BURN THE WITCH - LESSON 3: LANGUAGE + REPRESENTATIONS
EQUILIBRIUM THEORY APPLICATION:
The video tells the story of an inspector visiting a village, appearing a pastoral idyll, only to reveal the darkness that lies under the surface.
The status quo, or what Todorov would term 'equilibrium', is established through a colourful mise-en-scene with close-ups of flowers, multi-coloured houses, trees and people. This is almost a visual of the Inspector's expectations of what he is coming to visit.
The disruption, or initiating incident is revealed through parallel imagery, unfolding only once the Inspector actually arrives. The man once painting a postbox (British symbolism) is now painting a red X on a 'traitor's' door. The flowers on the pole are revealed to actually be on a noose. these, once close-up shots are now long/mid-shots, revealing darkness through the inspector's perspective.
As the narrative builds towards the climax, more sinister elements are revealed through the use of changing time. The morning blue sky eventually fades to an unnerving purple only to reveal a towering wickerman looking down on the people, the canted camera angle establishing the Inspector's inferior stance.
CULTURAL REFERENCES + INTERTEXTUALITY:
//Trumpton - The Trumptonshire trilogy aired in the 60s as three connected animated series on the BBC, showing the way of life in idyllic little communities, and teaching children about community values. Those conventional lessons are something the video pillorises by making it's own values hideously screwed up. Some have ven suggested the nod to Trumpton is, via it's name, a reference to DOnald Trump and his attitude towards anything outside of America. Whether or not you take it this far, there is a clear resemblance between Camberwick Green and the Model Village from the video. No external factors effect it, it lives in it's own little bubble, by Radiohead using this, they debunk this perfect little society by showing the darkness beneath.
//The Wicker Man - The 1973 version of the Wicker Man told the story of a devout christian detective going to an island to investigate a disappearence. There, he finds a mad community of pagans indoctrinated by Lee's Laird, whose fruit farm's success depend on pagan rituals, or so they believe. Among the rituals, they always have somebody to sacrifice, that being the detective. The video is less explicit than the film, the Inspector climbing into the structure on his own accord and not being dragged by vilagers, and at the end of the sequence, he escapes, visible in a wide shot in the bottom left corner. In the film, he is burnt in front of the sunset.
//Medieval Practices - The menacing tone gets more bleakly anti-intellectual via medieval details such as the red crosses painted on doors - plague crosses that date back to 1665's great plague of London - and what looks like a beef wellington made out of an entire cow.
//Jobes's - Throughout the video there are crates of tomatoes, a reference to the empty crates of Summerisle fruit in The Wicker Man. Here, the crates are full and have Jobe's written on the side of them. One of these is also used to light the effigy at the end of the clip. This could be a connection to a company that makes organic fertiliser for tomatoes, explaining why they have grown, but this is a stretch. It could also be compared to Job, the pious man punished by God as a test in various Abrahamic religions - they aren't spelled the same but are pronounced the same.
//Dawn Chorus - A key part of the video is the bird singing cheerily at the open and close, ignorant of the lyric's nightmarish vision of mob-like communities. Radiohead have recently formed a company called 'Dawn Chorus LLP' and another called 'Dawnnchoruss Ltd', a tactic they have employed before prior to an album release to minimise the effect it's success or failure has on their other albums. Their social media shutdown took place on the first Sunday in May - International Dawn Chorus Day - and they have a song called 'Dawn Chorus', which in March 2009 Thom Yorke said he was "trying to finish" and was "really great." If the video's bird is a hint, hopefully we'll be hearing 'Dawn Chorus' soon.
REPRESENTATION OF PASTORAL IDYLL VILLAGE LIFE:
//Not as ideal as it appears on the outside.
//Stereotypes are untrue.
//Tries to appear like a perfect community.
//Local, festival life, quaint bakeries and a tight-knit community.
//Turns out to be narrow-minded and hostile.
//wave to camera - try to appear ideal in the media but when confronted are quick to dismiss and be hostile.
REPRESENTATION OF MIDDLE ENGLAND:
//Behind the times, still traditional.
//Not what it seems like on the surface.
//Conservative views are outdated.
//Cult-ish
//People aren't as perfect as they present themselves.
//Holding onto old ideas.
//Disconnected from modern ideologies
//Protect core British values.
REPRESENTATION OF OUTSIDERS:
//Doesn't fit the dominant mainstream.
//Not accepted
//The enemy of tradition.
//If you don't conform, you are separated and mistreated.
EDITING:
//Cyclical structure
//Fade to black
//Parallel imagery reveals darkness
CAMERAWORK:
//Zooms in on the leader (establishes hierarchy).
//Long-shot to establish setting.
//Close-ups on outsider face when negatives are revealed.
//Close-up on girl so appears innocent before seeing the bigger picture (same as noose).
//Close-up of bird before zooming to see man at the end (plot twist).
//Pan out to see all of the villagers waving at the camera.
MISE-EN-SCENE:
//Bright colours and flowers (idyll) - later revealed to be on a noose.
//Cult meeting (community)
//Painter putting red on the mail box - later painting an X on the outsider's door.
//Only outsiders have mouths.
//Seesaw and masks (cult imagery)
//Bloody pie (warning)
//White picket fences (idyll)
//The inspector pulls the string (plot is revealed as he reveals it) - we see the story play out through his eyes and viewpoint.
//Ends and starts with the bird singing (cyclical structure)
//Parallel Imagery
The video tells the story of an inspector visiting a village, appearing a pastoral idyll, only to reveal the darkness that lies under the surface.
The status quo, or what Todorov would term 'equilibrium', is established through a colourful mise-en-scene with close-ups of flowers, multi-coloured houses, trees and people. This is almost a visual of the Inspector's expectations of what he is coming to visit.
The disruption, or initiating incident is revealed through parallel imagery, unfolding only once the Inspector actually arrives. The man once painting a postbox (British symbolism) is now painting a red X on a 'traitor's' door. The flowers on the pole are revealed to actually be on a noose. these, once close-up shots are now long/mid-shots, revealing darkness through the inspector's perspective.
As the narrative builds towards the climax, more sinister elements are revealed through the use of changing time. The morning blue sky eventually fades to an unnerving purple only to reveal a towering wickerman looking down on the people, the canted camera angle establishing the Inspector's inferior stance.
CULTURAL REFERENCES + INTERTEXTUALITY:
//Trumpton - The Trumptonshire trilogy aired in the 60s as three connected animated series on the BBC, showing the way of life in idyllic little communities, and teaching children about community values. Those conventional lessons are something the video pillorises by making it's own values hideously screwed up. Some have ven suggested the nod to Trumpton is, via it's name, a reference to DOnald Trump and his attitude towards anything outside of America. Whether or not you take it this far, there is a clear resemblance between Camberwick Green and the Model Village from the video. No external factors effect it, it lives in it's own little bubble, by Radiohead using this, they debunk this perfect little society by showing the darkness beneath.
//The Wicker Man - The 1973 version of the Wicker Man told the story of a devout christian detective going to an island to investigate a disappearence. There, he finds a mad community of pagans indoctrinated by Lee's Laird, whose fruit farm's success depend on pagan rituals, or so they believe. Among the rituals, they always have somebody to sacrifice, that being the detective. The video is less explicit than the film, the Inspector climbing into the structure on his own accord and not being dragged by vilagers, and at the end of the sequence, he escapes, visible in a wide shot in the bottom left corner. In the film, he is burnt in front of the sunset.
//Medieval Practices - The menacing tone gets more bleakly anti-intellectual via medieval details such as the red crosses painted on doors - plague crosses that date back to 1665's great plague of London - and what looks like a beef wellington made out of an entire cow.
//Jobes's - Throughout the video there are crates of tomatoes, a reference to the empty crates of Summerisle fruit in The Wicker Man. Here, the crates are full and have Jobe's written on the side of them. One of these is also used to light the effigy at the end of the clip. This could be a connection to a company that makes organic fertiliser for tomatoes, explaining why they have grown, but this is a stretch. It could also be compared to Job, the pious man punished by God as a test in various Abrahamic religions - they aren't spelled the same but are pronounced the same.
//Dawn Chorus - A key part of the video is the bird singing cheerily at the open and close, ignorant of the lyric's nightmarish vision of mob-like communities. Radiohead have recently formed a company called 'Dawn Chorus LLP' and another called 'Dawnnchoruss Ltd', a tactic they have employed before prior to an album release to minimise the effect it's success or failure has on their other albums. Their social media shutdown took place on the first Sunday in May - International Dawn Chorus Day - and they have a song called 'Dawn Chorus', which in March 2009 Thom Yorke said he was "trying to finish" and was "really great." If the video's bird is a hint, hopefully we'll be hearing 'Dawn Chorus' soon.
REPRESENTATION OF PASTORAL IDYLL VILLAGE LIFE:
//Not as ideal as it appears on the outside.
//Stereotypes are untrue.
//Tries to appear like a perfect community.
//Local, festival life, quaint bakeries and a tight-knit community.
//Turns out to be narrow-minded and hostile.
//wave to camera - try to appear ideal in the media but when confronted are quick to dismiss and be hostile.
REPRESENTATION OF MIDDLE ENGLAND:
//Behind the times, still traditional.
//Not what it seems like on the surface.
//Conservative views are outdated.
//Cult-ish
//People aren't as perfect as they present themselves.
//Holding onto old ideas.
//Disconnected from modern ideologies
//Protect core British values.
REPRESENTATION OF OUTSIDERS:
//Doesn't fit the dominant mainstream.
//Not accepted
//The enemy of tradition.
//If you don't conform, you are separated and mistreated.
EDITING:
//Cyclical structure
//Fade to black
//Parallel imagery reveals darkness
CAMERAWORK:
//Zooms in on the leader (establishes hierarchy).
//Long-shot to establish setting.
//Close-ups on outsider face when negatives are revealed.
//Close-up on girl so appears innocent before seeing the bigger picture (same as noose).
//Close-up of bird before zooming to see man at the end (plot twist).
//Pan out to see all of the villagers waving at the camera.
MISE-EN-SCENE:
//Bright colours and flowers (idyll) - later revealed to be on a noose.
//Cult meeting (community)
//Painter putting red on the mail box - later painting an X on the outsider's door.
//Only outsiders have mouths.
//Seesaw and masks (cult imagery)
//Bloody pie (warning)
//White picket fences (idyll)
//The inspector pulls the string (plot is revealed as he reveals it) - we see the story play out through his eyes and viewpoint.
//Ends and starts with the bird singing (cyclical structure)
//Parallel Imagery
IDEAS ABOUT SOCIETY:
//Old-fashioned and superstitious ways of thinking are dangerous
//Society turns on, and attacks, its own members - red x on door
//The government is dangerous
//England may not be all it seems
//Strict leaders enforce harsh rules (Authoritarianism)
//Meat-eating is bad
//Our society treats outsiders badly
//People's desire for harmonious community leads them to make shocking decisions to protect themselves (Groupthink)
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