Green Day and Michel Foucalt

Hi guys! When I was reading Stultifera Navis by Michel Foucalt, I immediately thought of this song.

Some of you may know it, some others don’t. It’s called Jesus of Suburbia, and tells the story of a young adult name Jimmy, a drug dealer, whose life sucks. He feels alone in this world: People who are supposed to love him and care for him (his mom and girlfriend) do not do it. I believe this song represents Foucalt’s ideas in the sense that Jimmy is in this context the mad man. He is rejected and isolated by the society, as the chorus says: and there’s nothing wrong with me/ this is how I’m supposed to be/in a land of make believe/that don’t’ believe in me. Jimmy argues that he lives in a death city, and although he wants to leave, he can’t. People who live there are normal and see Jim as a threat, they isolate him, but they do not allow him to leave the town. It seems as if they enjoyed watching him suffering.

As the song goes by, this crazy man confronts her mother and tells her that she is crazy. She does not recognize this fact, and the mad man knowing what the others don’t (they are crazy) just quit fighting and says:

Dearly beloved, are you listening? 
I can't remember a word that you were saying 
Are we demented or am I disturbed? 
The space that's in between insane and insecure.

Here he’s saying that he realized that she was normal, she was not a visionary and would never understand him. He thinks they both are demented, but just him is disturbed.

The song continues saying:

Oh therapy, can you please fill the void? 

Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed? 
Nobody's perfect and I stand accused 
for lack of a better word and that's my best excuse.

Here Jimmy reflects a little on why he is different from the rest of the mortals. Would therapy resolve this “being-different” issue?

 At the end of the song, Jimmy abandons his town and begins a journey. This can be compared to the ship of fools, but in this case, he would go alone and by personal decision.