Lita was annoyed by something I said in the last entry, so now she's giving me today's video. Let's see what the fury of a woman annoyed gets me by watching Do The Evolution by Pearl Jam.
Adolescent angst! Wheee!
We start with a shot of space. Stuff happen and we eventually reach earth where an egg gets fertilized. It reproduces itself and we end up with hundreds of ugly cells until we're underwater looking at at a fish. Then a shark eats the fish. Then a dinosaur eats the shark. It's basically a more violent version of the opening credits to Dilbert. The T-Rex eats more dinosaurs until a comet shoots by in the background. This is really violent but in a way really silly. I mean, it's seconds between each creature killing the next one.
The lyrics start with the singer announcing that he's a man. This guy is proud because he's the first mammal to wear pants. Yep, millions of years of mating got man to this poin. Shows why we rock, really. Then he says he's a American soldier (I guess) who kills for patriotism. At first I thought he was taking a shot at religious people in general until I realized that he used our motto. Meanwhile a monkey kills a monkey kills a monkey. We're now at humans and we quickly skip to shots of Klansmen and knights. Whatever. We constantly see a pale dark hair woman who seems to represent death because she smiles through out all the bloodshed. This is why you can't trust women!
We see a primitive man rip his skin off so he becomes a modern one. We see plenty of modern men jump out of buildings during a stock market crash. EXTREEEEEEEEME Stock Marketing!!!! Singer sings about buying up all the stock after the crash. Then he talks about being a truck that would run anything over. We then see tanks running over a forest once filled with ponies. Then we get a bizarre image. We see people who are obviously Nazis, yet their flag has a Z shape. I guess they're Zanis. They're like more socialistic than nationalistic. They burn books. People starve. Goths nod approvingly while watching. Death chick dances, and she looks a bit like she was animated by the guys who did the Batman and Superman cartoons of the 90s.
We see several quick things, including guillotines and whaling. We see slaves whipped while pyramids are built while the singer commands everybody to admire him. Then we see some Indians who get terrible skin diseases as the singer goes on about how the land is his and he can do what he wants. Get it?! We watch a war machine build weapons and we see skyscrapers jump out from the ground.
This is followed by several leaders, religious and otherwise. The politician specifically has puppet strings behind him as he gives a rousing speech. Singer says that he's a hypocrite who goes to church. We get a break where we watch a girl run around in the field. She steps in an ant hill and the fire bugs explode. Oh wait, I guess it was a land mind. Yep, all life is bleak. We get images of World War One followed by other random images like a monkey getting experimented on (awake?) and people being poured into a bowl for a dog to eat. I guess he's suppose to be like a one-headed Cerberus feasting on souls. Singer says admire him again.
We get images of slavery in a America. Then we see more Klansmen. This is, oddly, followed by a guy who gets assimilated by his computer. I spend way too much time online, but that's just a silly - heck, offensive - contrast. Next we see babies made in a factory with bar codes stamped on their heads. Those will just wipe off with sweat. We then see a gross image of a guy having cyber sex with chords plugged into his pants. Bleck. Here's the punishment, right here.
Finally stuff start to get blown up good. We see an EEEEEvil Castle Greyskull grow Dr. Octopus arms. We see a city get carpet bombed. Finally, a big mushroom cloud finishes the video.
This video is so bleak and ugly that you wonder if the Discovery Institute made it. However, I'm sure it was just a "screw everything!" song. Despite that, I'm chuckling at the fact that they made a video and it had no sex in it. Seriously, it's a song about evolution. Evolution involves reproduction. You were so busy being angsty about wars and such that you forgot to stick it to the whatever with people doing as they please.
The awesome part is the brief appearance by Lex Luthor. He's at 1:57 in the video. It's good to see him get a job at something besides loser leader of the Legion of Doom.
6 comments:
"I am the First Mammal to Wear Pants"
That totally needs to be the name of this blog. Forget this Tork's blog crap.
I knew you wouldn't be into this video because it's so dark. I don't care. The awesome thing in this video is the animation. It's well done.
You seem to dislike the preachyness of the song. I'd like to poin out a few things:
1. Yeah, the scene of one animal eating the next and being eaten by the next is ridiculously fast. I think you'll have to forgive Pearl Jam, though, since I doubt they had a couple of billion years on hand to spend on accurately portraying the evolutionary process in their music video.
2. Sure, mankind has done stuff other than destroy and maim and murder and rape. We've also done good things like showing love and making beautiful art and snuggling kittens and all kinds of stuff like that. Nevertheless, this song is trying to say something about humanity's destructive tendencies. I don't think that it would help anybody if every artist writing a song about something humanity is doing wrong had to include a disclaimer in the lyrics and video about how we also sometimes do good stuff too.
3. When you're poining out the lines where excuses are made for why it's ok for humanity to be so destructive, you roll your eyes about it as if you think nobody really says that. I've heard people unironically say things like "I'm at the top of the food chain so I can do what I want. It's the law of nature," and "God gave us this world and dominion over the animals to do what we want with them" with my own ears. Yeah, they're totally stupid excuses, but they're ones people actually use.
4. You say there was no sex in the video only a couple of paragraphs after you talk about the cybersex guy. Come on! That counts!
5. Yes. Chimps have been used in inhumane scientific experiments. Lots of different kinds of cute and cuddly animals have.
Something a bit lighter for your next video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI
Tork added you to his blog, Mickety. You have the power.
Lita, I know there are pig-headed people like the ones depicted in the song. There's also suicidal people who want to believe that modern society is inherently evil and we should go back to short life spans so we won't pollute and cut trees and stuff. Aggressive destructiveness like in the song isn't the only kind of destructiveness.
Some people can listen to dark or sad songs and sympathize with them. I listen and go "Yeah, I know life sucks, people sucks, politicians sucks, and so forth. So what?" It just makes me shrug.
I know animals have been cruelly experimented on. But having the monkey alive seemed over the top. And is it really worse than experimenting on people, even in the most humane way possible? It's debatable, but you this video isn't about debate.
"Lita, I know there are pig-headed people like the ones depicted in the song. There's also suicidal people who want to believe that modern society is inherently evil and we should go back to short life spans so we won't pollute and cut trees and stuff. Aggressive destructiveness like in the song isn't the only kind of destructiveness."
I don't think it's promoting that, either.
"Some people can listen to dark or sad songs and sympathize with them. I listen and go 'Yeah, I know life sucks, people sucks, politicians sucks, and so forth. So what?' It just makes me shrug."
So do something. That's kind of the poin. People are capable of doing lots of horrible things, so become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. I'm not saying you have to become a big-deal activist or anything, but to know that horrible things are happening and to be like, "meh" is kind of why you're getting the reputation that you don't care about anything.
"I know animals have been cruelly experimented on. But having the monkey alive seemed over the top. And is it really worse than experimenting on people, even in the most humane way possible? It's debatable, but you this video isn't about debate."
I don't remember where I even brought up human experimentation, let alone said it was worse, but ok. I'm going to take a stand here and now, though, and say that yes, experimenting inhumanely on an animal is worse than experimenting on a human in the most humane way possible.
Ok, I guess I just assumed the video was talking about experimenting on animals for purposes that could benefit man. I guess it's about animal cruelty in general.
I do do something. I don't give money to Pearl Jam. (Insert smug smile here.) But the song wasn't really a get up and do something song either. It came off more as a narcisstic nihilism.
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