Based on the lyrical content and the punky, up-tempo mood of the music- this vivid, absurdist video expands on ideas of the “individual” served up as component parts ready for market. The sexual inference of the song title to male body parts- lends to a phallic theme as a central image. Shot entirely against green screen and graphically driven in post production, the video depicts band members dissected into parts which are packaged and rolled off assembly lines to hungry consumers who eat them.
The band members are composited within a variety of graphical scenes- none of which are meant to be "realistic" but instead, referential. The shape of each band member is cut into pieces and arranged randomly on screen in a variety of compositions. Drummer Chris is shown in a sequence of individual shots, striking each drum in his kit separately- and the shots are edited in synch with the music in post. In the verses, lead singer Mike is shown in a variety of scenarios: in a magician’s suit doing tricks, speaking (singing) to reporters at a press conference, a clown suit and later, draped in an American flag. As he sings, the hands of screaming audience fans can be seen at bottom of frame.
In some brief process CGI shots, band members are seen as the meat in a hot dog bun that is eaten by a giant mouth; Mike's decapitated head lies on floor lip syncing to the lyrics; band members heads on an assembly line having their contents emptied; then many clones of the heads rolled off the line into generic packaging. Finally, we see Mike's head (still lip syncing) in a box, through the clear plastic window of the box, with a big colorful sticker that reads: “NEW AND IMPROVED!”
During the guitar solo, Pat is seen strolling left to right across frame as camera tracks with him. Silhouette of the city fills the background. Pat passes by the other band members many times. In the “hammer-on” legato section of the gtr solo, Pat’s fingers are shot in their various positions on the guitar neck in slow-motion, which is later sped up to normal motion giving an incredibly fast and twitchy feel to the movement. We see Mike move through the passageways of a facility (cartoon like) as he is processed for packaging. He is bound and a funnel forced into his mouth, which pure white sugar is poured into.
In the final verse, Mike’s body is presented on a banquet table as it is consumed by dinner guests. His head is featured on a platter, still singing- until his mouth is fitted with an apple. An American flag is shoved and packed into a magician’s hat. As the hat is turned over, the flag is gone but dollar bills and coins fall out. The individual parts of the band member's bodies are tagged with a supermarket pricing gun.
In the progressive bridge section of the song, CGI graphics explode into a fanfare of bananas, hot dogs, body parts and other phallic shapes. Parades of marching dildos and sex toys with smiley faces, march in step, saluting the flag. Fireworks brighten the horizon.
The graphical design style borrows from the modern-art look of Warhol and “posterization” techniques. Like “Soup Cans” or “Chairman Mao"; we see the band members repeated in a variety of pastel colors. Labels like “NEW!” and “BUY NOW!” and “AS SEEN ON TV!” brand the subject material of compositions.
A banana icon inside a barcode is a poster image for this video.
Color pallette is off white (bknd) yellow (banana) flesh tones, red and gray.
|
