Andre Francesco Santos - Allan // 4128

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Mise-en-Scene in Blur's The Universal



The first reference to british iconography is in the opening where we see a similar outfit/costume to the iconic 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange, this is present as well through make up. Later the reference is mocking the mob as the 'new' labour party.



Following on from the Labour party reference, we see the older men with the rose tinted goggles who in the video say to one another, "wow, this can't be heaven, I don't recognise it" which symbolises how long it has been since 'red' labour haven't been in power. 

The red and blue use in the video show the competitive political parties at a literal split from the bands perspective, with the blue conservative party on the right and red labour on the left. However, both are now drinking each others and the colours are then mixed. This could be a comment on how the 'new' labour with Tony Blair has become a mix of both parties and essentially became a watered down party from their origins. 


A british urban icon is the many grey set of flats that you can see around larger cities like Manchester and London and the followers are following the mass object. The large golf ball object could be seen to represent parliament as a small percentage of the UK and how few cannot enter or see within, while those inside are partying. 


1 comment:

  1. A solid account of some of the symbolism used, with clear links to the idea of Britishness. However, it could have gone into a lot more detail about the effects on the audience aside from that, so thinking about the meanings that can be created which are separate from the producer's obvious socio-political commentating. For example, how will an audience member feel about life within "the universal" (if we assume that's what the golf ball is) compared with life outside as shown in the above screen grab?

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