Yeha i noticed that, in the later videos, there seems to be either a) less story or b) a much harder to figure out idea.
Perhaps going along with the changes from Aenima to Lateralus, there are a lot of ideas central to the newer videos, more of a branching out, a collage of ideas and images instead of one or two main ideas.
Well, since most of Tool's videos are very artfully done interpretations of the songs, I would assume that it is all part of strengthening a relatioonship through communication, until finally, your spirits merge and become one.
Hmm... yes, I agree with everyone in the sense that the video and song both stress communication and even becoming one with someone, as shown in the video. One thing I don't quite get in the video is the little "things" on the male's face. Could the band be trying to symbolize rumor or perhaps nagging doubts with those "things" and the need to throw them off to have a successful relationship?
__________________ Finding beauty in dissonance...
i always thought that schism was about coming together with a friend or lover or whatever and then drifting apart because of some dispute. then, sort of (just sort of) going along with the theme of the song, they come together and are better because of it.
__________________ I felt almost outside myself which is unusual for me since I am so pathologically self-absorbed that I can't take a step without thinking to myself, "I am taking a step."
this is my favourite video...
the camera techniques seem so polished and...real...thus why it seems different...one one level...it's because it's technically better....
i still see this as a story tho...what about i have absolutely no idea and what it means went way over my head...but regardless, it's entire collaboration, is so interesting, so amazing and thought provoking that what ever it's about it leaves me thinking for hours...
the fire at the end however..the pulsing belching flames seem to me to remove any positivity that could have occurred from an improvement in communication or anything else...it seems to implay anarchy or disaster rather positivity...
and what the hell is with the part where the figure's head is being rolled around in the sand? it almost looks like a crown pattern? like i said...this one went over my head....
__________________ think for yourself...
question authority...
I know the pieces fit 'cos I watched them fall away
I think the song and the video are about separation in general.
My opinion about the video:
The bald character is possibly male, the one with red "hair" could represent a female.("mildewed and smoldering"?) Their genders are insignificant, but I'll call the characters female and male in this post.
First there is the separation. (notice the "female" character pointing at the male. "It doesn't mean I don't desire to point the finger, blame the other, watch the temple topple over")
Then they start to feel guilt. The female is looking for the male, but he hides in a crack of a wall. The characters look like as if they were looking for something(each other?) as they swing their heads.
The female hesitates, but still she's trying to contact the male. As she approaches the male turns his head and looks the other way.
The small creatures who bite the characters could be symbols for pain and/or guilt/longing. Notice how the male feels the left side of his upper body(heart). The characters are in pain. The female tries to kill the little creature(to suppress her feelings), but it just runs back to her.
In the end the the two lovers are united(literally!) and they make up their quarrel. And they lived happily ever after. =)
the first being shown in the video is the little flying circle thing. The thing in the middle of it moves back and forth, like a metronome. Perhaps this has to do with the whole "cold silence/communication" part; it takes time.
Then, the wall appears, and after, one of the humanoid beings. Notice how it get's a shot of the mouth; another communication? Next, we see the character come through the floor. Is it looking for something? A mate maybe?
Then we see it playing with only the legs of another....I don't know if it's pushing or pulling.
Now we see the character with using the other one's head/body to mark something; a shelter place maybe? Then the thing just puts the other character away like it would any shovel. (it is dead, basicly.)
Then we get a good look at the "X" wall. This (to me) represents a barrier. The character can't find anyone. He/she's alone. So we see it at this wall, laying down, standing up, doing things to pass the time.
There are two characters again for a second, the other probably being the lifeless one again, because it's laying down.
The whole flipping person part I don't get though. Perhaps it means it had an idea, but I don't see any connection.
Here we see the character walking keeping the ceiling from falling on it. I think this means it is looking harder for that "someone" it so badly desires.
Then, we see it walking, and it misses another living being within a gap in the wall. Maybe this represents oversights in thinking/relationships.
And here's the 1 person "Schism walk". I see this as a form of playing; something that makes it feel good. Then this other one comes into view, and they "play" together.
This next part is (to me) the strangest part of the video. The first character pulls out this new one's ear; Perhaps he wasn't listening?
And now he feels something inside of him (the little dude walking around). Instead of a physical pain, it's mental. He feels bad. So he tries to push it out off his stomach (alternative to vomiting/crying?) but it comes out of his neck (with the help of his forgiven "mate".)
It lands on the ground, and that thing he felt on the inside is now in the physical world. He didn't know this would happen, and now he's really sad about it (the smoke flying through his facial holes). Notice how in the same few seconds the other character makes a strange face too. Looks really sad....
I think the guy abuses the girl here, because he raises his hands and her face gets real mad when they show it. Then she falls down, and the those things (in the physical world, the reflect physical pain) start latching to her. She feels the pain and now realizes she's being punished.
When she pulls them off, the "hair" grows a lot longer (maybe an afterfect of those things? Like, bruises?)
Then he forgives her and they become one.
I may be (and probably am) WAY off though. Heh....
first off, just to hopefully make things easier for later interperetations (and i don't mean to sound condescending. i'm sure some of you already know this), the bald male in the video is Mark and the red "haired" female is Hannah. They are Osseus Labrynt and they went on tour with Tool last year. but, now for my own interperetation...hehehe
i think that the video (and the song) is about two people who were possibly romantically involved, but see it as you will. they for some reason, some disagreements and betrayal perhaps or what have you, were driven apart from each other.
Maynard says "I know the pieces fit but i watched them fall away." i believe this suggests that the two persons' involvement was meant to be (not to sound too sentimental),
but they parted in vein. the video seems to suggest that it was Mark who fucked up because he seems to pursue Hannah's forgiveness. 'Fudamental differing' - they were in disagreement. "Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion between supposed lovers." - i believe the 'cold silence' is Mark's loneliness and frailty that he experiences without Hannah. and in his cold silence he has a tendency to see what he wishes could be - union between Hannah and himself once more, compassion between supposed lovers. i believe that when the two merge together in the video, it's what Mark wished for, it's what he wants to be. but that won't happen. they won't live in harmony together again. Maynard screams "I know the pieces fit..." and this repitition, over and over, as if an intense mantra spoken in vein, longing to regain the love and understanding that once was but will never be again.
damn. i got pretty sappy there didnt i. lol. im sorry if i sounded kinda jerky in there somewhere. but thats my 2 cents. thanks.
Sometimes I get the feeling they make the videos so abstract just to mess with us obsessed fans who dissect everything they do. I can just see them sitting around going "Hmm, what would really mess with their heads? I know, lets tie up a midget, have someone throw it off a cliff into a pile of hostess cupcakes and then flash the words 'Kill your TV' on the screen". Then we come up with some weird interpretation like "the midget represents television obviously, since it is small, and it is being thrown off a cliff (our mind), and the cupcakes are most likely representations of our consumer society and its delicious creamy center. I think Tool fans would be experts in hermaneutics (science of interpretation).
In greek mythologie zeus(i am not sure but it thought this was the greek mythologie) first created the double humans. This humans were as well male and female, then zues seperated these humans so that they could find and love eachother but this was in the begining not in the end i also think that a lot of things in the clip are reffering to time i mean the astrolgic calander in the begining and the end. Tool might be reffering to a lot of religions (they are in the kabala system)
There are wires throughout the video. I assume these are there to represent communication.
The female has no ears! The male cannot open his mouth and his eyes are slightly obscurred by his folds.
At the beginning the female finds herself sinking into a hole, and as she sinks she sees a pair of legs. She pulls herself out and then proceeds to pull the male out. She then makes a spiral in the rock with his head. Maybe this was a sort of synchronistic thing, order out of chaos, she was failing to stand him up but accomplishing something none the less.
In the next scene she's guesturing towards him in a manner that indicates she is not sure of herself or whatever she's asserting.
I think the part where he's raising his arms in and appears to be towering is representative of a sort of inflation of his ego. He's inflated, he's blowing smoke, see it? He thinks he is healed because the little root was removed from his neck and she's screaming because she knows he's in danger, that his feet still aren't planted firmly on the ground where they need to be. Reaching into the smoke is part of the inflation, he seems himself as godlike in his newfound power.
Notice, in the unification sequence the famale has ears or is growing them?
The flame at the end. Someone stated that they didn't like the flame, that they felt it was a chaotic destructive power. They are correct to a degree but they missed the key thing. The flame is God. It is enlightenment, The creative force in the universe, the creatix and destroyer. They can only see it now that they've overcome his inflation and her inability to hear and become one or reflections of each other.
__________________ "Something we were withholding made us weak,
Until we found it was ourselves." - Frost
Originally posted by NoVestal The flame at the end. Someone stated that they didn't like the flame, that they felt it was a chaotic destructive power. They are correct to a degree but they missed the key thing. The flame is God. It is enlightenment, The creative force in the universe, the creatix and destroyer. They can only see it now that they've overcome his inflation and her inability to hear and become one or reflections of each other.
I would say it depends on your interpretation of the word 'God'.
I myself don't believe there is a thing that 'is' god. To me, God is a concept that every human being seems to understand (a concept is a thing as well, off course, but this wasn't what i meant by 'it'). This concept can be used by people to explain things they don't really understand, or to cope with grief. It does even more things, like organizing groups of people. Let's just say it's ideal for people in certain situations to have a 'God'. People don't really agree on what this thing (or things, if you have more of them) is, but that isn't what really matters.
As I said, I don't believe there is a thing that 'is' god. But I do acknowledge the concept of it, and its use. This leaves me with a problem that I don't have a god, but could certainly use one. I try to replace it with a lot of theories about things and some vague assumptions of wich I know that they might not be true, in fact some even sound absurd if I would tell you. But together they could be my 'God'. And my mind buys it.
And now, to get to the point... You call it enlightenment, but isn't my 'God' enlightenment??? I think it is. As soon as you have a way of dealing with certain things you can overcome problems you wouldn't be able to overcome otherwise (in this case in an relationschip). You don't need a real God for this to happen. So I don't thing it's a God that is bringing them back together in the video, but it is themselves that have grown and learned from preveous experiences (with or without the concious use of the 'God-concept')...
Well, it looks like the wires are holding the pieces of the room(=the relationship) together. As also has been said in another thread they are thightly strung (tension), but they never touch eachother (lack of communication). If they would touch eachother it would be much easier to hold the room together (notice that the wires only go in 2 directions, =2 people in the relationship). Because they don't touch the high tension is needed to hold the peaces together, but this tension creates the risk of one (or more) wires to break, which would mean breaking up, Because the pieces can't be hold together anymore. In other words: communication is essential in a relationship, if you don't have it it will creat tension which will ruin the relationship.
Well yeah, that sounds pretty good, but you could translate anything into it really if you looked hard enough. I'd suggest the wires are taut because it would look dodgy if they were sagging... But like they say, no interpretation is wrong so its just as plausible as any.
