s y n t h w a v e

Nostalgia for an epoch we didn't experience?

The scope of this article is not to cover all aspects of Synthwave or philosophy of music - that might be more suited for a book. This article will focus on Synthwave's association with the 1980s movies, and express a core reflection in a simplified way. However, the core idea can be applicable to any artwork.

Urfan Ul Hassan - December 2024

"Music directly represents the passions of the soul. If one listens to the wrong kind of music, he will become the wrong kind of person." -Aristotle

The greatest minds in human history have concerned themselves with the impact of the arts on the human soul. In fact, all human beings, consciously or unconsciously, engage themselves with this project. As we will learn in this article, the evaluation of art cannot be subjective; music is vibration, and ultimately, all artistic expressions affect our biology in particular ways.

In Dante's Inferno, Dante and Vergil descend the Nine Circles of Hell. Upon arriving at the 7th Circle of Hell, Dante learns that the 7th Circle is dedicated to those who were violent in their earthly life. However, violence could take many forms, such that the 7th Circle was further divided into 3 levels:  

- Those who were violent towards others. 

- Those who were violent against themselves (physical or psychological self-harm). 

- Those who were violent against Art, Nature and God. (Refers to taking usury, but in my opinion also to any creative work that expresses the inner state of the soul.) 

In Plato's The Republic, Socrates argues that music is a form of education - education of human character. Thus, giving individuals a proper education was considered vital for human and societal evolution. Music that stimulated virtues like bravery, harmony, temperance and alike were considered beautiful. Music that stimulated hate, aggression, greed and alike, was considered ugly.  

Plato thought that music and other artistic expressions were attempts to imitate that which can be described as ultimate Beauty. Ultimate beauty were to be found in the World of Ideas, which could be interpreted as the mind of God. Thus, art can be evaluated on a spectrum ranging from ugliness to beautifulness. Creating art that is ugly can be viewed as a form of violent expression; this expression reveals the state of an artist’s soul.

Consider then, what music, movies, series or literature causes your soul to incline toward darkness, stagnation, vice and despair? Since all art affects your psyche unconsciously it is worth deliberating on what art you regularly consume, and on whether you should expose your mind to that which causes you to unconsciously despair.

1980s Synthwave

Synthwave is a relatively new genre of music. The music can be understood as an interpretation of the 1980s. The music is heavily influenced by the movies, instruments and the psychological themes that existed in the culture. Synthwave successfully manages to recreate the general artistic discourse of the 80s. Naturally, there have been philosophical speculations as to how this genre can touch the human spirit in 2024; is it such that all generations look up to the times before them, or is there something more to this phenomenon? Why would Synthwave originate in the early 2010s, and rise in popularity, especially among young men?

Much of Synthwave is attempting to convey the spiritual, playful and masculine essence of the 1980s in musical form. Synthwave is closely associated with 80s movies and the hero's journey through their darkest hours. In other words, through association, Synthwave reminds us of those stories and provides the listener reasons to feel optimistic, strong, and to never give up on the good in the world. Thus, Synthwave is essentially encouraging the listener toward virtue and all that it encompasses. The heroes of the 80s never had their hearts hardened in difficult times. Synthwave's success is witness to the fact that these qualities are needed in today's world. 

Synthwave: A reaction? The Hegelian Dialect

The philosopher of history Hegel argued that all eras in history have a distinct spirit. The spirit is in constant evolution; it evolves as opposing ideas in the world clash. The clashing of ideas forces the emergence of new ideas; such has been the case for all of history.

Synthwave might be a reaction (an antithesis) to a world of arts that is devoid of virtue – it is a reaction to art that does not stimulate virtue in the human psyche. This assumes that the Hegelian world spirit wants history to unfold in a particular way. Drawing on the minds of Aristotle and Plato, one could logically deduce that the universe’s natural preference is to unfold according to virtue ethics; this is because virtue ethics ultimately means evolution of all things – the universe, nature, history, nations and individuals. However, in order to recognize the importance of virtue or to reach a higher level of virtue, the Hegelian spirit might have to experience the lack of virtue.

Synthwave is not to be interpreted to mean that one ought to cling to the past, or that things were better before. The Hegelian spirit is oriented forward, wanting to evolve; thus, Synthwave represents a force that wants to influence the course of history; the Hegelian “Spirit of the Times” today might have recognized that its evolution is dependent upon incorporating wisdom from the past. What is this wisdom that the modern spirit is looking to incorporate? In order to grasp this phenomenon, we must explore the content of the 1980’s in light of different thinkers.

In light of Socrates: music as education

Books, movies, music or any other artform can be powerful tools to stimulate and inspire humans. All musical pieces are stories within themselves. Like movies or books, music can stimulate certain states of being in the human psyche. In The Republic, Socrates argues that music should stimulate the listener toward goodness from early childhood. In short, goodness means virtue; all artwork that stimulates Aristotle’s 12 virtues within the human being is considered objectively beautiful as it represents growth in nature - that is growth of the human soul and personality. With this in mind, it is not a surprise that the modern listener to Synthwave feels positive and optimistic. A common theme in 1980s movies was about the triumph of the human spirit in the face of evil. By listening to this genre of music one educates the mind to be more positive, optimistic, and to be inclined toward virtue ethics.

In light of Freud’s id, ego & super-ego

Imagine that you are riding a black stallion toward a desired destination. The stallion is overpowering. Its appearance is primal, raw and majestic, its presence intimidating. The horse wants its muscles to be stimulated; it wants to gallop; it hungers for food and sex; it wants to dominate. You are forced to acknowledge the power of the horse as it hungers for pleasure and destruction at the same time. This is the part of the human psyche Freud called the “id” - the primal instincts of human beings.

The super-ego is the part of the human psyche that wants to dominate the horse; the super-ego instructs the horse to have self-control and to suppress its appetites. The super-ego represents the part of the human psyche that is concerned with morality.

The ego is the actual rider of the horse. He or she is realistic and understands that both forces must be recognized. The rider understands that the stallion cannot suppress its appetites completely; suppression will cause the stallion to lose its power – it will no longer be a stallion, but a castrated horse. However, letting the id loose will cause the horse to indulge in pleasure; it will overconsume food and sex. It will obsess with satisfying its desires, which in turn will ultimately lead to castration as it has no more needs. Such a horse will no longer hold the power of a stallion; it will destroy itself through gluttony. The rider represents the skill to express one’s inner primal desires within one’s values; the skill of reconciling between emotion and intellect.

Rocky 3 (1982) & Conan the Barbarian (1982)

Freud’s theory of personality is recognizable in many of the movies from the 80s. The directors and writers are themselves under the laws of psychodynamics such that they have consciously or unconsciously expressed their soul in their writing of their characters, and in the stories themselves.

In Rocky III (1982), Mr. T represents the idea of the human id being unleashed; it is a force that destroys and seeks to conquer. Rocky himself loses his id in the movie; Rocky must once again find his eye of the tiger in order to put up a fight against Mr. T. The song "Eye of the Tiger" from the movie represents this inward journey of the hero - to find one's id and make appropriate use of it. It might not be a coincidence that Rocky’s nickname is “the Italian Stallion”.

In Conan the Barbarian (1982), the riddle of steel can also be interpreted in light of Freud; steel represents the id, while flesh represents the superego. Conan himself is the rider (ego) who has several personal evolutions in the movie; Conan starts off as a simple barbarian who uses brute force and muscle-power to his advantage. However, there comes a point where all his power is captured by the antagonist’s superior intelligence. Conan ends up becoming unbreakable in spirit as he learns to balance brute force and intellect. See article on Conan.

Predator (1987)

In Predator (1987), Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character Dutch represents the man who has conquered both superego and id; Dutch is a character resembling the image of Hercules. In the movie, Dutch and his military rescue team set out for an ordinary mission in the jungles of Central America. However, they come to a scene in which an alien from the outer world – the Predator - has already brutally slaughtered people in the area. As the story progresses, they are themselves hunted down and killed one by one by the alien. The alien camouflages itself and appears as an invisible phantom. Dutch must quickly adapt to the steadily worsening situation. While paranoia and fear dominate his team, Dutch must balance between being realistic and being open to the possibility that a supernatural force is hunting them. This balancing of the psyche results in Dutch being the last survivor in his team who has to finally face the alien alone.

At the end of the movie, as Dutch outwits and overpowers the alien, Dutch asks: “what the hell are you?” Defeated at last, the alien responds by asking the same question back to Dutch, “what the hell are you?”, suggesting that the movie’s title Predator might be an unconscious reference to Dutch rather than the alien. Some members of Dutch’s team and the alien represents the human id, while Dutch represents the ideal man who manages to balance between the super-ego and id; thus, the balanced man proves himself to be stronger than any ruthless force in the universe, man or alien.

Cobra Kai (2018) series

Cobra Kai (2018) seasons 1 and 2 was a breath of fresh air as they attempted to demonstrate the many differences in style, thinking and attitude between the previous and current generations. The series is inspired by the movie Karate Kid (1984). The series has used the main actors from that movie, which is quite cool. Cobra Kai might be directed at younger audiences, but it carries an important message to older viewers as well. This is true especially for the first two seasons. The success of Cobra Kai witnesses that today's world wants and needs to activate its own eye of the tiger - it needs to break free from the shackles of materialism and political correctness.

Conclusion

A main theme throughout the 80s movies is that the human spirit triumphs in adverse events if and when the protagonist decides to be courageous – one of the 12 virtues identified by Aristotle. If you deliberate more closely, you might find that characters must have additional virtues if they are to be courageous. Recall the character of Dutch in Predator; by showing the alien mercy at the end, he demonstrates the virtue of magnanimity. In addition, Dutch demonstrates the virtues of truthfulness, temperance, friendliness and magnificence throughout the movie. Finally, as suggested by Plato in Laches, courage cannot serve evil goals. Notice that the storylines in the movies inspired (and still inspire) most viewers despite the viewers’ political inclinations. This is because virtue speaks to the viewers' soul. Naturally, the viewer's character will influence how much and in what way he or she is affected by the message. Ultimately, the core theme that emerges in the 80s movies is that good defeats evil in the long run. The themes show the potential of any human being that refuses to give up when life gets challenging. It conveys to us that it is worth fighting for higher objectives in life - like practicing virtue - not only for oneself, but for the betterment and evolution of humanity.

Questions to deliberate on:

A question one could philosophize over is why the 1980s wanted to convey its particular spirit at that particular time. What previous events, ranging from the Enlightenment, the Napoleonic Wars to the World Wars, led to this expression? What other types of music should be analyzed in terms of its effects on the human psyche? Is classical music the highest form of musical expression?