Theme in the Age of Radiohead

Years ago, at an event with the extraordinary Kate Milford, a parent commended her thoughtful use of a canary to symbolize the preciousness of life and foreshadow the story's eventual resolution. The scene she spoke of included a automata, those who had sold their souls to the devil, and the canary. And yes, given our heroine's narrow victory in the climactic scene, the canary perfectly symbolized life and perfectly foreshadowed later events. The only hiccup? It was completely unintentional...

News of Radiohead’s forthcoming album is exciting for a number of reasons. First off, while we’ve come to expect innovations musically, over the past few years the band has taken unprecedented steps in adapting to the digital age. Yesterday saw the release of the song “Burn the Witch” accompanied by a eerie claymation video, a stark contrast to the band’s forward facing persona. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the new release, is the way in which it was reported upon. As a teacher, this is what excites me the most. 

After watching, I looked for some perspective on the work's themes. Four respected media outlets reported varying interpretations: 

From The Atlantic: 

"Thom Yorke’s lyrics speak of the kind of mass action and complacency that allows such a crime and, the logic probably goes, many other cruelties committed by societies."

From NPR: 

"He's crooning our doom, of course: The song's lyrics scorn the kind of communal complicity that Yorke sees as leading to environmental disaster."

From Pitchfork: 

"Arriving at the current chaotic moment in global politics, though, and set in the quaint visual context of "Trumpton," the "Burn the Witch" video plays as a pointed critique of nativism-embracing leaders across the UK and Europe, perhaps even the show's near-namesake stateside (Donald Trump, anyone?)." 

From The Guardian:

"The lyrics appear to be skirting around the surveillance society, but equally they might be meditating on the difficulties of open discussion in an age where thought is scrutinized and policed by the public itself on social media, where any idle thought runs the risk of seeing one condemned as #problematic: “Loose talk around tables / Abandon all reason / Avoid all eye contact / Do not react / Shoot the messenger / This is a low-flying panic attack.” 

Based on the evidence musically, lyrically, and visually, any one of these interpretations could be validly supported. However, the weekend before the video's release saw the systematic removal of Radiohead's online presence (equally fascinating). But does the additional context support one theory over another?

Determining "author's message," a hallmark of rigorous instruction, is also one of the most problematic assignments asked of our students. Unless there's a record of the author speaking specifically about their intent, the meaning belongs to the readers, so long as they can make a convincing case.

I couldn't have been more impressed with the ideas expressed by my fifth graders. They associated Burn the Witch with everything from being a bystander to bullying to deflate-gate. Their equally varying interpretations all related to acting complacent out of fear in times of trouble.

As Kate has told said on multiple occasions, "Once my story goes out into the world, it no longer belongs to me. Unless there's something in print to the contrary, what ever my readers make of a message is theirs." And as much as we'd like to believe we can objectively interpret text based solely on evidence within, as shown by the examples above, if we focus solely on the author's the message as the one truth, we may be doing so at the expense of a wider application.