AUTUMN SEMESTER 2009 410 GR. 11 Galin Georgiev CALIFORNICATION: LISTENING AND DISCUSSION
Task Listen to the song as many times as you need and try to answer the following questions: 1. What is “Californication”? 2. What are the major themes in the song? 3. Try to find examples (words, phrases, verses) from the song that express irony and sarcasm.
Answers 1. What is “Californication”? “Californication” is a blend of two words: “California” and “Fornication”. It is also a metaphor for the false American dream and the mean values that lead common people to delusion and make them lose touch with the real world. Californication is a phenomenon made possible due to the decay of the Western world, mass pop culture and Hollywood.
Answers 2. What are the major themes in the song? Hollywood Pornography Plastic surgery Pop culture The thin line between delusion and disillusionment
Answers 3. Try to find examples (words, phrases, verses) from the song that express irony and sarcasm. The sun may rise in the East At least it settles in the final location Pay your surgeon very well To break the spell of aging Celebrity skin is this your chin
Answers Hard core soft porn A teenage bride with a baby inside Getting high on information And buy me a star on the boulevard
Answers Space may be the final frontier But it's made in a Hollywood basement everybody's been there and I don't mean on vacation