The Cure: working with separation and loss through song parody (lyric substitution)

"Abstract This paper describes a Gestalt experiment in song parody (lyric substitution). It demonstrates through a first-person narrative the healing impact of working with song parody on a process of separation and loss. Song parody is viewed through a particular Gestalt lens including a creative, experimental and dialogic process of inquiry. By weaving in the personal, the method and the therapeutic outcome in an evocative, and often haunting way, the paper lifts the theory of middle mode from its linguistic ground into the realms of experiencing; thus, furthering our understanding of it. Lastly, the paper illuminates the creative importance and significance of working with culture, making the case that culture, as a creative and artistic process, is a sine qua non in the therapeutic process and encounter, for it argues that the artistic creation of self is above all cultural. Keywords Gestalt experiment, middle mode, existentialism, song parody, creative writing, popular music, culture, adoption, Korea, The Cure."