Blog Post Four: Another Video

The title for this blog post is a little misleading. It clearly states "Another Video," but what this really is is more of a collection of images, or a slide show if you will, with music in the background. The music is "Stand Up" by the Flobots. This is the same group that made the song about riding a bike with no handlebars (okay, its probably about more than that). The images used, as well as the song itself, are not just some random objects put together collectively to form a YouTube video.
"Stand up, we shall not be moved, except by a child with no socks or shoes," is represented rather accurately by a child from a presumably third world nation who is wearing no socks or shoes. The images that follow that correlate with the different verses and lyrics of the song. Hurricane Katrina, the big one that took out New Orleans, is subtly mentioned in the song meanwhile startling images of the aftermath are displayed. Many current or semi-current events are poetically discussed throughout the course of the song. "And we won't fight a war for fossil fuel, it's time like this you want to plot a coup," is pretty obviously about the controversial war in Iraq, if you can even call it that.
Several images are presented that are anti-war. These images relate directly to the strong anti-war sentiment that the song takes. "A threat for a threat leaves the whole world terrified, blow for blow never settles the score," is essentially the Golden Rule, you know the one that you learn in church. Violence begets violence which begets even more violence. Someone has to stop the cycle, turn the other cheek and end the war. Someone has to stand up and refuse to be moved.

Blog Post Three: Video

Originally created and performed by the wonderfully talented John Lennon, the song Imagine as seen and heard in the video was performed by the band A Perfect Circle. The effect of the song, as sung with Maynard's unearthly vocals, is magnified by the stunning visuals presented in the video. At the start of the video you have an ominous feeling as the stealth bomber is flying through the night. Then the images begin to transform into more graphic images of warfare. Throughout the video there is a sort of comparison presented between life in America and life in the rest of the world. We see images of obese Americans gorging themselves on food in trivial events such as an eating competition juxtaposed with riveting images of people starving in the less fortunate places in the world. There is a staunch similarity between the image of the crowd performing the wave and that of the army marching through the street. The image of George W. Bush presented along side that of Hitler, Stalin, and Castro shows the opinion of the artist that Bush is just as evil (an opinion I agree with). We continue to see images of Americans living lavishly while the rest of the world suffers.
The original version of the song as performed by Lennon has a separate feel from this version. The images presented in the video combined with the voice of Maynard and the sounds of A Perfect Circle give the message an almost tragic feel to it. The video itself has a liking to that of a newscast. While the video is playing there is a strip along the bottom displaying various messages. If you read what is displayed on the strip there is a mixture of news headlines and sports scores. Some of this information seems to be pointless when there is an image of a dead human being displayed on your screen. The names of the sports teams are slightly humorous in that each team has names such as; Atomix, Bombers, Deathrays, and Conquerors. The team names are in of themselves a part of the message trying to be conveyed. As the song goes, "Imagine all the people, living life in peace. You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one." Peace.