Textual analysis- Uprising by Muse

Muse are an English rock band that formed in 1992 described as ‘kings of no-holds-barred stadium preposterousness’. Heralded for the classical/rock/electronic sound they have since had a steady rise to rock royalty with five studio albums and two live albums and b-sides with each sporting a distinct style. Their last album from 2006 Black Holes & Revelations was their greatest success yet with a massive tour including Wembley Stadium and a double platinum selling album. Muse are renowned for their live performances and the band have said in various interviews that this is how they make most of their money which they plow back in to the music. It is therefore very important that the video promotes their ability to perform. For the Black holes & Revelations tour the album wore only red, white and black and the album themes included, aside from the generic love songs, sci-fi and politics. Their portfolio of videos include Starlight, Supermassive Black Hole, Knights of Cydonia, Plug in Baby and Bliss all of which have very creative elements such as sci-fi cowboys and holographic skin tight suits, they all represent the image of the band as the grow such as the red, black and white tour outfits the band wear in Map of the problematic. Their personal style has become more tailored and individual, they don’t look like the same scruffy teens anymore, their videos have become more flamboyant and experimental and this is obvious when you look at their impressive anthology of music videos.

The band have won a vast array of awards and nominations and their music video have succesfully contributed to their wide spread success. In 2009 released their fifth album The Resistance, the lead single, Uprising, is a deeply political song reflecting on the state of Britain's current parliamentary system and urging the public to rise up and let 'the fat cats have a heart attack'.



The music video follows the band as the travel through a toy town on the back of a toy truck, it is run down, depressed and much like most modern British towns. The song is somewhat inspired by George Orwell's 1984, the song is about how we, the British public are surrounded by cameras, the government is losing trust with mp scandals, empty promises and a leader who was not elected. The band describes the song as “football hooligans chanting in protest at the banking crisis”. It's not the first time Muse have recorded a political song and the song urges the public to 'rise up and take the power back'. As the band are English they know a lot about the current situation and i think this song is a good track for establishing the bond between band and fan as an audience like something the can feel and understand, it makes them feel important. The lyrics of the song correspond well with the message the video is trying to relay, not directly, the video aims to visually translate what the story the song is saying.

One of the reasons I have chosen this video to look at is stop motion, i have noticed the trend occurring through music videos and the internet and my target market likes the idea. Although this may not be stop motion the giant teddy bears look as though they could be, they way the video makes the inanimate move has the same style and concept of stop motion.

The mise-en-scene is key to the telling of the story, the props connotate a further meaning, the props successfully make the most of a message as controversial as this and the toy town acts as an extended metaphor for modern Britain.

The very first thing we notice is not the fact we're in a toy town but a large fuse running down the streets, a spark is ignited as the song begins which we follow as the video progresses. This symbolises the lighting of a spark,the foreshadowing uprising, just one person needs to say something and steadily things will grow and eventually explode which is what the song is about. The fact that the town is a toy town emphasises the idea that as a country we are being played with, we are a mere childs game, we are disrespected and ignored. The town is filled with realistic toy figures and cars, the band have been shrunk down and travel on the back of to truck. Shops are shut and the streets are filled with litter and graffiti, 'going out of business' signs going out of business posters adorn shop windows and a billboard in the background reads 'building for the future'. All this reminds us of the fake promises, the lack of trust and the divide between the people and the government, 'another promise, another scene, another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed.

As the spark gains in momentum In a shop window screens show teddy bears, there are many interpretation of what the teddy bears symbolise, that they are the people, something once buried, turned angry and uprising! The album art has pictures of teddy bears being seemingly grown in a field, are the government trying to 'grow humans'? Furthermore as the video is opening it looks as though a digger is trying to push soil over a bears head. I think that that the teddy bear are the government as half way through the video lead singer Mathew Bellamy smashes the televisions with the teddy bears on them in a typical rockstar fashion. We also see toy people clustering around an angry bonfire of teddy bears. The government teddies are something we trust, they are innocent, or are they we see them with their fangs out, the deceit is revealed and mistrust deepens the divide between the public and their leaders, after all isn't the teddy bear king of toys? Another reason for the teddy bears being the government is how at the end as the giant powerful teddy bears rise a particularly evil red eyed bear pears through a bedroom window, in interviews the band had stated that they were inspired by George Orwell's 1984 and how shocked they were at Britain's 4.2million security cameras. The last flicker of hope the videos shows is a rampaging bear falling to its knees as the video dies out to 'they will no control us, we will be victorious'.

Costume is not a key element to this video, the costume of the small toy figures s very realistic which adds to the metaphor of the modern town. The band themselves wear dark clothes which are clearly not the focus of he video, the band do not promote themselves on their vanity like most rock bands. However I have noticed that their chronology of albums and tours have a distinct clothing pattern in that each tour seems to have a new wardrobe. In this tour their clothing although remaining indie/punk has a much more dark mature theme which reflects the bands album, a mature refined Muse.

The video is set at nighttime, the small town street lights and bus stops highlighting the setting, another advantage of being set at night is that the television screens and the spark which are central to the plot stand out even more. The lighting and colours are very dark and the video is full of shadows, secrecy and anger. The shadows created by the lack of lighting add to the enigma of the band especially as main focus, lead singer, Mathew Bellamy has his eyes completely shaded for most of the video. A feature we rely on to comprehend expression. The shadows on the street also add to the feeling of mystery, lies and hidden agendas. The colours are dark and dull with flashes of red highlighting the dark, angry message of the song.

The cinematography conforms to the styles of most modern music videos, like most rock songs the frames cut between the band and a narrative flow. The video opens with some wide/mid shots establish the setting and panning as if following the spark and then the truck which is when we first see the band together, we then have close ups of bass player Chris and a close up birds eye view of drummer Dom. Then we get a very close up of singer Matt's face. After introducing the band separately we have a mid shots of them together, there are a lot of very close ups on Matt's face as he is the danger and front man. The only other close ups are emphasizing important factors and the teddy bears on the television and as they rise and the people round the town and bonfire. There are a lot of birds eye shots as though the government are looking down on the town and the people.

Although editing seems minimal with a seemingly slow patternless cutting of clips and jump shots, the special effects are essential to the look and feel of the video, typical muse videos are very creative and always make the most of the lyrics. The way the band has been shrunk down really emphasises the was the people feel small in comparison to the mighty, distant, forces of the government. The movement of the bears is in a typical stop motion fashion like old fashioned children's programmes, other Muse music videos show that perhaps Muse do not like to use computer graphics as, like this, they also seems very real.

The song was successful as it got to made it to no 9 in UK charts showing that in promotional terms the video did its job. The video conforms in the way it has a narrative the explains the song and how it focuses on the band and their image. As the lead video form this album this video was the one that would be setting their image for this tour and as it was released before the album it is a taster and important promotional tool for the rest of the album and tour.

I have been inspired by the way the video is so fitting with the song and how the video sells the image of the band, the way a story unfolds, it has made the song much easier to understand for the audience and encourages interpretation. I was also inspired by how current to music video was and the modern setting as i could really relate to this. The creative element was my favorite part and the reason i chose to take an in depth look as the video, i will definitely look at doing something similar to fit my song.