The Rosary and the Microphone - Religious Impulse in U2’s Mediated Brand - Nicholas P. Greco
Linear: A Way Forward
The Rosary and the Microphone - Religious Impulse in U2’s Mediated Brand - Nicholas P. Greco
Nicholas P. Greco [+]
Providence University College, Canada
Nicholas P. Greco is Associate Professor, Communications and Media, Providence University College, Canada. He is the author of David Bowie in Darkness (McFarland, 2015) and “Only if you are Really Interested”: Celebrity, Gender, Desire and the World of Morrissey (McFarland, 2011).
Description
This chapter focuses on Linear, a full-length promotional video for the album No Line on the Horizon. The full-length promotional video seems to represents a “way out” from the oppression of the state to a utopian “beyond.” The band is a “guide” throughout the film, suggesting a new way forward, a way that points to coexistence as a goal. As a theoretical framework, the analysis uses Roland Barthes’ lectures on how to live together. The long-form video illustrates how one might live with others in a polarized world, through the employments of idiorrythmy, or living in solitude with regular interruptions.