Speaking your first word. Having ice-cream for the first time. Losing your virginity. Moving out of home for the first time. Finding your first love. Maybe losing your first love. These are all experiences that will never be the same again. However, they can be expanded, developed and fine-tuned as life’s pendulum continues to tick on in its indomitable fashion. The video clip for “You can’t go home again” by DJ Shadow explores just this. The repetition of the swinging pendulum shot, continuously reminds us what is happening. Although, each time we, the audience, are fed more information about the scene and therefore expanding how we perceive these events. Participation in events life has to offer, can never be fully experienced the first time. T.S. Eliot quotes “At the end of our exploring we shall not cease from exploration . . . and the end of all of our exploring will be to arrive where we started. . . and know the place for the first time.” which I think can be related to the film clip in the sense that each time we run through the shot, something more has appeared and build on the previous experience hence, shaping a new understanding.
