Loki: What’s hidden in plain sight in episode 6

Real Voices and music in the timeline

In addition to all those Marvel Studios quotes, we also get sound clips and music from other time periods, as well.  Right after the Marvel Studios logo appears, we hear the following:

• “We think of time as a one-way motion…” This is stated by British philosopher, author, and guru Alan Watts (1915-1973), taken from one of his many “Essential” video essays. It’s a rather fitting choice considering how Watts opens his essay on how we, given our human understanding, perceive time as being linear, and how what happens in the past predetermines what we will do in the future. And how the “Sacred Timeline” we see at the End of Time is depicted, not as a line, but as a circle.
• “That’s one small step for man…” Of course, these are the first words uttered by American astronaut Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) when stepping onto the surface Moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 21, 1969. Makes perfect sense to be included, considering this is one of the most famous statements ever recorded and broadcast in the history of the human race.
• “How dare they!” Stated by Swedish environmental activist, Greta Thunberg (2003-), but not from her more oft quoted “How dare you!” press conference she gave at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in September of 2019. Instead, this excerpt is taken from a Global Climate Change rally in Denver, Colorado one month later. Perhaps the creators of Loki chose this quote because it better reflects Loki and Sylvie’s rage towards the TVA?
• “My dream…” An excerpt from a 2014 ABC Good Morning America interview with Pakistani blogger and female education activist Malala Yousafzai (1997-). She survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban and, at the age of 17, became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Prize. However, what Yousafzai is specifically taking about here is “[her] dream to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan.”
• The Finale from Swan Lake, composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Specifically from Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act IV (By the Lakeside): No. 29. This is the part ballet in which Odette chooses death instead living her life as a swan, which prompts Siegfried to take his own life as well to be with her forever, thus breaking the sorcerer Rothbart’s curse.
• “We have fought for the right to experience peace.” From a speech delivered by former South African President Nelsen Mandela (1918-2013) to the United States Congress on June 26, 1990. This speech was given months after his release from prison, calling for an end to apartheid in his country. Three years later, and after tense negotiations, that practice would end with South Africa’s first free and open elections.
• “I Can Say” by Pat Thomas.
• “I Put a Spell on You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkings and performed by Nina Simone.
• “Für Elise,” Bagatelle in A Minor WoO 59, composed by Ludwig van Beethoven.
• The song “Swag Saha Nahi Jaye” from the Bollywood musical Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi (2017). The song title comes from the lyric “Swag Saha Nahi Jaaye Ambarsar Waali Da” which translates as “I am not able to bear the swag of the girl from Amristar.”
• “I Should Be So Lucky” performed by Australian pop star Kylie Minogue and composed by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Watermann.
• “…Motivated by women throughout the world…” Said by Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (1938-) during the 2006 International Woman’s Day in Paris, France shortly after her election. The full quote is “I know that with the support of the Liberian women, with the encouragement of African women, I daresay motivated by women throughout the world whose aspiration and expectations I represent, we will in Liberia succeed in carrying out this commitment.”
• “I will rise.” Taken from the “Maya Angelou – Live and Unplugged” stage recital of American poet Maya Angelou (1928-2014) reading “Still I Rise” from And Still I Rise (1978). The stage show was also the last public reading she ever gave before her death.