One of the signature video's from the MTV years, A-ha!'s Take On Me is a beloved song and video, but what does it really mean? Any of it? The lyrics tell one story, and the visual contains another narrative. Do they form some cohesive image together, and are they cemented together in our minds to one narrative or the other?
A-ha! Take on me
B/W Comic book panels depict a race, panels flash on racers, there is violence, and the young hero of the comics
In a diner, we find a lonely girl, she sits alone in a cafe. She is reading the comic intently focused upon the panel depicting the young hero. Through some magical occurance, the young hero comes to life and pulls the lonely girl into the comic book.
They fall in love.
Meanwhile, the waitress returns to collect the tab for the lonely girls meal. The lonely girl is gone, and has stiffed her. She angrily crumples the comic book, and flings it into garbage bin behind the counter.
They fall in love, but suddenly these evil looking racers brandishing wrenches appear from the newly warped world. They are intent on making our young hero pay for some sleight he committed against them during the race. They are very angry.
The young hero, realizes that he must save the lonely girl, so he opens a portal back into the real world. Though sadly, the evil racers catch up to our young hero.
Return to the diner to find all of the customers aghast at the lonely girl's reappearance behind the counter in the greasy floor, covered in newsprint. The lonely girl is confused, covered in ink, and terrified about the fate of the young hero of the comic book. She rushes back to her apartment to discover that the young hero has been pummeled with a wrench. Her horror and simultaneous love is so strong, that it resurrects the young hero and transports him into the lonely girl's reality.
It is a pure matter of speculation about what followed. Whether the lonely girl and the young hero lived a happy life, or whether they were plagued by evil racers bent on their destruction will likely remain a mystery of the 1980's.
Part 2. A-ha! Take on Me Lyrics
If you read the lyrics, they tell of a chance meeting. We don't know if these are acquaintances or random people in bars; only that two people are talking. One person, says that they don't know what to say so they're going to say it anyway. It's a cryptic statement that, this particular day when these two people are sitting and talking that today is another day to find the other person. The first detects that the second person is taken aback, and reiterates to them that they will be coming for their love if that is alright with them.
The first person, who was confused about having something to say, then challenges the other person to take them on, as if in a fist fight, or a battle of wits, possibly a romantic entanglement. As their conversation proceeds, the first person gradually becomes more insistent that they should fight, or have some other implied altercation. Then, the first person, in a passive-agressive tactic, claims that they will be gone in a day or two. The first person, then tells the other that they are wary and they need to realize that he will be coming after them in a day, or two. These threats persist, until at the end the first person has told them they will be coming for them in a day.
Is 'Take On Me" the story of an insistent drunk trying to score, or a fantasy tale of an over-imaginitive girl in love with a comic-book hero. Until later, it remains a Mystery of the 1980's
A-ha! Take on me
B/W Comic book panels depict a race, panels flash on racers, there is violence, and the young hero of the comics
In a diner, we find a lonely girl, she sits alone in a cafe. She is reading the comic intently focused upon the panel depicting the young hero. Through some magical occurance, the young hero comes to life and pulls the lonely girl into the comic book.
They fall in love.
Meanwhile, the waitress returns to collect the tab for the lonely girls meal. The lonely girl is gone, and has stiffed her. She angrily crumples the comic book, and flings it into garbage bin behind the counter.
They fall in love, but suddenly these evil looking racers brandishing wrenches appear from the newly warped world. They are intent on making our young hero pay for some sleight he committed against them during the race. They are very angry.
The young hero, realizes that he must save the lonely girl, so he opens a portal back into the real world. Though sadly, the evil racers catch up to our young hero.
Return to the diner to find all of the customers aghast at the lonely girl's reappearance behind the counter in the greasy floor, covered in newsprint. The lonely girl is confused, covered in ink, and terrified about the fate of the young hero of the comic book. She rushes back to her apartment to discover that the young hero has been pummeled with a wrench. Her horror and simultaneous love is so strong, that it resurrects the young hero and transports him into the lonely girl's reality.
It is a pure matter of speculation about what followed. Whether the lonely girl and the young hero lived a happy life, or whether they were plagued by evil racers bent on their destruction will likely remain a mystery of the 1980's.
Part 2. A-ha! Take on Me Lyrics
If you read the lyrics, they tell of a chance meeting. We don't know if these are acquaintances or random people in bars; only that two people are talking. One person, says that they don't know what to say so they're going to say it anyway. It's a cryptic statement that, this particular day when these two people are sitting and talking that today is another day to find the other person. The first detects that the second person is taken aback, and reiterates to them that they will be coming for their love if that is alright with them.
The first person, who was confused about having something to say, then challenges the other person to take them on, as if in a fist fight, or a battle of wits, possibly a romantic entanglement. As their conversation proceeds, the first person gradually becomes more insistent that they should fight, or have some other implied altercation. Then, the first person, in a passive-agressive tactic, claims that they will be gone in a day or two. The first person, then tells the other that they are wary and they need to realize that he will be coming after them in a day, or two. These threats persist, until at the end the first person has told them they will be coming for them in a day.
Is 'Take On Me" the story of an insistent drunk trying to score, or a fantasy tale of an over-imaginitive girl in love with a comic-book hero. Until later, it remains a Mystery of the 1980's
No comments:
Post a Comment