Being
an alternative rock band, alternative bands often show similar characteristics
and conventions. These people mysterious and often have political themed songs
and visuals. ‘If you tolerate this your children will be next’ is clearly very
political as within the title itself it holds a message. This is demonstrated
visually through the images of the faceless people, supposedly being neglected
by the government. The drum kit is
coated in plastic, and across the metal wall is a group of faceless people, restrained. The Blood
used also makes a visually striking appearance allowing viewers to see that
violence and possibly even death occurs. The lyrics used in this song such as
the word fascists shows that political messages are being told in this song.
Furthermore
Political themes emerge through
hints of violence and faceless characters - a similar music video would be by
another alternative rock band, Muse's
Plug In Baby, which features women with entire body parts missing as
opposed to faces showing abuse. Faceless characters are also used to shock
audiences for example they are often used in horror films etc. This music video
hints that the faceless children are victims due to their age and innocence and
huge physical disorder.
The
manic street preachers opposes Theodor Adorno theory that music is used to
promote capitalism and conform to governments. Like most alternative-rock
band music videos the majority
of the shots are of the band performing in an unusual location. This is to create mystery and a sense of
unfamiliarity and emphasise the alternativeness of the band. Another example
where this is used in another alternative band is fall out boy, where monkeys
are used as the band members. This could
be seen to be part of the genre of a music video (band performance). Andrew Goodwin believes that music
videos are not at all original art forms, but like films and television programs, follow a list of codes and conventions.
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