Weekly Blogpost 4

Regina Spektor's "Laughing With" music video presents several surreal contexts that require viewers to think out of the box and question their own beliefs and ideals. Regina allows viewers to peer into her views on religion through an extended metaphor in which Spektor herself acts as God and is clearly the centerpiece of the universe around her. Early on in the video, the context is presented as the formation of the world around her as the scenery is depicted in black and white with Regina in the center of every shot and being the only thing in color on screen. As viewers placing ourself in this situation requires more of a metaphysical sense on thinking as we can't possibly imagine what being present at the dawn of time would look like so we are left with the video's rendition and are almost expected to view the scene from behind our thin pain of glass rather than being present in the meadow.

Another possible context one could take from early on in the video would be seeing the world in the eyes of its creator. The video starts off with Spektor's eyes coming into view and the picture forming in front of her very eyes. This context is more likely the route the director and artist wanted viewer's to follow as the lyrics suggest that we, as people, may need to step back sometimes and appreciate life as a whole rather than only the parts we choose to remember. Spektor's chorus reverberates, "But God can be funny / At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke / Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head you think they're about to choke / God can be funny / When told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way / And when presented like a genie / Who does magic like Houdini / Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus". The juxtaposition of God to Jiminy Cricket is clearly satirical and a statement made towards all who blame God for their problems and blame all things wrong in the world on God's will.

Overall, Spektor wrote this song and shot this video in order to request all of us to realize that though we may praise God and laugh at him when times are light hearted, we may not understand why certain things happen during harder times. It's not our place as humans to understand why, but what we can do is appreciate life and the world around us and trust that all is how it should be and that God has a sense of humor too. In the words of Reverend Run, "Peace and God Bless".