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The Unpopular Opinion: Earth Song v2.0 Me & You
Thursday, 13 September 2007 12:30 pmSo, the new Fall Out Boy video has premiered, and it would seem that virtually everyone loves it.
I don't. And here's why:
1. It's cliched.
The video opens with an elderly lady, presumably a village elder, telling people that this situation can't go on, and announcing that she will tell us a story of two kids (spell it out for us, why don't you?). What ensues is a sweet little story of two young people who are, as your grandma would say, 'courting' - complete with a gift of heart-shaped stone he finds while doing hard labour at what appears to a quarry. (Stop me if you think you've heard this one before...)
2. It's contrived.
The little love story that plays out has been included to crowbar some sense into making a political statement into a song about a struggling relationship and sex. WHY, I've got to ask, didn't they make this separate from the album and write a song which fitted the issue they're addressing? They could easily have afforded to make this a charity single - an unaffiliated release like The Masses Against The Classes - why force an issue so important to them, and to so many Ugandans, into a song that does not do it justice?
3. It doesn't feel genuine.
The kids they have recruited to play the lovers are not brilliant actors (which I cannot blame them for at all) and the scenes themselves feel far too much like we are watching people acting. It doesn't feel for a minute like we are watching a story unfold. The symbolism is clumsy and all a little bit too Hallmark. A little bit too forced.
The guerilla camp scene was like it had been ripped out of Apocalypse Now, or something.
(Is the kid wearing a hat a Patrick reference?)
4. It's patronising.
Patronising both to the Ugandans, in that I feel the whole thing should have been narrated by an upper class British woman who lived there as part of British rule and was telling a dinner party full of people about the Oh my gosh, terrible things that happened, but really, you know, they're just like us. Hm-hm. I know, hard to imagine, isn't it?.
And patronising to the Westerners in that it seems to be spoon feeding us this notion that the Ugandans are people with rights and feelings and that we should SRSLYOMG be able to relate to them. Of course they have rights and feelings! They're human beings! What idiots are we being taken for?
5. EARTH SONG OMG.
The whole thing ends with the band being mobbed by hundreds of Ugandan children which instantly reminded me of Earth Song at the Brit Awards and was just... I cringed. I actually cringed.
In my opinion they would have been better off going without a plot and just showing the horrendous conditions and stories of the people they really met. Making it genuine and representational instead of contrived and a clear attempt to make the western world think, "OMG - THEY'RE JUST LIKE US, REALLY!", which is kind of crass. Of course they're like us, they're human beings. But I want to see an honest representation of what they are going through - a display of how we can help and why they need the help - rather than a cinematised fable.
I don't blame the boys in the band for this - I'm really pleased and really proud of them for what they are trying to achieve. I just find this video failed at that. I find it embarrassing and I kind of expect it to be panned in the press.
And if you're interested, this is how to make a political statement in a music video.
Onward to the impending flame-war, then...
I don't. And here's why:
1. It's cliched.
The video opens with an elderly lady, presumably a village elder, telling people that this situation can't go on, and announcing that she will tell us a story of two kids (spell it out for us, why don't you?). What ensues is a sweet little story of two young people who are, as your grandma would say, 'courting' - complete with a gift of heart-shaped stone he finds while doing hard labour at what appears to a quarry. (Stop me if you think you've heard this one before...)
2. It's contrived.
The little love story that plays out has been included to crowbar some sense into making a political statement into a song about a struggling relationship and sex. WHY, I've got to ask, didn't they make this separate from the album and write a song which fitted the issue they're addressing? They could easily have afforded to make this a charity single - an unaffiliated release like The Masses Against The Classes - why force an issue so important to them, and to so many Ugandans, into a song that does not do it justice?
3. It doesn't feel genuine.
The kids they have recruited to play the lovers are not brilliant actors (which I cannot blame them for at all) and the scenes themselves feel far too much like we are watching people acting. It doesn't feel for a minute like we are watching a story unfold. The symbolism is clumsy and all a little bit too Hallmark. A little bit too forced.
The guerilla camp scene was like it had been ripped out of Apocalypse Now, or something.
(Is the kid wearing a hat a Patrick reference?)
4. It's patronising.
Patronising both to the Ugandans, in that I feel the whole thing should have been narrated by an upper class British woman who lived there as part of British rule and was telling a dinner party full of people about the Oh my gosh, terrible things that happened, but really, you know, they're just like us. Hm-hm. I know, hard to imagine, isn't it?.
And patronising to the Westerners in that it seems to be spoon feeding us this notion that the Ugandans are people with rights and feelings and that we should SRSLYOMG be able to relate to them. Of course they have rights and feelings! They're human beings! What idiots are we being taken for?
5. EARTH SONG OMG.
The whole thing ends with the band being mobbed by hundreds of Ugandan children which instantly reminded me of Earth Song at the Brit Awards and was just... I cringed. I actually cringed.
In my opinion they would have been better off going without a plot and just showing the horrendous conditions and stories of the people they really met. Making it genuine and representational instead of contrived and a clear attempt to make the western world think, "OMG - THEY'RE JUST LIKE US, REALLY!", which is kind of crass. Of course they're like us, they're human beings. But I want to see an honest representation of what they are going through - a display of how we can help and why they need the help - rather than a cinematised fable.
I don't blame the boys in the band for this - I'm really pleased and really proud of them for what they are trying to achieve. I just find this video failed at that. I find it embarrassing and I kind of expect it to be panned in the press.
And if you're interested, this is how to make a political statement in a music video.
Onward to the impending flame-war, then...