In a lot of ways, "Sleeping on the Roof" by the Flaming Lips is predictable, pedantic even: the same little riff of a couple plodding notes is replayed over and over without much variation. But then there are there suddenly these bizarre, space alien laser noises that start at 1:32 and reoccur sporadically through the rest of the piece, and the combination of these two opposing (feelings)--the predictable and the uncouth--made me think of human thoughts and emotions, which spin and thunk and pivot and fester. That's the reason I chose to give manifestation to the thoughts of various people and character trapped in still-form, people who--like the song--have no words or lines, and thus they could be feeling anything; perhaps they're feeling beautiful and powerful, like Diana Ross with her crown to symbolize strength and regality, or perhaps they're simply worrying about dinner like Sailor Venus. All people feel the pains of stress and responsibility--the target on President Obama's back--and all people have fears and doubts--Hitler's warning exclamation point. The point of the images is that people are sometimes more complicated and uncertain and unwieldy than they might seem, the same way the song is more complex and dynamic than it seems upon first listen. Everything is full of layers and oddity. Everything fits together strangely.
Similarly, the thoughts/feelings of a person might not match their outer persona, the creature they show the rest of the world, and that's why the people in the photos are black and white and their feeling/thought emojis are colorful, bright. It's like what Annie Dillard says about not being able to see the full spectrum of color and light. We cannot see every thought or feeling that a person has, only what they choose to display outwardly. The laser noises don't match the melancholy of the rest of the song. The placid face of the teenage girl hearing some wordless secret doesn't match her inner horror. Everything fits together strangely.
Similarly, the thoughts/feelings of a person might not match their outer persona, the creature they show the rest of the world, and that's why the people in the photos are black and white and their feeling/thought emojis are colorful, bright. It's like what Annie Dillard says about not being able to see the full spectrum of color and light. We cannot see every thought or feeling that a person has, only what they choose to display outwardly. The laser noises don't match the melancholy of the rest of the song. The placid face of the teenage girl hearing some wordless secret doesn't match her inner horror. Everything fits together strangely.
The pattern of the song seems obsessive, like when the mind gets stuck on something and keeps turning it over and over. In the pictures, each "character" is thinking about a single thing, feeling a single thing; this single-mindedness reflects the obsessive repetitiveness of the music, it shows minds getting stuck in a rut of compulsion and mania and preoccupation with a single emotion or thought. Like the song, these people can't get out of their patterns, and thus they're stuck in a still format--photographs--and even their emotions and thoughts are frozen in time. Everything fits together strangely.
