The video is set in an abandoned mid-sized city, with a gloomy post-apocalyptic atmosphere. Streets are generously littered. Buildings and public structures are in shambles. The video opens on a young man frantically wandering, running, looking behind him as though he’s being hunted. The post-apocalyptic narrative delivers a familiar message within the very first few seconds of the video. It is a popular plot choice in TV shows and movies for its ability to expose humanity’s savage, animalistic nature hiding beneath its civilized society. The concept of ideology within media is intertwined with symbolism. The Never music video is an example of a metaphor (in semiotic terms, a symbol) that critiques larger political and social ideologies.
The first minute of the video includes aerial shots of the destroyed city, and the young man wading through trash and smog. He momentarily pauses, exhausted, and fades offscreen as the camera pans into a dense fog and refocuses on a new scene. This transition subtly suggests a flashback, possibly to a time before the apparent apocalypse (but this is not totally clear). The camera passes the headlights of a parked car in a dim, hazy alley. There is a small group of people with their backs turned. As they face us, we hear the lyrics “I was born faceless in an oasis, folks disappear here and leave no traces.” Their mouths and eyes are fleshed over. It is a disturbingly vivid metaphor of forcibly silenced individuals. Maybe society refused to recognize their identities, maybe they robbed them of any way to speak about or express their identities. Some stand still with arms crossed, some writhe around confusingly, and all react differently to their hellish, post-apocalyptic sentence.
Another useful analytical tool for examining Never is the idea of representation within media. Representation pertains to any generalized depiction of a group, which may or may not be created by members of the group, and may or may not be created per the request of said group. The Roots’ members are predominantly African American, and much of their music has acted as a voice for marginalized groups including black communities, underprivileged classes, and youths. Although Never could be read as a representation of several different groups, or multiple, intersecting groups, the video presents a clear picture of a persecuted minority (in the sense of small numbers rather than race or ethnicity) suffering in a cultural wasteland, devoid of opportunities, riddled with dead-ends. The apocalypse that created it was entirely man-made and social in nature.
The protagonist is a young black man, and the faceless characters appear to be minority group members, details which, together, suggest a commentary on general racial inequality in society. The man repeatedly turns the same street corner only to find the same stop sign. He is trapped in a loop that he can’t escape. He desperately tries to find a way out of this purgatory, to escape his social situation perhaps; but society offers him no other option but to stop trying. This apocalyptic world was created for him to stay in indefinitely. The inclusion of other minorities implies that this song and video address a broader social ideology, in which all economically disadvantaged and socially “inferior” people are dismissed.
At the end of the video the young man drops to his knees in defeat. A golden light suddenly pierces the fog from the sky and shines on him. His help has come. The light lifts him from the street as he smiles. But, the light disappears. He is still on his knees, in the same dirty street, in the same destroyed city. He hangs his head. The video concludes that any hope that society might change its ways, or that the world could ever care about such marginalized people, is an illusion. The protagonist ultimately learns he must rely on himself; a sobering and saddening social ideology.
No comments:
Post a Comment