felt an hypnotic pull into it which led to a feeling of depression and hopelessness.
 
This video reminds me of this scene of "vagabunda" a Mexican movie about a poor girl who dreamed of being a great dancer. min.24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5WFCb83RE8
 
Here are my impressions with the video. While watching, i was wondering the connection between depressed man and the what looked like a happy teenage girl. I thought whether this guy is transgender from that girl , changed the sex in hurry without processing emotions involved in this type of thing. Well, gender articles currently in news , and article of transgender tend to have health issues etc. came to mind. The word "Space" added to the narration. After passing through the "space" door, death of man made me think "his pain to be away of from that girl" might have got healed. But when I saw the baby, actually i got confused. Probably my understanding is not what the video creator wants to viewers to get.
 
seek10 said:
Here are my impressions with the video. While watching, i was wondering the connection between depressed man and the what looked like a happy teenage girl. I thought whether this guy is transgender from that girl , changed the sex in hurry without processing emotions involved in this type of thing. Well, gender articles currently in news , and article of transgender tend to have health issues etc. came to mind. The word "Space" added to the narration. After passing through the "space" door, death of man made me think "his pain to be away of from that girl" might have got healed. But when I saw the baby, actually i got confused. Probably my understanding is not what the video creator wants to viewers to get.
Lol - looks like the current transgender hysteria has touched you too.
 
I found it depressing too - but for me it works as an allegory over modern existence - alienation, self-contempt, the young lost in hopeless dreaming. Thank you for sharing :)
 
I suppose I am more literal when watching something like this. I am watching, thinking what is this production trying to convey to me. What is it trying to say to me. And in this case, I found that there was nothing concrete or coherent in the message.

And I think maybe that is deliberate on their part. In other words, they will only give you a template, where you fill in the blanks yourself, so you are really creating your own message out of it. Sort of creating your own movie.

Since I did not really do this, and took only the literal images and words, I was left unsatisfied.

In other words, I left my feelings, biases, beliefs and assumptions at the door. Trying not to inject anything of my own into the story. Just let it tell it's story unencumbered.

Does that make any sense?
 
The motives I see in the video are quite common on our generation (millenials), the way the girl dresses and all the nihilism expressed in the film is very common among people of my age who are in the art/cultural atmosphere. It's kind of depressing because there seems to be some sort of glorification of this depression and feelings of despair (shown, IMO, by the father in the film and the whole "greyish" and wore out atmosphere). This is something that has been going on for a while already, from what I've been able to see when interacting with peers throughout my teens and nowadays. And there is the general feeling of wanting to go to "non-existence" among many young people :( .

I guess it is certainly a symptom of today's reality and how bad things are turning up. I sometimes feel sad because I see a lot emptiness trying to be filled with illusions. And I'm not saying that I'm "awake", but, to give an example, I read some time ago about a guy who wasted lots of money in order to look like an elf, because, according to him "elves are perfect beings". When I looked at the picture of this young guy I related him to my younger brother (18 y-o) and I felt so sad because maybe this guy had such an emptiness inside, such despair, that he had to do all that weird stuff to calm down his inner despair. And this can be related to all the identity ideology being used to hysterise the young. These identities offer an illusion that helps escape from the inner struggle (which is also a voice of conscience -like a moral conflict, for example, that can give way to growth).

Well, those are some of the thoughts when looking at the video, but I've always been a bit "dense" to understand this type of art. I also liked the last phrase, but then I couldn't understand what the message was exactly, and that's not something new with Sigur Ros... not because they sing in another language, but because they actually invent words that don't exist in any language.

Which brings me to this post:

Hello H2O said:
I suppose I am more literal when watching something like this. I am watching, thinking what is this production trying to convey to me. What is it trying to say to me. And in this case, I found that there was nothing concrete or coherent in the message.

And I think maybe that is deliberate on their part. In other words, they will only give you a template, where you fill in the blanks yourself, so you are really creating your own message out of it. Sort of creating your own movie.

Since I did not really do this, and took only the literal images and words, I was left unsatisfied.

In other words, I left my feelings, biases, beliefs and assumptions at the door. Trying not to inject anything of my own into the story. Just let it tell it's story unencumbered.

Does that make any sense?

IMO, there's always some interpretation when one is appreciating art, and there's always a made up story that is our interpretation. But, I think that good artists kind of know how to use symbols (a language) that can convey the message they want so that they can maybe direct some of that personal made-up story (interpretation) towards the original intention of the work. I understand this to be related to what the archetypes reveal too. And I guess that's also why some art is considered transcendental and have an impact throughout time, so to say, because they appeal to deep "understandings" that are embedded in human beings, or something like that. And some of course are just so virtuous or beautiful that they become masterpieces.

But, recently, I was talking to a girl who is finishing her career in visual arts and she said something about a new art movement that is about not really portraying a particular message but allowing the individual who is exposed to this art to explore his/her own feelings that appear as a reaction to the art. It's about causing some sort feeling and letting the individual fill-in the rest of the experience. The discussion came up because some people were discussing about how some contemporary music (such as Sigur Ros) has "no sense" at all, but they do evoke feelings which are somewhat incomprehensible. I guess, then, that some of the difficulty in understanding this video is because that's the intention, in part... (???)

Now, I do like some of Sigur Ros' music even though they haven't got a particular message for me... I just appreciate some of their music melodies and, yes, the emotions related to them.

I used to like it more before, but I also realised that they do a lot of really depressing stuff and, since they begun as an experimental band, they also do a lot of stuff that is dissonant IMHO. I don't mind experimentation in art, as it allows some exploration and creativity, but I don't think that people should consider a complete experimental album as piece of completed art, so to say, it is experimental because you are just trying things out and exploring sounds, which of course gives the chances of making something that it's simply not good.
 
Yas said:
IMO, there's always some interpretation when one is appreciating art, and there's always a made up story that is our interpretation. But, I think that good artists kind of know how to use symbols (a language) that can convey the message they want so that they can maybe direct some of that personal made-up story (interpretation) towards the original intention of the work. I understand this to be related to what the archetypes reveal too. And I guess that's also why some art is considered transcendental and have an impact throughout time, so to say, because they appeal to deep "understandings" that are embedded in human beings, or something like that. And some of course are just so virtuous or beautiful that they become masterpieces.

But, recently, I was talking to a girl who is finishing her career in visual arts and she said something about a new art movement that is about not really portraying a particular message but allowing the individual who is exposed to this art to explore his/her own feelings that appear as a reaction to the art. It's about causing some sort feeling and letting the individual fill-in the rest of the experience. The discussion came up because some people were discussing about how some contemporary music (such as Sigur Ros) has "no sense" at all, but they do evoke feelings which are somewhat incomprehensible. I guess, then, that some of the difficulty in understanding this video is because that's the intention, in part... (???)
I think you nailed it here.

Yas said:
Now, I do like some of Sigur Ros' music even though they haven't got a particular message for me... I just appreciate some of their music melodies and, yes, the emotions related to them.
and here
Yas said:
I don't mind experimentation in art, as it allows some exploration and creativity, but I don't think that people should consider a complete experimental album as piece of completed art, so to say, it is experimental because you are just trying things out and exploring sounds, which of course gives the chances of making something that it's simply not good.
I agree
 
Z said:
Yas said:
But, recently, I was talking to a girl who is finishing her career in visual arts and she said something about a new art movement that is about not really portraying a particular message but allowing the individual who is exposed to this art to explore his/her own feelings that appear as a reaction to the art. It's about causing some sort feeling and letting the individual fill-in the rest of the experience. The discussion came up because some people were discussing about how some contemporary music (such as Sigur Ros) has "no sense" at all, but they do evoke feelings which are somewhat incomprehensible. I guess, then, that some of the difficulty in understanding this video is because that's the intention, in part... (???)
I think you nailed it here.

Yeah, totally Postmodernist...
 
Laura said:
Z said:
Yas said:
But, recently, I was talking to a girl who is finishing her career in visual arts and she said something about a new art movement that is about not really portraying a particular message but allowing the individual who is exposed to this art to explore his/her own feelings that appear as a reaction to the art. It's about causing some sort feeling and letting the individual fill-in the rest of the experience. The discussion came up because some people were discussing about how some contemporary music (such as Sigur Ros) has "no sense" at all, but they do evoke feelings which are somewhat incomprehensible. I guess, then, that some of the difficulty in understanding this video is because that's the intention, in part... (???)
I think you nailed it here.

Yeah, totally Postmodernist...

Yes, that what I thought too... and it made me think about how it shows the direction in which art is going... I mean, for me, the idea of art is to express something in order to convey a message, which means, to communicate and connect with other human beings. In this new art, there's no intention of connecting with another human being but just evoking feelings...

I still have to clarify these ideas in my mind, but it's something I've been thinking about. The rejection of a common language of expression to convey something meaningful to other people makes me think of a disconnected society that only values the egotistical subjective feelings that need no understanding... almost like little babies who still can't put feelings into words and be self-conscious. And if we take this too far we'll become just like that, unable to communicate anything and unable to learn from the experience of living and explaining live to ourselves through these symbols, and sharing with others using a somewhat common language.
 
Yas said:
Yes, that what I thought too... and it made me think about how it shows the direction in which art is going... I mean, for me, the idea of art is to express something in order to convey a message, which means, to communicate and connect with other human beings. In this new art, there's no intention of connecting with another human being but just evoking feelings...
But isn't evoking feelings connecting

Yas said:
I still have to clarify these ideas in my mind, but it's something I've been thinking about. The rejection of a common language of expression to convey something meaningful to other people makes me think of a disconnected society that only values the egotistical subjective feelings that need no understanding... almost like little babies who still can't put feelings into words and be self-conscious. And if we take this too far we'll become just like that, unable to communicate anything and unable to learn from the experience of living and explaining live to ourselves through these symbols, and sharing with others using a somewhat common language.
Its not an easy subject. Perhaps you are over analyzing.
If we agree this video is example of such art, can you give me example of art( in any form) that you find exactly opposite - i.e utilizing "the common language of expression".
 
Z said:
Yas said:
Yes, that what I thought too... and it made me think about how it shows the direction in which art is going... I mean, for me, the idea of art is to express something in order to convey a message, which means, to communicate and connect with other human beings. In this new art, there's no intention of connecting with another human being but just evoking feelings...
But isn't evoking feelings connecting

In a personal interaction, yes. In a propagated "art form" of questionable value, one has to wonder what the agenda is.

Z said:
Yas said:
I still have to clarify these ideas in my mind, but it's something I've been thinking about. The rejection of a common language of expression to convey something meaningful to other people makes me think of a disconnected society that only values the egotistical subjective feelings that need no understanding... almost like little babies who still can't put feelings into words and be self-conscious. And if we take this too far we'll become just like that, unable to communicate anything and unable to learn from the experience of living and explaining live to ourselves through these symbols, and sharing with others using a somewhat common language.
Its not an easy subject. Perhaps you are over analyzing.
If we agree this video is example of such art, can you give me example of art( in any form) that you find exactly opposite - i.e utilizing "the common language of expression".

Better yet, you spend some time reading Collingwood's "Speculum Mentis". You may learn a thing or two about art, artists, and artistic expression.
 
Some years back, Ark heard about a famous Polish filmmaker, ‌Krzysztof Kieślowski, who made a set of famous Polish films called "The Decalogue". So, he was enthusiastic about all of us sitting down and watching some famous Polish movies by famous Polish guy. He obtained copies...

We all agreed... and began to watch.

I think that it was about the third or 4th of the 10 that NONE of us, not even Ark, could bear to watch another minute of those films.

They weren't bad. In fact, they were very good, intense and realistic in a way that sucked you in. But the reality you were sucked into was so horrific that when it was over, you felt as though you had been put on the rack and tortured.

One of the things that is implicit in artistic expression is dividing beautiful from ugly. These films were everything that is ugly, piled to heaven.

And that is what this Sigur Ros video seems to be also. And frankly, the ridiculous words at the end about love, and the appearance of a baby seem to me to be rather more like a programming maneuver than an honest part of the video.
 
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