TROPICO ANALYSIS

[COLACNT 5,169]

and the spirit of john moved upon the face of the waters

and john said, let there be light

and there was light 

and john saw that it was good 

 

dear john, forgive us our sins 

dear john, forgive us our sins 

 

i wanna tell you where you’re at 

you’re with me in this campsite

and i’m gonna teach you how to be cowboys

now if you wanna be tough cowboys

i don’t wanna hear you crying

i don’t wanna hear you bellyaching 

you gotta get on that horse and ride, don’t be afraid

wear your boots up high, your pants low 

and your hat in a good way

 

sex is a part of nature

i go along with nature 

 

now when you get on there don’t be jerking on him

just ride nice and soft

you can do it, i believe in you

ride with the wind

don’t complain

never say you’re sorry, sorry is a sign of weakness

i don’t want you to go back to your momma because i’ll run you back out 

you’re a good kid

all you little cowboys will do a good job

make sure you do it pilgrim, cause i’ll be watching 

 

life can change on a dime

sometimes you just have to gamble 

 

don’t forget

write to your momma 

_____________________________________________

 

I sing the body electric

The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them

They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them, 

And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul

_____________________________________________

 

womanhood, and all that is a woman 

and the man that comes from woman 

the womb, the tits, nipples, breastmilk 

tears, laughter, weeping

love-looks, love-perturbations and risings 

the voice, articulation 

 

language, whispering, shouting aloud

food, drink, pulse, digestion, sweat, sleep 

walking, swimming, poise on the hips 

leaping, reclining, embracing, arm curving and tightening 

the continual change of the flex of the mouth 

and around the eyes 

the skin, the sunburnt shade, freckles, hair

the curious sympathy one feels when feeling with the hand the naked meat of the body

the circling rivers, the breath, and breathing it in and out

the beauty of the waist, and thence of the hips, and thence downwards towards the knees

the thin red jellies within you or within me

the bones and the marrow in the bones

the exquisite realization of health 

oh i say, these are not the parts and poems of the body only 

but of the soul 

oh i say now

these are the soul 

______________________________________________

 

just remember, i’m always there for you 

______________________________________________

 

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,

dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,

angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,

who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz,

who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated,

who passed through universities with radiant cool eyes hallucinating Arkansas and Blake-light tragedy among the scholars of war,

who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull,

who cowered in unshaven rooms in underwear, burning their money in wastebaskets and listening to the Terror through the wall,

who got busted in their pubic beards returning through Laredo with a belt of marijuana for New York,

who ate fire in paint hotels or drank turpentine in Paradise Alley, death, or purgatoried their torsos night after night

with dreams, with drugs, with waking nightmares

______________________________________________

 

and so, from being created in his likeness 

to being banished, for wanting to be too much like him

we were cast out

and the garden of eden transformed into the garden of evil 

los angeles, the city of angels, the land of gods and monsters 

the in-between realm, where only the choices made from your free will 

will decide your soul’s final fate

some poets called it the entrance to the underworld

but on some summer nights, it could feel like paradise

paradise lost 

_______________________________________________

 

dear john, forgive us our sins

master of the universe, creator of all, forgive us our sins

_______________________________________________

 

You ask me Why I Lover Her? Well, give me time and I'll explain.
Have you see a Kansas sunset or an Arizona rain?
Have you drifted on a bayou down Louisiana way?
Have you watched a cold fog drifting over San Francisco Bay?

Have you heard a bobwhite calling in the Carolina pines,
Or heard the bellow of a diesel at the Appalachia mines?
Does the call of Niagara thrill you when you hear her waters roar?
Do you look with awe and wonder at her Massachusetts shore,
Where men who braved a hard new world first stepped on Plymounth's rock?
And do you think of them when you stroll along a new York City dock?

Have you seen a snowflake drifting in the Rockies, way up high?
Have you seen the sun come blazing down from a bright Nevada sky?
Do you hail to the Columbia as she rushes to the sea,
Or bow your head at Gettysburg at our struggle to be free?

You ask me Why I Love Her? I've a million reasons why:
My Beautiful America, beneath God's wide, wide sky

[COLACNT 5,169]

TROPICO IS SUCH AN OVERWHELMING EXPERIENCE. these are my notes after sitting down and watching it alone for the first time, so i was actually able to think clearly. i'll try and expand on it all later but i wanted to contribute my bare boned analysis for now. i need to watch it a few more times to formulate a solid opinion. although i do feel as if i like it a bit better each time 

_____________________________________

 

john wayne is god —> submission to masculinity and americana

lana & shaun watching in awe (curious, impressionable)

voices overlapping 

radio waves (i.e electronic medium) 

who do we listen to? parents? friends? media? 

what is free will 

 

marilyn says sex is a part of nature

but she screams when lana bites the apple

madonna / whore (?) —> modern feminist conflict 

 

radio frequencies (~different wavelengths) 

blowing bubbles vs. stripping 

basic internal conflicts 

past vs. present 

space vs. earth

 

i was an angel (at home, drinking coke), living in the garden of evil 

"screwed up, scared, doing anything that i needed"

 

her decision to eat the apple

her decision to strip 

is she really an angel? 

or damaged by the way the world just is 

or people are just inherently 'sinful' 

 

lolita in the hood —> dia de los muertos (ritualistic, gang initiation) —> stripper (i'm not 100% sure about this, but i think it represents the loss of innocence) 

 

"i'm gonna teach you how to be cowboys"

shaun w/ the toy (?) gun and the cowboy hat —> emulating his ‘god’ (like a child) 

his definition of what it meant to be a cowboy —> rough, tough, masculine thief 

shaun bit the apple, he loses his innocence too 

 

"its not always going to be this way"

"i’ll always be here for you" (god doesn't judge) 

comet being shot towards earth  —> the pivotal point (?) 

then the bachelor party (radio frequencies start up again) 

 

thematic continuations; the importance of money (money —> satisfaction/redemption?) 

the importance / potency of female sexuality 

her appreciation / obsession with the male gaze 

sex / money —> our culture, our religion

 

los angeles —> purgatory (then reality is purgatory?) 

tossing the pearls —> discarding her feminine ~wiles (although lana would never actually do this, of course) 

baptizing/purifying herself for ~redemption

redemption —> leaving this planet (lana thinks of earth as the true hell?)

 

glitches during bel air — visual confirmation of differing wavelengths (‘contact’) 

the otherworld = final destination. the destination all along? somewhat similar to dying, like in all the other videos. born to die? am i reaching 

various roles throughout; stages of development:

 

eve (~mystical, innocent) 

housewife

hoodrat 

stripper            

accomplice 

alien (~mystical, enlightened) 

 

full circle, kind of; movement from the garden of eden (paradise) to the garden of evil (earth) to the other world (paradise lost)

_____________________________________________

 

a small part of me also thinks that lana just used tropico as a vehicle to portray herself simultaneously as both an ~artist and a ~sex symbol, in full force. like the whole point of it all was just for her to dance around with tassels on her tits, knowing fully well that men around the world would be cumming on their computer screens before the 27 minute mark. and the purpose of the poetry was just to confuse audiences and lend the film some bits of credibility and generate discussion 

 

but thats if i'm being 110% cynical. maybe i'm just irritated by the fact that she didn't write any of the monologues or dialogue herself 

 

although this is lana we're talking about. she probably had a million different motivations, 97% of which we'll never be able to figure out completely 

[prettydrugs 456]

"and so, from being created in his likeness 

to being banished, for wanting to be too much like him

we were cast out

and the garden of eden transformed into the garden of evil 

los angeles, the city of angels, the land of gods and monsters 

the in-between realm, where only the choices made from your free will 

will decide your soul’s final fate

some poets called it the entrance to the underworld

but on some summer nights, it could feel like paradise

paradise lost" isn't this by Lana?

[FirstSpider 317]

I don't mean to open Pandora's box here, but has anyone brought up the "Happy Birthday Mom" Balloon in the trailer yet?

[Valentino 884]

I thought the aliens represented that they needed a different force to take them to "Bel Air," that they couldn't rely on the God(s) they had offended/betrayed/idk. Finding a new sort of spirituality, I guess.

 

The whole part between G&M and Bel Air where they're throwing their stuff away and exchanging their black clothes (sin!!!) for white ones (purity!!!) shows abandonment of old ideals. The water scenes = baptism (into a new religion? hence the aliens?).

 

It was very choppy on my laptop so I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. I found myself getting frustrated by some of the poetry and pretty scenes because at times it felt like nothing was really going on and she wanted to fill the space with pretty words and pictures. Overall, it was okay. The aspect ratio...

 

Elvis's reactions were gold, though. I know it's not supposed to be a comedy but someone give that Elvis impersonator a high five.

[PrettyBaby 2,212]

I didn't see any UFOs. (Just awkwardly computer-generated clouds  ) I thought they were ascending to a Paradise of their own making. Or Eve's making. Or what Eve perceives as her own making. 
 
Then again...
 

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhPVOyzZBqk[/media]

 

[Valentino 884]

I didn't see any UFOs. (Just awkwardly computer-generated clouds  ) I thought they were ascending to a Paradise of their own making. Or Eve's making. Or what Eve perceives as her own making. 

 

Then again...

 

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhPVOyzZBqk[/media]

 

 

Those black things with blue circles in the center were def UFOs to me. They'd be weird-ass clouds. Plus during Bel Air (and a bit before) you hear a bit of a high-pitched whining noise that for some reason always accompanies UFOs (at least in the cheesy kids movies I used to watch).

[PrettyBaby 2,212]

Those black things with blue circles in the center were def UFOs to me. They'd be weird-ass clouds. Plus during Bel Air (and a bit before) you hear a bit of a high-pitched whining noise that for some reason always accompanies UFOs (at least in the cheesy kids movies I used to watch).

 

I guess I just associate those noises with radio waves. (Come to think of it, there was a movie that showed radio waves sort of "going back in time" as the view pulled back farther and farther from the Earth... now I'm just rambling...)

[COLACNT 5,169]

how did whitman not get any mention in the credits? she used excerpts from "i sing the body electric" in equal amounts as 'howl' if not more

[ofcharsky 163]

 

 

TROPICO IS SUCH AN OVERWHELMING EXPERIENCE. these are my notes after sitting down and watching it alone for the first time, so i was actually able to think clearly. i'll try and expand on it all later but i wanted to contribute my bare boned analysis for now. i need to watch it a few more times to formulate a solid opinion. although i do feel as if i like it a bit better each time 

_____________________________________

 

john wayne is god —> submission to masculinity and americana

lana & shaun watching in awe (curious, impressionable)

voices overlapping 

radio waves (i.e electronic medium) 

who do we listen to? parents? friends? media? 

what is free will 

 

marilyn says sex is a part of nature

but she screams when lana bites the apple

madonna / whore (?) —> modern feminist conflict 

 

radio frequencies (~different wavelengths) 

blowing bubbles vs. stripping 

basic internal conflicts 

past vs. present 

space vs. earth

 

i was an angel (at home, drinking coke), living in the garden of evil 

"screwed up, scared, doing anything that i needed"

 

her decision to eat the apple

her decision to strip 

is she really an angel? 

or damaged by the way the world just is 

or people are just inherently 'sinful' 

 

lolita in the hood —> dia de los muertos (ritualistic, gang initiation) —> stripper (i'm not 100% sure about this, but i think it represents the loss of innocence) 

 

"i'm gonna teach you how to be cowboys"

shaun w/ the toy (?) gun and the cowboy hat —> emulating his ‘god’ (like a child) 

his definition of what it meant to be a cowboy —> rough, tough, masculine thief 

shaun bit the apple, he loses his innocence too 

 

"its not always going to be this way"

"i’ll always be here for you" (god doesn't judge) 

comet being shot towards earth  —> the pivotal point (?) 

then the bachelor party (radio frequencies start up again) 

 

thematic continuations; the importance of money (money —> satisfaction/redemption?) 

the importance / potency of female sexuality 

her appreciation / obsession with the male gaze 

sex / money —> our culture, our religion

 

los angeles —> purgatory (then reality is purgatory?) 

tossing the pearls —> discarding her feminine ~wiles (although lana would never actually do this, of course) 

baptizing/purifying herself for ~redemption

redemption —> leaving this planet (lana thinks of earth as the true hell?)

 

glitches during bel air — visual confirmation of differing wavelengths (‘contact’) 

the otherworld = final destination. the destination all along? somewhat similar to dying, like in all the other videos. born to die? am i reaching 

various roles throughout; stages of development:

 

eve (~mystical, innocent) 

housewife

hoodrat 

stripper            

accomplice 

alien (~mystical, enlightened) 

 

full circle, kind of; movement from the garden of eden (paradise) to the garden of evil (earth) to the other world (paradise lost)

_____________________________________________

 

a small part of me also thinks that lana just used tropico as a vehicle to portray herself simultaneously as both an ~artist and a ~sex symbol, in full force. like the whole point of it all was just for her to dance around with tassels on her tits, knowing fully well that men around the world would be cumming on their computer screens before the 27 minute mark. and the purpose of the poetry was just to confuse audiences and lend the film some bits of credibility and generate discussion 

 

but thats if i'm being 110% cynical. maybe i'm just irritated by the fact that she didn't write any of the monologues or dialogue herself 

 

although this is lana we're talking about. she probably had a million different motivations, 97% of which we'll never be able to figure out completely

 

god

[motelflowernation 27]

Just watched it. I have way too many thoughts to condense here at 4:30 in the morning. One thing: Did any one consider Lana's character to represent Carmen? (Eating soft ice cream, her character seeming to be Hispanic/have some sort of Hispanic background or heritage, "dance till you drop") Of course in Tropico she's a stripper and not a prostitute so maybe not. That was the just first thing I thought of when I saw where she ended up. 

[Geny G 53]

fuck

[whitman 1,286]

A good insight of Mandler's intention on Tropico

 

http://www.fastcocreate.com/3023186/the-director-of-lana-del-reys-tropico-film-helps-us-make-sense-of-it-all

[COLACNT 5,169]

Really, it is her creation, from a written form, which is very rare: I don’t know that I can think of one artist that I’ve worked with that really deserves a writing credit, in the sense of being that involved in the initial creation. An artist will tell you, ‘I’d like to do this for this video, or this project,’ but rarely is it that detailed.”

 

an important thing to note in light of the recent discussion about writing credits? 

 

"There is this woman who has this outside, and then the songs she sings about represent something completely different. The two don’t really go together, and all the mystery of who she is and where she’s from, and what she’s singing about. There’s that really incredible duality, so with that, kind of framework in mind, we’ve explored different versions of that archetype--the pulling of the veneer, the search for truth in yourself and in the world around you, and ultimately being disappointed in what you have and how you find something better."

 

love this. but why does everyone have to mention her looks in such vague, almost euphemistic ways? like, outside this forum, "beauty" is something that you can't really seem to openly discuss

 

but i guess he can't really say "she's like hot n' sad its so weird lel" 

[slang 1,508]

Interesting negative review from Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz) of Tropico. Anyone hear of the group? She's somebody who went to Kent with LDR but is obviously not a fan (or bothered to listen to Paradise on Spotify very much, although she indicates she might revisit the video because she likes the songs). Very interesting site (musicians talk music). Hope more LDR reviews coming from there someday (if they aren't there already).

 

http://thetalkhouse.com/features/view/sadie-dupuis-lana-del-reys-short-film-tropico

[PrettyBaby 2,212]

 

Interesting negative review from Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz) of Tropico. Anyone hear of the group? She's somebody who went to Kent with LDR but is obviously not a fan (or bothered to listen to Paradise on Spotify very much, although she indicates she might revisit the video because she likes the songs). Very interesting site (musicians talk music). Hope more LDR reviews coming from there someday (if they aren't there already).

 

http://thetalkhouse.com/features/view/sadie-dupuis-lana-del-reys-short-film-tropico

 

 

Eek at the article. This is an interesting example of non-dialogic communication in journalism. (She even misuses the term "dialogue" when "monologue" would be more appropriate. )

 

The first scene is an ornate, staticky afterlife [?], where a caricaturized gang of John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Jesus Christ dialogue [ ] nonsensically over each other...

Sorry if I'm heading off-topic, but this sort of communication strategy really bothers me:

 

So it’s telling that in a school of less than four hundred kids, I remember almost nothing about Lizzy Grant, who, only a few years older than me, served as both arts and literary editor of two campus publications, and sang in several school choirs.

 

I.e., when confronted with an inconvenient fact which could undermine your argument, incorporate it into your argument using a disingenuous transitional word or phrase.    I actually despise this strategy with a passion, whether it's employed by a journalist, an attorney, a teacher or a pastor. (Yes, our classes in our various disciplines taught us how to B.S. our way into churning out written/rhetorical product. That doesn't mean we SHOULD.)   

 

It's too bad, because this writer does have an interesting perspective coming from the same school, and possibly the same or similar classes, as Lizzy Grant. But she should exercise more restraint, and let us the readers draw our own (potential) connections between dots, rather than resort to projecting experiences onto someone she obviously didn't and doesn't know. I guess it just goes to show that negative bias =/= objectivity.

[chicanes 118]

That review is just bitchy and pathetic. 

[Rafael 3,510]

"A Q&A with the Director of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Tropico’ Video"

[DUKE 2,525]

I have decided that my final term paper in film analysis shall be about TROPICO. I don't know which aspect specifically I am going to write about, but I feel freer writing about something I am already familiar with. 

[slang 1,508]

 

Interesting negative review from Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz) of Tropico. Anyone hear of the group? She's somebody who went to Kent with LDR but is obviously not a fan (or bothered to listen to Paradise on Spotify very much, although she indicates she might revisit the video because she likes the songs). Very interesting site (musicians talk music). Hope more LDR reviews coming from there someday (if they aren't there already).

 

http://thetalkhouse.com/features/view/sadie-dupuis-lana-del-reys-short-film-tropico

 

 

Hopefully somebody else in the artist world will write an opposing viewpoint. The great thing about the site is you must have a musician cred to write a review. Artist's perceptions of other artists is just so fascinating to me; it almost doesn't matter if the review is good or bad, because, if it's a crapily executed review, you learn something about the artist (i.e., reviewer). I wonder if LDR will ever stan for (or trash) somebody there in the future. 

 

The Tropico review was not good because readers do not want a bunch of opinions about what it was all about (as @@PrettyBaby suggested), but a review that might let them know what type of person would like it. What she said (minimally) in that regard is that if you're expecting music videos you won't like it as much (which is not really news):

"But why bother presenting a trinity of promo clips, which would stand fine alone, as a film? Why not schedule a half-hour MTV Takeover?"

Well, yeah, if you can't see the bother, you really haven't attempted to understand the "short film".

 

But I really recommend this site, for instance:

    Lou Reed on Yeezus (excellent example of a good music review).

    Moby on R. Kelly       

    Amanda Palmer on Janelle Monáe (there's also an LDR shade in that one unfortunately, but it's still fascinating to know she doesn't "believe" in LDR songs, regardless of whether I do; just search for "lana del rey", if you don't want to read the review and just see the shade).