(i am but a humble sportswriter. i don’t know anything about art. will toledo do not flame this post)
the biblical passages that close out famous prophets (minds) and famous prophets (stars) are vital moments in the twin fantasies: these are the final thoughts the narrator leaves us with before he wakes up from/ends the fantasy, when he steps outside and looks at the sun for the first time in memory. these verses sum up the story. they are what the narrator, and we, are taking from the way the fantasy unfolded; the language of the bible lends a certain universality and cosmic importance to the story we have just been told; and, importantly, will changes the last line of each, making the final thought of the fantasy his own, turning back at the last moment to the personal and specific.
these are all similarities in the function these verses serve on their respective albums, but, obviously, mirror to mirror and face to face are not quite the same story – they are inversions of each other, they cannot exist without each other, they complicate and fulfill each other – and the verses chosen reflect that. under the cut i’m going to talk about why the context and content and the final alteration made to each of these verses feels so interesting and important to me
so today rolling stone published a feature on will and the making of twin fantasy which, among other things, contained a lot of inappropriate and hurtful speculation about his personal life. will just responded via twitter, and i just wanted to share his tweets here as well.
i don’t have much more to add, except that i would urge fans as well as journalists to think critically about the ways they interact with art inspired by personal experiences. the mere fact of somebody writing a song (or a book, or a film) about their own life does not give the audience license to probe for private context. it’s possible and necessary to enjoy art without demanding that artists volunteer personal information at every turn.
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When the USA decided to retroactively extend the term of copyright, it
deprived itself of free, open access to important cultural treasures
that new creators could build upon as creators have done since time
immemorial.
Luckily, Canada and the EU were not so foolish, and so today, there is a
raft of work entering the public domain elsewhere in the world that US
creators and audiences will not be able to freely use.
A selection of works that could have entered the public domain in the USA this year:
works from 1961 including Catch-22, Stranger in a Strange Land, The
Soft Machine, The Phantom Tollbooth, Franny and Zooey, Breakfast at
Tiffany’s, West Side Story (the movie)… all copyrighted until 2057.
And, yes, scientific articles from 1961 are still behind paywalls.
Works that Canadians and Europeans can freely use, as of tomorrow:
in Canada, the works of René Magritte, Langston Hughes, Dorothy Parker,
and many more. In the EU, the works of Hugh Lofting (the Doctor
DoLittle books) and William Moulton Marston (creator of Wonder Woman!).
