Random Thoughts Concerning Kurt Cobain, Therefore Not Truly Random, But Reducing the Notion of Randomness To A Farcical Mess Requiring Abnegation
I. Definition of Nirvana= 1. A term used in Buddhism to indicate an end to suffering, deathlessness, an extinguishing of the cycle of samsara. 2. A Seattle grunge band, a voice of disenfranchisement, became a franchise; subsequently the lead singer committed suicide.
II. If Kurt Cobain was such a hero to so many disenfranchised youths, why did he commit suicide rather than continuing to use his success and money to ease suffering for others? I understand they did organize charitable concerts and denounced violence against women and stood against homophobia, but why give up? For such a pure light to self-extinguish, that truly is a tragedy. Granted, I don't know that much about him. What I know is mostly of the iconic, martyred figure used in Nick Hornby's novel About A Boy.
III. Nirvana was already a pop sensation, supposedly to Cobain's dismay. Did his suicide have a Phoenix-effect for him, resurrecting him from the ashes of an unsatisfying stardom to something more mythic? In Hornby's novel, he is described as looking like Jesus--what did his sacrifice do?
IV. If he became a myth, why did the movie version of About A Boy change the musical figure from Cobain to some rapper? Did they think Cobain was passe already? Frankly, the movie would have been a lot better keeping the Cobain plotline. One more instance of a film being a needless desiccation of a book; you can make a film adaptation of a novel and still have substance. They blew it.
V. Suicide does not seem a very Buddhist way to achieve enlightenment, even if you come to the mindset that this body is transitory and an illusion. Nirvana in the Sanskrit may literally mean "to extinguish", but suicide is not what they had in mind, I don't think.
VI. In her book Radio On, Sarah Vowell (who is one author I would truly love to meet) talks about Kurt Cobain "[haunting] the wasteland [of radio in 1995]" most of all." She describes how Cobain's pain and pure anger in his songs was a liberation for many angry, lonely youths growing up. I suppose in the post-Vietnam America of no innocence, he was as close to a perfect idealist as could be found, propped up as a revolutionary figure, propelled to a place of cultlike reverence by his tragedy. Nixon lied, Elvis died, the government lost the trust of entire generations, and the entire culture took on the appearance of a trap, a vicious cycle of suffering, oblivion and used car commercials; samsara, and Cobain's rejection of it does take on connotations of Buddhism.
Was he an example of perfect integrity in refusing to live in a world in which the mainstream culture subsumed his rebellion against it, marketing and capitalizing on his anger?
How does the passion with which he sings of his suffering reconcile with the notion of Nirvana? Only in the escape of that passion and suffering, and that brings us back to the paradox of his suicide.
VII. Then again, he was just a human with a drug problem, and perhaps that was his tragic flaw, marking him more as a Greek tragic hero than a Buddhist guide, which is in keeping with the image of the phoenix.
II. If Kurt Cobain was such a hero to so many disenfranchised youths, why did he commit suicide rather than continuing to use his success and money to ease suffering for others? I understand they did organize charitable concerts and denounced violence against women and stood against homophobia, but why give up? For such a pure light to self-extinguish, that truly is a tragedy. Granted, I don't know that much about him. What I know is mostly of the iconic, martyred figure used in Nick Hornby's novel About A Boy.
III. Nirvana was already a pop sensation, supposedly to Cobain's dismay. Did his suicide have a Phoenix-effect for him, resurrecting him from the ashes of an unsatisfying stardom to something more mythic? In Hornby's novel, he is described as looking like Jesus--what did his sacrifice do?
IV. If he became a myth, why did the movie version of About A Boy change the musical figure from Cobain to some rapper? Did they think Cobain was passe already? Frankly, the movie would have been a lot better keeping the Cobain plotline. One more instance of a film being a needless desiccation of a book; you can make a film adaptation of a novel and still have substance. They blew it.
V. Suicide does not seem a very Buddhist way to achieve enlightenment, even if you come to the mindset that this body is transitory and an illusion. Nirvana in the Sanskrit may literally mean "to extinguish", but suicide is not what they had in mind, I don't think.
VI. In her book Radio On, Sarah Vowell (who is one author I would truly love to meet) talks about Kurt Cobain "[haunting] the wasteland [of radio in 1995]" most of all." She describes how Cobain's pain and pure anger in his songs was a liberation for many angry, lonely youths growing up. I suppose in the post-Vietnam America of no innocence, he was as close to a perfect idealist as could be found, propped up as a revolutionary figure, propelled to a place of cultlike reverence by his tragedy. Nixon lied, Elvis died, the government lost the trust of entire generations, and the entire culture took on the appearance of a trap, a vicious cycle of suffering, oblivion and used car commercials; samsara, and Cobain's rejection of it does take on connotations of Buddhism.
Was he an example of perfect integrity in refusing to live in a world in which the mainstream culture subsumed his rebellion against it, marketing and capitalizing on his anger?
How does the passion with which he sings of his suffering reconcile with the notion of Nirvana? Only in the escape of that passion and suffering, and that brings us back to the paradox of his suicide.
VII. Then again, he was just a human with a drug problem, and perhaps that was his tragic flaw, marking him more as a Greek tragic hero than a Buddhist guide, which is in keeping with the image of the phoenix.
posted by Devin at 11:07 AM
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