Background Information on 'Icarus'

The Story of Icarus

In Greek mythology, Icarus is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus. The main story told about Icarus in his attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. He ignored instructions not to fly too close to the sun, and the melting wax caused him to fall into the sea where he drowned. The myth shares thematic similarities with that of Phaëthon—both are usually taken as tragic examples of hubris or failed ambition—and is often depicted in art.

The Lament for Icarus by H. J. Draper
Icarus's father Daedalus, a talented and remarkable Athenian craftsman, built the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete near his palace at Knossos to imprison the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull monster born of his wife and the Cretan bull. Minos imprisoned Daedalus himself in the labyrinth because he gave Minos' daughter, Ariadne, a clew (or ball of string) in order to help Theseus, the enemy of Minos, to survive the Labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur.
Daedalus fashioned two pairs of wings out of wax and feathers for himself and his son. Daedalus tried his wings first, but before taking off from the island, warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea, but to follow his path of flight. Overcome by the giddiness that flying lent him, Icarus soared through the sky curiously, but in the process he came too close to the sun, which melted the wax. Icarus kept flapping his wings but soon realized that he had no feathers left and that he was only flapping his bare arms, and so Icarus fell into the sea in the area which today bears his name, the Icarian Sea near Icaria, an island southwest of Samos.
Hellenistic writers give euhemerising variants in which the escape from Crete was actually by boat, provided by Pasiphaë, for which Daedalus invented the first sails, to outstrip Minos' pursuing galleys, and that Icarus fell overboard en route to Sicily and drowned. Heracles erected a tomb for him.

Bastille's Interpretation of Icarus

When asked about 'Icarus' Dan Smith, Bastille's lead vocalist, was quoted as saying “Icarus comes from things I feel about myself and other people that I know, I generally try not to write songs that seem too personal and sometimes use characters or stories to try and move the focus away from myself and from more obvious topics.” This clearly shows that Dan has tried to create his own story by the use of an old text. This reflects the postmodernism within the text. Bastille are inter textually referring to the story of Icarus whilst putting there own twist on the text. It is then down to me to try and interpret the text and reflect the hidden meaning within the music video.