Mad World

I believe that the song, Mad World, by Gary Jules, reflects on only a snapshot of adolescence, missing out on some important factors of being a teenager. For what it does reflect, I think that it may represent an authentic portrayal of the teenage experience. At the start of the song, it mentions “worn out places, worn out faces”. This seems like an accurate representation of teenagers going to school. Every day we see the same people, in the same places. It seems that it tries to say that we feel that we aren’t getting anywhere in life, which teenagers may feel during this times. Sometimes teenagers feel that they want everything to just end, especially when things are going wrong in our life.

I think that this song expresses much of the negative aspects of adolescence. It seems to promote the fact that a teenager’s life is very dull, with a few good times here and there. This song sounds slightly suicidal, when it talks about the person having a dream where their dying, and they feel that they are the best dreams that they have.

It mentions “happy birthday”, which I think signifies that teenagers want to grow up faster. It makes them feel good, as it’s another step towards getting over the teen years. Your birthday is also one day out of the year where you stand different from everyone, and get recognised. I think that this song is more effective of expressing the negative features of being a teenager, more than the positive ones.