Bob Dylan: When society turns its problems on "rock", I choose to turn away from the crowd

Hailee 2022-04-13 09:01:07


Sometimes popular taste is a kind of fascism.
When a group of people are watching how you grow from the same angle of looking up, they are all set on a premise before you know it. This premise is coercive, capped and metaphysical imperial power - your Everything has to meet their expectations of you, those labels, features and attributes.
Fame is a particularly pessimistic experience, and for most successful artists, they have experienced loss after success. John Lennon died at the sound of an assassination shot in the midst of influence and fame, Joe Strummer was nearly destroyed by rage in revolt, destroying the dream of freedom, Bono, in the midst of a great wave of business and political power, combined music and struggle A clear boundary was drawn, and since then, he has put on mask-like sunglasses, pushing U2 to the commercial stage.
In my concept, art and artist are two independent existences, but there is a wonderful connection point at the level of death. One is that the artist has died naturally, but in the spiritual influence and the circulation of art works, it is eternal life. The other is absolute death, their artistic attitudes and ideas have been completely destroyed and eradicated in the wash of time, while natural life is living more and more blissfully.
Luckily, Bob Dylan is one of the surviving artists, as is his music and poetry.

I have to admit, I'm Not There is one of the toughest movies I've ever seen, because it dissects Bob Dylan into four people, characterizes them independently and co-emphasizes and amplifies them. . When the thoughts and life trajectories of the four people exist at the same time, it is inevitable that the center of gravity will be blurred, and people will be confused when they see half of it. Therefore, after reading Bob's biography and life documentaries, we must understand the major events of his life, and then we can find some of Dylan's four different mental states in real life in "I'm Not There". The ideological value of different dimensions represented by the four symbols of prophet, performer and hunter.
I must first know Martin Scorsese's new interpretation of Bob in "No Direcation Home", the transcendental, silent, rebellious Bob Dylan who purely follows his own feelings in the movie and "I'm Not There" The complexity and criss-crossing in the text are linked together, and in the texts I have read in the past, I have tried to recall everything related to Bob, so as to be able to understand how he strengthens himself in a real world that is as hard as a stone and seems to be impenetrable. How to use a pure and impurity-free idea to go down hard.

I told my friends in the film industry that learning about Bob's life gave me a lot of shock. Many people asked me, what kind of shock? My whole point is that my own inner world has not yet been constructed, and that Bob's rebelliousness and resignation, for me, in some ways fills in the construction of my worldview that I'm still hesitant about, and even fills in what I'm faced with Most of life's emptiness and disorientation.
Without the direction of home, it sounds hopeless and distorted as if the stereophonic sound diffuses from behind, as if suffocation and prophecy, as if a huge gap has been pulled out in the heart, a serious emotional and spiritual lack, and a sense of the past and present. Complete denial with the future. When we are lost like Bob, when we also can't find the direction to go home, what kind of attitude and emotion should we use to rebuild the spiritual world that is no longer like the reincarnation of life?

In the face of this, Bob Dylan is fickle, we can't deny it.


Choose a way out, or a way home?

Home is also a distorted symbol. This terrifying reality is real to Bob. He has always said too little about his hometown. Of course, home is not a place, nor a single emotion. But any attempt to define what it means to be home seems pale and far removed from how everyone really feels.
The documentary "No Direcation Home" opens with the meaningful song Like A Rolling Stone, while the film "I am not there" adds more artistic processing to the documentary, adding a Human nature is divided into different characters, as if only in this way can we make it clear that Bob's complicated and strange life is so different.
At the beginning of "I am not there", an elderly narrator says: "The hungry public, now at last able to share his condition, and his personal telephone. There he lay, poet, prophet, law Outsiders, fictional idols, rock stars, exposed to the public like voyeurs, will soon be discovered."
Bob's sense of self-mastery seems to have become six or more sizable under Todd Haynes' lens The scarcity of , thus flowing between these six different roles, conveying a common proposition to each other - loneliness. And this kind of lonely emotion, in different characters, it is difficult to maintain the same attitude. That's why Todd Haynes was able to instill such rich poetry and romance in the gaps between different roles.

So when you see Bob Dylan transformed into his idol Woody, jumping on the train, escaping from the caged town, trying to cut off the only connection between himself and the captivity, the different individuals of his deeply confrontational nature are already being Unconsciously Constructed: Jack Rollins left everything behind at the height of his career, and the illusion was the self-denial that Bob gradually developed after he was gradually labeled as a protest singer. Robbi's rethinking and turning of sex and freedom in the marriage crisis is the only love story in Bob's life. Rimbaud interprets Bob's lyrics from the poet's symbolic meaning and the illusion of the world's darkness and evil spirits. In the process of composing each song, it is like composing a psychic in contact with the world. Jude's outright rebellion on stage and intrusive character in front of the media is what Bob's "betrayal" is after his transition to rock and roll.

When these more surreal personal qualities are all concentrated in the same person, when Bob chooses his path, the eternal confrontation between light and dark in Bod's life is not just the influence of the times and the media, but his desire to become what he wants to be.
People, or stars and art, are not entirely created by their environment, but are part of an innate and eternal "self".
Among the answers given at the beginning of the movie, Bob has already made a choice in his life path, leaving home, the farther away the better.

I'm Not A Current Affair songwriter

opened the movie "No Direcation Home" with Bob Dylan's life-changing song -- "Like a rolling stone."
The song is Dylan's transition sign and carries a lot of his life's efforts: as he approaches 30, trying to break through the unsurpassed reality - all listeners are obsessed with sick ballads, borrowed from pure Sex is grafted on with the characteristics of resistance, and music has lost its essence and has become a tool of political vassalism.
What impressed me was that Bod Dylan, who zoomed in both films at the same time, repeatedly emphasized in an interview with the media, "I'm not a current affairs songwriter."

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't t you?
didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone
You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibies
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone
You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone
Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You 're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone
Chinese lyrics to the effect:
There was a time when you used to be so well dressed and
you were so good, to play with those begging steel bangs, what was that?
People said to you, "Hey, little girl, you will fall into trouble sooner or later. "
You think they're all joking with you . You always laugh it
off at people who do nothing on the street , now you don't talk so loudly? Now you don't laugh so arrogantly at those begging on the street for the next meal. Struggling people? How do you feel about being homeless? No worries, no one knows like a homeless man. That's right, Miss Lonely, you went to the best school but you know what, during that time you were just having fun and no one taught you the real thing, how to get along in society but now you understand, you have to learn by yourself You used to say that you would never compromise with strangers, but now, you realize it? The guy doesn't need any excuses when you stare into his empty, indifferent eyes and ask him, do you want to make a deal? How do you feel about being alone ? There is no direction to go home, and no one knows like a homeless person. You never noticed the troubles and struggles behind those clowns when they came to make fun of you. You never realized that there was a problem behind it that they were taking it for you, and you, you really shouldn't be like that


























You used to ride on a glossy motorcycle with your lover with
a Siamese cat on his shoulders Do n't you
understand? How do you feel about being alone when all you can steal is gone ? No way to go home, no one to know the arrogant prince like a tramp , and all those beautiful people they're drinking and wondering how they can get more valuable stuff but you, you gotta get When you hold up your diamond ring and treat it as everyone's unlucky, are n't you proud of Napoleon, who walks away in the play? Now it's your turn, Napoleon is calling you, you have nowhere to go When you have nothing, you don't have to worry about losing anything Now you're transparent, there's nothing to hide What it feels like to be alone How about it? There is no direction to go home, and no one knows like a homeless person.




















In 1663, through an award, Bob was transformed into a beautiful soul overnight, and in the film, Christian Bale delivered a great speech with superb acting skills: It took me a long time to be young, and now I feel I am very young. And, I am proud of it. It's not the world of those old men anymore, I mean, it's not supposed to be you sitting here, I mean...the times are different, there's no black and white, there's no left or right, now there's only the top Wings and lower wings, you know? I think the guy who shot JFK, I found the same idea in my own heart, and I'm here to say, you can boo people, but you can't do anything with your mouth. "This classic scene is arguably Bob removing himself from the altar of the "beautiful" resistance hero as a political puppet, and he begins his own rebellion. We can see a huge difference emerging from the different sides of Bob's life. Divide, the early folk poet-like Bob is the voice of the era of resistance, representing the throat and megaphone of a disadvantaged group, while the later rock stage Bob is a completely dark medium, he will always see the "action" caused by The most real ugly side, resistance is ineffective, and relying on mouth is also ineffective. Compared with all of these, art belongs to an independent field, which has nothing to do with politics, media, and times.
When the whole nation is calling for freedom, all yearning to be the subject of self, mastering the sense of autonomy, and at the same time obtaining these through common struggle, the guilt and evil world we caused will also exist simultaneously. This is the most thorough Reality. Bob certainly doesn't want himself to be "them" as the object of a feast for the party, as a representative of a group to accomplish their cause.
What does "Beautiful Soul" mean to Bob? - Slaughter. And Not everyone aspires to be a “beautiful soul”. It can also be said that becoming a “beautiful soul” requires careful planning and premeditated planning, which is not what an artist should be good at.
In an interview with the media, he frankly stated why he stopped protesting for the sake of protest: "No one will completely change because of a song, and let the movement and strike continue. Songs can only express their own political ideas, It’s like burning a draft card and setting yourself on fire, you can’t do anything except express your disapproval.” The birth of this political concept and the relative actions are the premeditated plan of the “beautiful soul”. Because of the big social situation, strikes and marches are enough to turn everyone into a victim, so as to achieve a fascinating illusion while suffering.
All are obsessed with liberty, all want noble conduct, pure innocence and innocence. But that's not the end of the "action" that Bob advocates. The effectiveness of real action lies in the real perception of the world, and the crazy and unreasonable side of the world perceived by Bob cannot form a certain connection with his creation itself. He cannot find it in folk songs and resistance. The verbal function of "sincere" "expressive" songs.
When ballads become a social phenomenon and the "flattery" of the masses, just like when Bob sings a ballad on the stage, he cheers and turns into rock, and he is called a traitor, Judas' funny experience, ballads are no longer music itself. , lost the role of "sounding the real voice of the times", and became empty notes and words that did not conform to Bob's inner beliefs.
I was thinking that if it were me, I would also return to my own heart, to the full role of rock and roll, to destroy everything I feel and see in my self-digging and narcissistic body, and it seems like this, Bob Only then will we find those precious feelings that have not been lost - the true meaning of resistance.

The world is gradually becoming crazy
The world we live in is always sensibility - superficial and irresponsible of phenomena, and can find self-satisfying sublime and joy in an environment where reason is completely absent, but all this experience is so stupid. In "No Direction Home", there is a most special passage in the world that shows "crazy". American soldiers set fire to a civilian's house in Vietnam, and in the face of a group of Vietnamese elderly and children, they are indifferent to the help of the media. . Joan Baez, who was equally influential at the time, and a group of rebel singers gathered at the airport for a song protest, but there was no Bob.
Joan Baez faces the camera: "I don't think he wants to be the kind of guy who doesn't turn his back. The era that followed was walled, boring, either pro-war or anti-war, hated black, or pro-war. Martin Luther King, Jr., feels like being forced to take sides."
It's like a rocker, faced with a choice between being sublime and great, or immortal and beautiful. The choice between whether to get involved in politics directly affects everyone's judgment on music. It's also a complete confrontation between folk and rock.
There is no balance between this, if there is, the public has found a balance to accept Bob, and that is what the old Bob has always emphasized, time. If in the same moment, the masses were asked to embrace Bob's ballads of political defiance and rock 'n' roll of heartbreak and decay, it would have collapsed. Faced with becoming an artist or a protest singer, Bob will naturally have his own choice.
I mentioned the Bob story to a friend a while back and he thought Bob was a guy who knew exactly what he was doing. He will never put himself in the gap between two different sides. His priority is inner beauty, and then lofty morals. This is the right path that few people take.
Social and political fanaticism often leads to a sense of enthusiasm and happiness without a reason, when the public is angry with the car on the side of the road, when the idol goes to the street and is pushed to the top of the crowd and becomes a marionette, or The world's one after another sit-ins, hunger strikes, marches, protests... The world has become completely crazy.
Everyone is striving to transcend their sensibility and seek equality and freedom, thus creating an illusion of "becoming the dominant", which is completely insufficiency in the real world, lack of resistance, and ideology. level deficiencies.
The real fact is that in the face of this chaotic world, there is no simple desire for freedom and democracy, and there is no possibility that one social system can replace another social system for the better. Everyone can know the truth, but the public is the public after all. Their anger and the need for a sense of sublime require them to use singers, music, and idols to convey this false and unreal experience.
No one can truly believe that "pure freedom" really exists, but everyone will do anything to maintain and fight for this unrealistic dream of freedom, thereby maintaining political enthusiasm. And in this ignorant and perceptual behavior of the group, those Icons gradually become symbols of "alienation", weapons for rights, and weapons and externalities that everyone uses to express their resistance. strength.
The adoration and love they show is a reconciliation between their inner desire for the sublime and their rebellious avatar.

The second half of the rock-revolutionary

film goes into the inner psychedelia of a surreal outright rock-style. Drugs, poetry, love, justice and many other propositions constitute the whole confusing neurotic narrative logic. What does rock and roll represent? Desires and Emotions. Rock creates a total hallucination, through noisy, lonely, trashy, psychedelic, narcotic, deceitful, sexually seductive hypothetical hallucinations to deduce a truth that obscures Reality is ugly.
Bob chose rock, and chose to create his own new direction with electronics, the times, and the masses. "I'm not the kind of performer who wants to be part of the crowd, and I don't want to be close to the audience," Bob said of his experience creating "Like A Rolling Stone." His rock is playing an alibi, an absence of pure ego. Bob achieves self-denial and sublation through rock and roll, and through internal negation, he negates all external things and achieves a negative rock revolution.
This is also the ultimate proposition that Cate Blanchett expresses in the second half of the film, indulging in a drug-like psychedelic consciousness, his desire to be a sufferer, a errant to be saved, and even to become a singer of Christ, the times the Redeemer. This is a completely beyond logical representation of the story, with a true essence of opposing cores.

After constantly denying himself, he reshapes and constructs through rock music and the audience, so as to achieve the unity of the outside and the inside, express his thoughts, and achieve complete self-mastery. This is the ultimate meaning of Bob's choice of rock. This is not a resistance to the real world, nor is it an endless fascination with the moral illusion brought about by the act of resistance. It is a brave game between the inner reality of the subject and the outer inherent reality.

The real world itself is deadly, hard, and impenetrable by itself. In the face of angry crowds and a polarized world polity, any hope of saving the world through the Music Zone is almost a non-existent chance. Tooling and utilising art can never achieve the inscribed historical effect.
But it is precisely what is in the heart, the impact on the awakening power of the subject's thinking and the expression of the most real essence such as desire, is the eternal proposition.
Bob is trying to get us closer to ourselves, to the true nature of the world, through rock and roll.
This is bound to be an eternal revolution.

View more about No Direction Home: Bob Dylan reviews

Extended Reading
  • Allan 2022-04-16 09:01:09

    Silently bury your head in nostalgia!

  • Florida 2022-04-12 09:01:11

    "Actually, I didn't have any ambitions at all. The place where I was born was very far from my real hometown, so I set out on the road to my hometown, and that's it."

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan quotes

  • Bob Dylan: You can't be wise and in love at the same time.

  • Bob Dylan: I was born very far from where I'm supposed to be, and so I'm on my way home.