I would like to explore the connections between what we see here as a music video with the concept of urbanization.
Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs
The first thing that came to my mind was that the lyrics of the song has nothing whatsoever to do with the music video per se. so I tried finding out what in the world has love got to do with a creation of a city in the desert.
Keywords: City, urbanization, desert, fast forwarded
My first thought was, “is it related to Las Vegas? The city that sprouted almost overnight, impressing me as an overzealous bid for insanity? I might have a narrow-minded view of the Las Vegas strip, but preconception has brought me this mini-revelation. It seems that the song sings of a one-sided relationship, an enthusiastic romantic. Sort of like the one night stands and gambling and adult entertainment in Las Vegas. A city overnight.
This connotation of impermanence might purvey to us an insight to the temporariness of love in this world today, and vice versa. Erm. To put it simply, love is likened to a rapidly changing world, easy come easy go. And before anyone tries to place me as an anti-romantic, no it is not a personal gesture. :P
There was a part in the song where the band members, in their indifference to what was happening to them, disrupted construction and swatted zeppelins (maybe a nod toward Led Zeppelin, whom they were inspired by in this album). Puns and parodies aside, this could be thought of as factors of hindrance in the process or urbanization. This elimination of these factors proved difficult, when the helicopters dropped toxic waste on them and it slipped off like water off wax.
Imagine, political, societal and cultural restrictions, personified. Imagine, government protection, status quo reliance, the metaphorical wax. The end result – building around the walls of security and isolation, growing in spite of impediments; treating them with a mild disapproval.
4 comments:
"What happens in vegas, stays in vegas"
I think the idea of an "impermanent city" alone draws an interesting concept as essentially a city translates permanence but having it seed from a notion of non-permanence, that first of all contradicts the traditional conception of the word but even more so having a continual patronage that relies on or even seek this very transient experience... yah hmm... must have some psychological appeal huh… lols
Anyway i like how u relate architecture from a song... different and refreshing i must say
there are many guises under which the 'impermanent city' was discussed, most famous of which was Archigram's walking city. many have philosophized about cities that move around.. maybe its because of a city's inherent parasitical nature. it could be possible, that someday we might actually drive cities around, battle each other for parts to build our cities on... like what phillip reeves imagined in his book, 'Mortal Engines'. :P
Ahem..you're actually stepping into the topic of history two's archigram the "eccentric" gang!! They designed it to unite the people, right after world war two....and you got it right, it appears like somekind of parasite.I don't think you have to study further much more ...lols. You pass. =D
so you mean archigram's walking city was designed with the unification of mankind in mind... no wonder the people liked it. hehe.. well, thanks for the comment! hope for more in the future~
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