I have heard people involved in deep discussions (and arguments) about symbolism in everything from the short story Brokeback Mountain to Nirvana lyrics. Some people (and unfortunately the media as well) read symbolism into celebrity clothing choices, music videos, and social media posts.
I am sure that, in many cases, the artists and the writers of books and lyrics did not intend to send us any specific message at all. David Bowie and William S. Burroughs used to cut up texts and reorganise them to create entirely new lines. Many authors and singers were on drugs or drunk the entire time they were producing some of their work, and admit to not having any memory of writing it.
Kurt Cobain said my lyrics are total cut-up. I take lines from different poems that I’ve written. I build on a theme if I can, but sometimes I can’t even come up with an idea of what the song is about . Yet many of his fans have detailed interpretations of what he meant in his lyrics, and disagree loudly when someone else comes up with a different viewpoint.
Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder has said in interviews that it was very difficult for him to hear from so many fans how his music had saved them from suicide and rescued them from misery. The fans meant it as a good thing but, to Vedder, being seen as a saviour by so many placed a heavy burden on him as a person and as a singer-songwriter. He didn’t want to be seen as the face of grunge, the voice of disaffected youth, or have the emotional weight of saving all the people who contacted him in desperation after having felt his lyrics called out to them in their pain. Vedder gently told one fan after a concert I’m really not in your head, I’m not thinking all your private thoughts.
Personally, I think each of us reads a different book, listens to a different song, and looks at a different piece of art. We bring into the book, song or artwork our imaginations as well as our past and our present, and we make it our own. That is the beautiful thing about art. The author had one idea, but we can make each work our own and read into it what we will. Many authors and artists don’t want to say what symbolism there is, maybe because it is very personal to them, maybe because they didn’t have any clear thoughts while in the throes of creation. Critics and researchers take a deeper dive into meaning, often with diverging viewpoints. I kind of like the idea that we can interpret each piece in a way that is personal to us, unless a group co-opts it as a symbol for hate speech or fundamentalism.
I really admire the student above who did not go along with the teacher and decided to do their own research. I always tell my students when I don’t know something. I am also always prepared to change my mind if they can back up their theories and convince me otherwise. The best students are the ones that are prepared to argue their point with researched, balanced arguments. In the end we may not agree, but we all come out of it having had a good look at all sides of the question and with new well-rounded knowledge.
And, as Sigmund Freud famously said about the manifestation of our subconscious — ‘sometimes a cigar is just a cigar’
Yes, to everything you said! Sometimes symbolism is obvious and clearly marked but sometimes it’s just so strange and hard to pick up and open to so many types of interpretation. When I was in Junior High and in High School, I used to love analyzing poems and prose and I was pretty good at it and I felt so engaged. Unfortunately, I could never have asked the authors if that was what they meant because they were classical authors who had long passed away. I never bothered with song lyrics because they were all too vague. The Canadian band Barenaked Ladies have got wonderful lyrics and it’s easy to see what they meant. It’s witty and clever with lots of puns along the way. I would never dream of analyzing any grunge song lyrics. My husband is a big Soundgarden fan and we had tons of arguments about what their songs meant and we always disagreed. I like and understand what Eddie Vedder said. It does make a lot of sense.