@FeriBlueBerry

1 year ago

This is honestly one of the most well-made music videos I’ve ever seen. The whole concept symbolizes something in my view. One of the most obvious points is the drastic difference in tone and cinematography between the “day” and the “night” sequences. From the beginning “night” is established as the anxiety-inducing, paranoid, and lonely atmosphere. This is very masterfully contrasted with the presence of people in the “day” sequence. The man has interactions with the people around him (the woman walking past him, the bike rider dropping a phone). But slowly these two realities start to merge together and the safety margin created by the brightness and normality of the “day” sequence is starting to fade. The man starts acting out “night” actions in the day (looking back for no reason, dodging a nonexistent car). This is exactly the place where you can’t trust any of the realities anymore. All this was to preface my main point: in tandem with the title of the song “Man of War”, I believe the music video visualizes PTSD and paranoia. The “day” sequence is real life and the main character has actually interacted with his surroundings. However, his mind, paranoia, and PTSD has caused an alternate “night” timeline, which slowly starts to converge into reality. At the end, he can’t distinguish what is real or fake anymore (the turning point is when he looks at a picture of himself in the phone…i.e. paranoia has kicked in). The people following him so intently are a part of that fake reality he has created. These people within this world (his mind) try to creep into his life and take control. This is seen initially when we can see a shadow following him in the “day” sequence. Gradually, a whole physical appearance pops up and the people following him increases. I symbolize these people as the trauma and mental scars that the main characters has to carry. No matter what he does, he can never get rid of them. He is scared of them. Terrified. He tries ignoring them and running from them, but they always remain within a constant distance away from him. At the end, he trips over and…nothing happens. The people, his trauma and guilt is part of him, following him but not there to physically hurt him. He can never get rid of them, except to accept their presence and coexist with them. At the end, the man is distraught but calmer. He realizes that he can never escape his mind and these presences attached to him, but just maybe he won’t have to run away from them at all.

2.1K |