This music video, Jagged Edge, it's great. It reminds me of the early days of MTV. Don't we all miss that? Or something Terry Gilliam would have made. I bet if Max Headroom put in an appearance, it might be right in line.
This appears to be a case a where the art is fighting with the artist. Don't we all feel that way at times? But who is the curious character behind the layers of art? In this music video, we see a sheet of paper gummed to a wooden table. But the paper gets holes in it and someone is hiding in the background. Is he like a Loki kind of character, playing mischief all the time? Why does he push back against what the artist is trying to accomplish? Who really is the protagonist and who is the antagonist? I think the video lets you decide.
Is there a bigger message here? Toward the end the fight seems to be escalating. When he sings about how 'the dark makes you forget sometimes' we go totally down to the bottom, and the graphics are the most disturbing of all. Then we see the bishop without a head, maybe that's about religion. The newer model of bishop gets a head but it still falls off, like Humpty Dumpty. Nobody can put him back together again.
In the last scene the reinforcements arrive. Still that playful character is hiding behind the art. The bishop, protecting what looks like eggs, is fully armed, but has also stabbed his own piece of paper, something somewhat Escher-like. I found this all visually really captivating. You might want to watch it several times as you listen to the lyrics to get the full impression that the director, Daniel Scott White, is trying to get across. Well done!
