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The above video is one of the best I have ever watched, although the music is not the very best. For those who do not know the group, the Chemical Brothers is one of the best electronic music bands ever, and the band creates music from unprecedented elements such as the sounds of animals and that of factories.
The band's theme usually reflects the pessimism towards modern life, in which we are always vulnerable to some kind of unpleasant surprise or a disappointment, which can lead us to a disturbed state of mind.
In this video "Believe" the genius is the story of a young worker who suddenly sees himself in a bizarre situation, being chased by the machinery in the company he works. What could that possibly mean? That is precisely what I'll try to discuss, though I may not exactly be precise.
If you notice, at the beginning of the video, he is in front of a store where a group of women can be seen dancing on the TV. This could perhaps suggest he is a loner and a simple person, and probably from a less privileged social class, a worker as becomes evident later.
After a day's work, he goes back home and faces one of those machines "drinking water". Later, he dreams about it invading his bathroom. He wakes up completely terrified and already disturbed, he is back to work, looking for the suspicious machines. It is interesting to note that at this point the music is filled with typical sounds of industrial equipments, which symbolizes that he doesn't have a life of his own, he lives to work. He is unhappy and knows it.
Thenceforward, everything starts to get complicated; he sees them all the time, everywhere. He becomes paranoid because he thinks he is being persecuted. The protagonist is desperate to escape from his "persecutor", which of course is impossible for him.
Attempting to escape, he climbs on top of a building, in a hope that high places could get help him get rid of his problems. Looking at the symbolism, the "rise to the top", he seeks to isolate himself completely in an attempt to rid himself of everything and everyone. In other words, he is not afraid of machines, but of humanity.
Humans are the mechanical monsters; humans are his persecutors that can't leave him in peace. However, the mankind is a social being by definition. No human being in the modern world can rid of the other, because we need one another for every other reason.
At the end of the video it's very clear that the protagonist no longer sees any humans, but machines surrounding him. And when the building breaks down around him, it means that the whole reality is collapsing. He completely loses control, delivering full-blown insanity.
However, leaving the images aside, giving more attention to the lyrics "I need to believe in something," you can understand what forced the protagonist to his state of insanity. We all need to believe in something: in some god, in science, arts, in the family or friends. Delivering oneself to nihilism completely leads one to pure insanity. Coming back to the video and my analysis, it is always possible that others may have a different view and would be interesting to know how others would analyze it.
PS: I have to thank Jaiyant for his collaboration.
