I assume the Union of the Snake ("is on the climb") is the genetic modifications of humans/lizards (very Island of Dr. Moreau) and their eventual conquering of the above-ground world?
Did Simon or Nick (or the mysterious man) cause the destruction of the lair of the Union of the Snake?
My own theory on all of this (over morning coffee) is that the mysterious man on the throne is future Simon. The meeting of current Simon and future Simon (as told by sparkly priest Nick and his translation of the scroll) caused the destruction of the project. Of course, it will start all over again with current Simon finding the scroll.
And I don't blame Roger or John for ditching Simon at the end. Here's hoping they ran into the Men at Work gang and spent the rest of of the time chugging beer and smoking pot ("head full of zombie").
I like to think Andy firebombed the secret lair, just because I desperately want him to have some purpose in the video other than "guy who hangs out in the scaffolding."
Per the Duran Duran Wiki, the video "...was to be the first of a trilogy involving a lost document and subterranean worlds." There's no source cited for that info, so I don't know how accurate it is, but if it's true, we've been forever cheated out of two other videos that might have cleared things up. I assume: 1) the underground lair is bad news, and 2) Nick is a secret ally (he must've left the scepter for Simon at the end). I don't have a reasonable guess about the identity of the man on the throne. Somebody who wears fingerless gloves, which, amongst this lot, really doesn't narrow it down.
I think the only reasonable thing we can do now is find Russell Mulcahy and ask him what his plans were for the other two parts.
I like the idea of Andy causing the destruction of the lair - that makes sense. Of course, the killing of tons of children who don't seem to be all that evil seems a tad bit cruel, but they went out in pink neon, at least.
Also: strange dead man in the car at the beginning. Maybe he's the unknown person on the throne and the elevator is an analogy for death? Roger and John left Simon behind because he was dead, not because they were fed up with him?
Heh. I love flipping these things around. Didn't you mention that there's a Rubik's cube somewhere in the video?
Didn't you mention that there's a Rubik's cube somewhere in the video?
That was my first thought, but on close scrutiny it seems to be one of the mime-juggler's gigantic dice. Look at my screencap of Nick reading the scroll -- at the left side of the frame, you can see the mystery man's hand, tossing one of the dice.
We'll just assume Andy and/or Nick smuggled all the white-clad urchins to safety during some part of the video we didn't get to see...
See, I'm not convinced the snake-man was connected with the underground lair in any way. He just seemed to be happily doing his own snake-man thing on the surface, just off on his own. Post-apocalyptic world, naturally there'd be snake-men running around, no big deal.
It just didn't seem like the underground temple people would be at all concerned with doing weird genetic modifications (or, y'know, anything to do with "science") -- they just seemed to like lurking around in loincloths in a vaguely menacing manner while having their own strange, unfathomable internal battles. It was much more like a weird and sinister religious cult (little white-clad urchins and all) than any sort of laboratory.
Stopping by to tell you your reviews are WONDERFUL and funny and are spot on about these fabulous videos. I just read them all and couldn't stop grinning. Thank you! (All the accompanying pics are nice too.)
Well I am slowly working my way through these as promised. Loved Night Boat. Strangely one of my favourite DD videos but I really don't like the song. But this one, yes it always baffled me too. Love your Donnie Darko/Sparkle Motion reference. So glad I found your blog! ;0)
Heh. Glad you caught that reference! I like this video a lot; I just have no clue what any of it means. I'm not at all convinced anyone involved with making this video knows what it means, either. Still, it's sure nice to look at...
Excelente blog Ingrid, he estado traduciendo la mayoría de tus Duranalysis y son notables las interpretaciones que les das a todos los detalles de los videos. También soy un fanático de Duran Duran y creo que sus videos y canciones también esconden mucho más de lo que vemos a simple vista.
Saludos cordiales Ingrid y visita mi blog también jofsis.blogspot.com.
Thank you, Juanfra! This is actually my site; Ingrid is my sister. I'm glad you've been enjoying my Duranalysis posts. I visited your website -- your artwork is beautiful.
i'm so glad i'm not the only one who thought union of the snake was a dress rehearsal for the wild boys. the videos do share some similarities, of course the main one being that neither makes any sense.
Hola Morgan, cómo estás? he estado leyendo con más detenimiento tus duranalysis y las opiniones acerca de ellos de parte de los visitantes y he notado que hay mucho más por hablar y aportar. Los videos de DD son un enigma en sí casi todos y siento que hay mucho más por aportar y también para opinar. Este video principalmente me llama la atención porque es del corte de un film post apocalíptico al estilo Mad Max, muy recurrente en las temáticas de los 80. Espero que sigas realizando tus duranalysis y ojalá sigas con los videos más recientes de los discos Astronaut y de All You Need Is Now. Saludos desde Chile.
Thanks, Juanfra. I'm planning on analyzing more Duran Duran videos soon. Next up will probably be "Falling Down" from Red Carpet Massacre, because that's a pretty great video.
Lee, that's a fantastic suggestion for a Duranalysis, and I may very well take you up on it. Love that interview. (I watched a handful of Notorious-Big Thing-Liberty-era videos yesterday with an eye toward future Duranalyses, and... No. Pretty mediocre across the board. I have no idea why their videos became so uninspired in the latter half of the eighties. Very disappointing.)
Comments
I assume the Union of the Snake ("is on the climb") is the genetic modifications of humans/lizards (very Island of Dr. Moreau) and their eventual conquering of the above-ground world?
Did Simon or Nick (or the mysterious man) cause the destruction of the lair of the Union of the Snake?
My own theory on all of this (over morning coffee) is that the mysterious man on the throne is future Simon. The meeting of current Simon and future Simon (as told by sparkly priest Nick and his translation of the scroll) caused the destruction of the project. Of course, it will start all over again with current Simon finding the scroll.
And I don't blame Roger or John for ditching Simon at the end. Here's hoping they ran into the Men at Work gang and spent the rest of of the time chugging beer and smoking pot ("head full of zombie").
Per the Duran Duran Wiki, the video "...was to be the first of a trilogy involving a lost document and subterranean worlds." There's no source cited for that info, so I don't know how accurate it is, but if it's true, we've been forever cheated out of two other videos that might have cleared things up. I assume: 1) the underground lair is bad news, and 2) Nick is a secret ally (he must've left the scepter for Simon at the end). I don't have a reasonable guess about the identity of the man on the throne. Somebody who wears fingerless gloves, which, amongst this lot, really doesn't narrow it down.
I like the idea of Andy causing the destruction of the lair - that makes sense. Of course, the killing of tons of children who don't seem to be all that evil seems a tad bit cruel, but they went out in pink neon, at least.
Also: strange dead man in the car at the beginning. Maybe he's the unknown person on the throne and the elevator is an analogy for death? Roger and John left Simon behind because he was dead, not because they were fed up with him?
Heh. I love flipping these things around. Didn't you mention that there's a Rubik's cube somewhere in the video?
That was my first thought, but on close scrutiny it seems to be one of the mime-juggler's gigantic dice. Look at my screencap of Nick reading the scroll -- at the left side of the frame, you can see the mystery man's hand, tossing one of the dice.
We'll just assume Andy and/or Nick smuggled all the white-clad urchins to safety during some part of the video we didn't get to see...
But I'd like to think of a kinder world where the kids were cute and innocent and made their way safely out of the exploding underground lair.
Juggling cubes - how 80s!
It just didn't seem like the underground temple people would be at all concerned with doing weird genetic modifications (or, y'know, anything to do with "science") -- they just seemed to like lurking around in loincloths in a vaguely menacing manner while having their own strange, unfathomable internal battles. It was much more like a weird and sinister religious cult (little white-clad urchins and all) than any sort of laboratory.
Heh. Glad you caught that reference! I like this video a lot; I just have no clue what any of it means. I'm not at all convinced anyone involved with making this video knows what it means, either. Still, it's sure nice to look at...
Saludos cordiales Ingrid y visita mi blog también jofsis.blogspot.com.
Gorgeous blog, juanfra!