Views : 25,834,976
Genre: Music
Date of upload: Jun 22, 2017 ^^
Rating : 4.931 (4,921/281,293 LTDR)
RYD date created : 2022-04-09T21:15:09.267077Z
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Top Comments of this video!! :3
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.
2.2K |
I think the video could also tell a story about PTSD, and not just anxiety as people are saying. A man of war that has flashbacks of the people he's killed whenever the video switches from day to night. The man can't get over the guilt as they chase him, and eventually he can't tell what is real and what is just another nightmare he's having, so he starts seeing them in real life. At the end, the man stops running and realizes that there's nothing he can do about it, so he comes to terms with it, living with the burden.
984 |
It's difficult to explain to people what it's like to wait twenty years for something. Some of you reading haven't even been alive that long. But that's how long us hardcore Radiohead fans have waited for Man Of War. This song has been known to Radiohead fans for all this time. We heard it in live performances we were lucky enough to attend, in rare, scratchy, ethereal bootlegs of live shows we couldn't get to. You can see them developing this song in the studio in the film "Meeting People Is Easy." And with every release since OK Computer, all of us have been hoping we'd finally hear a studio version of this song. Well, we have it now, and they absolutely did not disappoint. This was worth waiting twenty years for. And that this song smokes everything else being put out by other artists today? That's just a teensy cherry in an avalanche of cherries on a very big and delicious cake.
3.6K |
Okay, the song is amazing, but this mv is a masterpiece as well. This was perfectly done. That actor had some great body acting, the swerves, the shot of the shadow following our guy's shadow towards the beginning, before the two worlds started to merge more. The editing was timed so well. This was a masterful pleasure to watch.
2K |
Jonny's guitar riff at 2:38 is pure genius.
209 |
A friend of mine recently committed suicide and in his final social media post he included a link to this song. He was using it as a symbol of strength. But unfortunately he has now taken his life. I do hope that this song can continue to inspire others and serve as a message of hope and strength. Especially in these tough times. Rest in peace, my friend.
2.9K |
[Verse 1]
Drift all you like from ocean to ocean
Search the whole world
But drunken confessions and hijacked affairs
Will just make you more alone
[Verse 2]
When you come home I’ll bake you a cake
Made of all their eyes
I wish you could see me dressed for the kill
[Chorus]
You’re my man of war
Yeah, the worms will come for you, big boots
[Verse 3]
So unplug the phones, stop all the taps
It all comes flooding back
To poison clouds and poisoned dwarves
518 |
The video is basically showing the comparison between how you look on the outside, and how you feel on the inside, day and night. During the day, on the outside, he seems like a pretty nice guy, on the inside, he’s scared, running from something, he’s a fighter, and eventually, his night and day become one. The man of war pertains to the fact that he has a war of personas, and how his outside persona clashes with his feelings.
247 |
@newyorkkitty8307
5 years ago
The fact that this was filmed in my neighborhood makes this even creepier lol this is what my walk home at night from the train looks like
6.4K |