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Back to the Sound-Off Room
An Analysis of the "Weird" Video in Words and Pictures
by Lisa E (1998)
I happen to think that the "Weird" video in Hanson's deepest video yet, and their best. Some may disagree, but that's my opinion. As such, I have decided to do a full analysis of the video in words and pictures. You may think, 'you actually sat by the TV rewinding your tape of the video over and over again to get long philosphical arguments about the video?' Yes, I did. It may seem a little pathetic, but since I have these nice pictures to go along with it, I thought, "why not!" The pics may not be in order, because they are grouped according to who is in them (group, Ike, Tay, or Zac). But you'll get the idea. Enjoy...
Oh, wait! First a disclaimer. You can only take me seriously half the time. The other half I just pretend to be serious. In other words, nothing in this review is meant to insult Hanson in any way. I love this video. I'm just having fun with it.
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Here we have the beginning of the video. Notice that they are leaving the subway. This will correspond to the end of the video, where they are walking away from the entrance to the subway. The sign above says the times that the subway is open. It is night.
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Ah, we have the classic shot of the video. They are staring at their reflection in the subway car's door window. Take careful notice of the way they are standing. Tay's arms are at his side. Zac is tilting his head. Now let's check out the reflection (which is shown less than a second after this shot is taken).
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Tay! You must have the fastest movements in the land! For now your arms are crossed. And Zac is no longer tilting his head. Can we say "edited?"
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We now switch back to "Hanson" and they have transformed into punk dudes. They are supposed to be standing in the same position as the real Hanson was, but they aren't really. I know, it's kind of hard to get them to stand the exact same way. Notice how the guy with the mohawk is bending his knees to simulate the shortness of Zac. But the guy that is supposed to be Tay is too short.
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We now enter the spinning room. The room is adorned with several classical peices of artwork. The statue looks Greek in nature. The painting (which isn't shown here) looks like a Renaissance painting showing some kind of battle (probably religious in nature). Notice the chair on the side. It is lying on it's side. The whole video was shot with the guys walking on the "walls" of the room. Never are they actually walking on what should be the floor. Tay is currently standing on the door to the room. Notice Zac's hair. It's falling out in this scene. Half is in the ponytail, half is out.
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We now enter the subway car with the businessmen in it. This scene is probably one of the deepest in the video. Okay, work with me here. All the businessmen dress alike, look alike, and read the same thing. It is a comment on not only our urge to be "one of the crowd" but the media's influence on making us all the same. We want to be like what we see on TV, or in the magazines, etc. (This is just my opinion) I will make more comments in the next couple of pictures. Notice what it "looks" like Zac and Taylor are saying. No, I'm not going to say it. They are actually saying "fit in," but that ain't what it looks like. :-)
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You may be wondering, why did I snap this picture when there is no Hanson in it? Well, it was actually an accident, but I decided to keep it because it lets you see what the newspaper says. It goes along with what I wrote above. It's a picture of Hanson (one that I'm sure a lot of people have seen before), the little Mercury insignia underneath it, and the words, "Buy This!". The businessmen here are all little drones who do what they are told by the media...they "buy this." Notice the poster in back of them is a Hanson poster.
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Now you ask, why did Tay take the paper away from the poor, clueless businessman? I have no idea. I'm sure if I sat here for longer I could come up with some intricite philosophy as to why he does it. Maybe they're saying that they too are influenced by the need to fit in. Or maybe he just wanted to snatch the paper. Anyway, I believe that the other side of the paper has a smaller picture of Hanson (not really sure about this), and the words say "Tempo" or "Time." I think it's "Tempo." I rewound a lot to get this.
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More of Lisa's brilliant analysis...
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