Techno-Universe, Imagination and Magic Wands: Narratives of the Web and Social Media in Italian popular Music

A close reading of the lyrics of Italian popular music reveals a significant relationship between technology and imagination that discloses much about how contemporary society perceives and describes personal relationships and social interaction. Over the past fifteen years, narratives about the use of smartphones and social media have echoed ancient myths like Narcissus and more recent fairy tale elements such as the wicked queen’s mirror in Snow White or Hansel and Gretel’s breadcrumbs. These narratives culminate in the contemporary reality of an imagination controlled and shaped by the watchful eye of Big Brother. These suggestions are just a few of the interpretative keys that song lyrics can offer for understanding social constructs in contemporary society. Social perception and the development of cultural identities – especially among adolescents and young adults, but not exclusively – are often shaped by the use and abuse of the internet and smartphones. Both contribute to defining the rules and boundaries of communication, interaction, personal growth, and imagination. In Italian popular songs, the smartphone, akin to a magic wand, assumes a dual role: that of a portal, becoming the threshold that projects the Campbellian hero’s journey into the infinite worlds of the multiverse, and that of a magical helper. In this latter role, the smartphone encompasses and surpasses the significant communicative features of its predecessor, the telephone, becoming a multifaceted talisman that at times serves as a tool for thought and voice, a travel diary, a keeper of memories, a witness of time, a filter of beauty, luck, and love, and a treasure chest. Today, the smartphone has almost become a natural extension of the contemporary cyborg human. It has earned the trust of the user/hero, penetrated their subconscious, and offers constant reassuring fantasies, symbolising the benevolent and protective power of destiny. However, myth and songs teach us that the abuse of the power offered by the magical object can distort its functions, ultimately transforming the unwary hero into the Fisher King, trapped in his own net in a Waste Land where communicative projection turns into wounds of isolation, misunderstanding, deceit, and cyberbullying. The magic wand changes its nature, and the portal risks closing, trapping the hero in darkness.