Box

[ThreeDeviations]

It's about drug addiction.

The charcater in the video wants to quit.

Inside the box is his addiction.

Therefore, he ties and nails the box closed.. because he wants to become... "sober"

But he has succumb to the addiction a few different times in the video...
You can tell when he has given in when he's sitting in the chair and it raises off the floor... and "gets high."

Tug o War with his own mind.

I want, what I want.

[scorpioali]

i like that idea. it really seems to fit. but what about some of the pther aspects of the video? like the figure at the end with that thing that looks like a gun? or the figure inside that closet? i have always thought of the video as something like this man is in this prison, trying to find his way out, but he can't get out because of his own restrictions (unconscious restrictions, that is) and other people that keep bringing him down.

[FutZ]

"why can't we not be sober?"
...double negative i thought....
he dun wanna be sober...

[Graffing]

I don't think he's trying to fight addiction since the line is "why can't we not be sober." I think the box would be a reference to Pandora's box or something similar. He opens it and then finds these terrible visages around every corner. After sealing the box they still don't go away. He's looking for an escape.

[Æmitis]

Well, the box could actually mean his addiction to drugs, but it also symbolizes his creativity, his art, his work, his inspiration. So, as an artist, drugs do help to evolve and explore yourself, he elevates himself..., but when you cross the line, drugs just keep you down and worthless, and you fall down dead.
I think that the fact that he carries his box to the table and opens it there really shows that he uses his addiction, drugs, to help his work.

Notice that he has this big black blancket next to him, on the bed, that could be death. When his lying he seems really weak and in pain, maybe needing his dosage, maybe frustrated with his condition.

And through the corridor we see all the members of tool playing, that might mean art, the tubes of art and artistic work, in this case, music. As we see later the tubes have some kind of organic matter flowing in them, life. And the character is trying to rech and touch it, feel what he lost.

The other characters could be friends of him, like dealers (the one with the weapon) and other characters that have also been under the deadly touch of drug addiction (the mutilated chracter on the wall) or just products of his imagination and his unconsciousness.

But in yhe end, we even see the tool members freaking out with need maybe, and the man, the artist falls deeply and it all ends inside the box, the addiction.

[Satanist]

The box might mean his sanity, he feels he is going insane and needs to find solid ground to stand on (when he starts to float). The drugs make him feel sane even though he wants to stop them.

[hateandvaseline]

Notice how, when he takes the box out, how it looks like the ropes have been cut before, so it is probably his addiction. What about when his face melts? Thats the part I don't understand...

[16 Degrees]

I havent seen the video in a bit, but I do rember a scene where the guy starts shaking crazily. Could he be tripping, he just feel off the chair. His face metls from a bad trip. It might be all about drugs. But im sure there is some deeper meaning like all Tool songs.

[Nothing...]

the line is "why can we not be sober" meanig to me that he is affiliated with drugs but it is in a semi-good way when he gets "high" he actualy going to that world that he loves but slowly thru the vid he is becomming addicted and suddenly the box is controlling him hence the shakeing.
also i feel this way becouse of the other guys in it notice that one guy with the thing straped to his back looks the same as our little hero and the fat guy with the weird eye is controlling him pointing him in cirtain directions.
so the box ultimately i belive is his own mind and he's trying to escape this cause the druggs are controlling it.

but thats just me.... ill think more of it later..

[seeker]

you've probably heard of that expression. since tool refers to this concept so much (prying open my third eye, etc.) maybe this video ties in with that. remember, in the end the camera drops into the box.... so maybe the applehead guy is exploring the world outside the box, maybe with the help of drugs or whatnot, and he finds that it is a terrifying place. the whole video he seems to be looking for something, at one point he cuts open the box as if to run from the images and return to normalcy... but he doesn't. he's just too curious. and his curiosity gets him into trouble--just look at what he goes through after he lets his curiosity keep him from returning to the limited confines of the box (i.e. real life). perhaps the face-melting represents what's happening in his real life; he's stayed outside of the box for too long and he's either passed out or, as i think, dead, and no longer able to perpetuate the forced departure from the box by taking more of the drug or whatever that got him there. as the video wraps up, the effects wear off and he plunges back into the box... into utter blackness: he's dead. or passed out.

[Delirus]

hes looking for something,thats for sure,but he'll never find it. he looking for a way out because like the song he feels trapped by sercomstance,the way things came about. hes begging for something to change.

i think somethings may just be in this are random or just there to look good and i refer to the guy with the big silver head and the wires running through it.he;s only there for three seconds or so hammering...?he seems to hold no signifigance at all. the bid gun thing is being supported by our little moldy faced hero so that is relevant.
but he definatly is searching,he keeps putting his hand in the crack in the flood and feeling about.the guy behind glass reminds me of some one he left behind or forgot hence the dust on the glass.

[Shadow_Master]

I've thought the same thing with the belief about the box in the original post. About the whole shaking arm thing, it seems to happen around the times where they show the guy "getting high" in the chair. I think it was Adam who said the song was about an artist who had to be wasted to create. His arm going crazy probably is symbolic of the the fact that the drugs/alcohol cause(s) him to do amazing things that he couldn't do otherwise. That's just my belief.

[passenger#44213]

i personally believe that the little dude is looking for someone or somethiing. You can see that through the video he is just walking aroundseeming almost lost. The whole flying chair thing i would say that he becomes overwhelmed with anger/saddness of not finding this thing that he then turns to drugs. The melting face i think that this is where he took to much and found himself sick as a dog throwing up all over the place. At the end where you see him back in bed symbolizes that he has to go through all that again and so probably will never find the thing/person/whatever he is looking for

[llewdargssor]

Originally posted by Shadow_Master
I've thought the same thing with the belief about the box in the original post. About the whole shaking arm thing, it seems to happen around the times where they show the guy "getting high" in the chair. I think it was Adam who said the song was about an artist who had to be wasted to create. His arm going crazy probably is symbolic of the the fact that the drugs/alcohol cause(s) him to do amazing things that he couldn't do otherwise. That's just my belief.

i like that thought, yes i would think it is about the artist who can only do great work when high. that concept mixed in with experiences the band has had and heard abuout involving drugs and alcohol, but its all symbolic - to be taking however we choose. and we should be inspired to do more, rather than just sit and ponder...

[Jebus]

I read that adam (I think) said it was about a friend who did his best work while on drugs. It seems to fit it.
The guy has used the drug (box) and tried to stop before (the re-tied ropes). When he uses them, he begins to see things and become more creative (the other characters, all the weird stuff), but he knows it's not good for him, so he ties it back up and puts it away. He then becomes seriously addicted, to the point that when he uses the box, the weird shit just gets worse and worse (starts to become his reality ?). I don't know about the face melting though. Then at the end, when he's sober, he's still seeing weird shit (I can't remember if he actually is sober at this point, I'll have to see it again) like the 'meat tunnel', and the box has really fucked him up. When he uses it now, it's not about him being creative, it's just the addiction.

Damn. I spose this is pretty much the same as all the other posts. When someone reads our post and asks, 'what the hell were you talking about', just point em down here.

[im not summable]

if in fact the video is about drugs then did he finely kick the habit at the end? i remember him reaching down into the hole where his box was, but it was gone. and maybe all the crazy things he was seeing and were happening (shaking, face melting, crazy guy in the wall, etc) were because his habit left him a bit frazzled like drugs tend to do. if anyone else has anything to add to that or another thought on it id like to hear it.

[Gallow]

to me, the part where he finally falls and his head splits and his face melts represents whatever he was dependant on for so long finally letting him down. it no longer does it for him. it is a way to express that if you let something control you like that you will destroy yourself.