Journey Essay

‘Composers everywhere are interested in exploring the concept of the journey and its significance to personal growth – but most of them just reinforce the standard ideas we already have.’
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Journey is a theme within humanity that transcends through time. The western liberal perspective of journeys, being that they are positive and transformative experiences that liberate the individual from the restraints of their personal boundaries, is a popular interpretation of the journey theme by many composers. This interpretation also explores the concept of metaphysical journeys, as personal growth is achieved through the exploration of the individual’s mental psyche. This type of journey extends beyond the limit of the physical realm and allows the individual to experience a world of boundless opportunities. However, not all composers choose to conform to this well-known reading of the journey theme. Composers also explore the dangers of journeys, especially concerning metaphysical travel. Because of the limitless borders of the metaphysical plain, composers explore this as a danger, as individuals can become lost within the oblivion of their own psyche. Composers throughout time have not just limited themselves to the western liberal perspective of journeys, but have to explore the journey theme in alternative directions.
Within the western liberal perspective, metaphysical journeys show there significance to the journey concept through their ability to cause dramatic change to the individual, either being positive personal transformation, broadened perspectives or mental growth. However, some composers choose to explore the dangers of this change, as for an individual to obtain this, they must first venture within the mental plain, risking the possibility of losing themselves to metaphysical oblivion. The 2007 film ‘Into the Wild’ employs this dangerous