This is what I think is going on after watching this three tims
The dude is watching this huge violent thing from a distance. The bug and the exploding glass makes him take a look into himself (the sperm eyes going into his own eyes). He finally decides to instead of watching violence, he himself will explore whats beyond himself and goes into the glowing ball (kind of like a sperm into an egg) and from this he becomes a new person.
This is what I think is going on after watching this three tims
The dude is watching this huge violent thing from a distance. The bug and the exploding glass makes him take a look into himself (the sperm eyes going into his own eyes). He finally decides to instead of watching violence, he himself will explore whats beyond himself and goes into the glowing ball (kind of like a sperm into an egg) and from this he becomes a new person.
Kind of vague, let me know what you think.
After I've watched it several times I keep coming back with something new. At first I was exploring the idea of the microsocm/macrocosm theme, which is what you touch on in terms of going within oneself. The "protagonist" in the film finds the density of universes unto himself and witnesses the complex and infinite nature of his being. He then sees (or at least we do) the destruction of life on the macrocosmic scale (the external, larger world outside him) with the disintegration of the beetle and the tripod creature.
I find it interesting that the "awakening", or "transcendence" scene takes place after the death of the beetle and tripod. Perhaps this indicates a vision the protagonist witnesses of things to come unless he looks inside himself and realizes the sacredness of life, even at the microcosmic, quantum level. The death of that which is without is also the death of that which is within.
I was sort of underwhelmed the first time I saw the video. I was nitpicking the CGI and was missing Adam's stop motion and live action work, but the more I watch it the more it unfolds into something quite amazing. Adam really took a lot of time planning this and working with the themes. The angles he chose are quite mysterious. I like the way he uses lighting to great effect. I notice he loves to project moving shadows and silouettes onto surfaces. Especially in Schism and Parabola, not to mention Stinkfist. The shot on the desert surface with the moving shadows strikes me as particularly interesting. Anyone have any thoughts on his use of moving shadows?
the shadow is mysterious in that it is a constant reflection of yourself, without needing further detail.Also light and shadow are the ying and yang of the world,so perhaps the moving shadows are a methaphor for human projection/opening of the mind.
...maybe im no use and just babbling:P
i keep coming back to 2001: a space odyssey, and the dawn of man scene
then with a bunch of other crap thrown in
layer by layer
__________________ Eugene OR 8/5/01 | Portland OR 8/8/01 | Portland OR 11/6/01 | Seattle WA 5/2/06 | Vancouver BC 8/22/06 | George WA 8/27/06 | Vancouver WA 7/9/10 | Seattle WA 7/10/10
I love the part when the man falls and becomes like the little eye-worms, floating in an Alex Grey-land.
I think there's a lot of depth to this thing (real and imagined) that'll be extrapolated in the coming weeks.
A few things I noted:
- the red and blue eye-worms. They hesitate to come out at first, then they shoot out and probe the flaming black ball of dying world. Then they look at each other, and the guy's hand-eyes open, he falls to the ground, becomes a skeleton (ego-death?), and he flies through an Alex Grey painting.
- The orange bug. I'm not really sure what this represents, but I think we all can agree it looks at least vaguely threatening. The close-up shot with the dozen-whatever mandibles all waving around definitely isn't for people uncomfortable with crawly things.
- The fire from the hand to the eye seems to kill the eye-stalk and cause the glass cubes to shatter.
- Triiiiiippy ending.
- What's the final image? Looks almost like a crater impact.. or an eyeball.
I love the part when the man falls and becomes like the little eye-worms, floating in an Alex Grey-land.
I think there's a lot of depth to this thing (real and imagined) that'll be extrapolated in the coming weeks.
A few things I noted:
- the red and blue eye-worms. They hesitate to come out at first, then they shoot out and probe the flaming black ball of dying world. Then they look at each other, and the guy's hand-eyes open, he falls to the ground, becomes a skeleton (ego-death?), and he flies through an Alex Grey painting.
- The orange bug. I'm not really sure what this represents, but I think we all can agree it looks at least vaguely threatening. The close-up shot with the dozen-whatever mandibles all waving around definitely isn't for people uncomfortable with crawly things.
- The fire from the hand to the eye seems to kill the eye-stalk and cause the glass cubes to shatter.
- Triiiiiippy ending.
- What's the final image? Looks almost like a crater impact.. or an eyeball.
A buddy of mine said "eye of the hurricane" at the end of the video. At first I thought it was an obvious and simplistic interpretation (or just an observation seeing as it is an eye between what appears to be two hurricane-like spirals/swirls across the landscape), but as I thought about it more perhaps the eye could be a balance between the two forces (hurricanes); a middle ground if you will between light and dark.
The bug to me seems to represent a sucking/feeding force that drains away life, yet it does seem to elicit the opening of the eye on the protagonist's hand. It makes me think of the song "Ticks and Leeches". "Suckin up all you can suck you fat little tick and parasite." The insect is constantly sucking at the surface of the ground and glass. Or maybe insect intelligence.
A buddy of mine said "eye of the hurricane" at the end of the video. At first I thought it was an obvious and simplistic interpretation (or just an observation seeing as it is an eye between what appears to be two hurricane-like spirals/swirls across the landscape), but as I thought about it more perhaps the eye could be a balance between the two forces (hurricanes); a middle ground if you will between light and dark.
The bug to me seems to represent a sucking/feeding force that drains away life, yet it does seem to elicit the opening of the eye on the protagonist's hand. It makes me think of the song "Ticks and Leeches". "Suckin up all you can suck you fat little tick and parasite." The insect is constantly sucking at the surface of the ground and glass. Or maybe insect intelligence.
Here's somthing I suggested earlier:
http://toolnavy.com/showpost.php?p=2298264&postcount=4
I am beginning to think the bug may be something that both gives and takes away... It gives X the vision in his hands, but at the same time is taking away as it is the cause of the destruction in the world depicted, ie. the three legged destroyer. The bug dies when the big destroyer dies.
I have a problem with the whole Vicarious DVD thing. After watching the video, the documentary and rest I had a funny feeling that saying Tool -Vicarious on the cover is not fully correct. "Visionary Short Movie by Adam Jones & Alex Grey - animated interpretation of a song Vicarious by Tool" that, I think, should be stated on the cover. I enjoyed video very much but am I the only one that feels the video is somehow dettached from the band? It never happend to me with other Tool videos. They were created in large part by Jones but I could almost feel the whole band in it. Anyway, nice video, congarts all people involved.
I think it's about mankind's destruction unleashed upon the planet. You have the sun turning the planet into a desert (global warming). The "carbon destroyer" kills man (who, like all life, is carbon based). The bug resembles a flea, a tiny creature. We watch the flea die (who doesn't like it when fleas die?), and think that it cannot happen to us. After all, it's a tiny flea. Well, then we go smaller with the spermy things, which find an egg, and this new life does us in. I think TOOL is telling us to not procreate.
The "net of being" scene is in there to depict the party that mankind in the developed world has been enjoying for a long time. In the end, the weather gets screwed up, and we either die or look for a new home outside of earth.
everything in the video is connected intrinsically.
'X' is humanity, experiencing the world from behind a screen
the flea is humanity's parasitic nature, attempting to feed on whatever it can
the carbon destroyer is humanity's destructive nature, mostly aimless and leaving turmoil in its wake.
a tiny carbon destroyer emerges from the flea, indicating the two are born of/dependent on one another.
the net of being is the whole of conscious existence. galaxies upon galaxies, infinite beings of light and energy, all interconnected.
brandy and mandy represent the perceptions we have of the world. we attempt to interpret everything we see, but ultimately understand nothing, not even ourselves.
only after we reject everything can we truly explore our own infinite nature and truly "break the glass" and save ourselves from our desires to feed and destroy.
the eye of the world beneath the clouds is a reference to the notion of a "conscious planet spirit", a "gaia" if you will. this is relatable to the idea that the planet can sense that we are destroying it and could destroy us first, via natural disasters.
thats all i got so far.
__________________ The Church of Macho Man Randy Savage
Time distortion, space is the place, go down that lonesome highway, but don't be hypnotized. Reincarnation does not have to be. (Mean Gene I 2:3-4)
It's so damn simple and complex at the same time, adam really nailed it with his obscure artsy infinite wisdom. it's something that can't be communicated through words or online discussions, it just is a beautiful piece of art. I like how the world is portrayed kind of like a conscious being at the end, and how the 3D net of being people have galaxies for skin, it's like they are "the ALL" that Hermeticists speak of. I don't see how it can be anything else, seeing as Alex Grey saw the inspiration for Net of Being on a psychedelic tea trip in south america, or wherever he said it was in the vicarious documentary. I bet the tea is quite like the effects of salvia, which affects everyone differently but provided me with the visuals of and acid trip a thousand fold...anyway, It's a statement on many dimensions, as all of tool's teachings are usually, a personal, introspective, environmental, cosmic, worldy, universal message all in one video....think about that, 8 minutes might seem long for a song but to touch on so many levels of emotion and depth of thinking in such a small amount of time using nothing but your own ideas computers and some musical instruments...it's magick man.
AND, did anyone notice that December 18th also happened to be the day Mars begins it's journey away from earth on it's orbit? It won't be as close as it was on the 18th for another 30 years, and even then I believe it still won't be as close as it was this year, it was closer in 2003 but anyway, coincidence, synchronicity, or tool straight up did it on purpose because, you know they're astronomically conscious, I mean look at them.
After watching the Vicarious video numerous times, I believe I have come up with my own personal scene-by-scene interpretation. I give credit all around, because many of these ideas have already been mentioned, and all I've really done is to form them into a single cohesive synopsis.
The video begins by introducing the two eye-worms. The eye-worms, I believe, are visual representations of human perceptions. They allow their host (in this case, referred to as X) to take in the outside world and make judgments based on sensory data.
Next, the setting is established, shown to be a desert under a black sun. I've seen a number of people describe it as an eclipse, or a pupil. I think either interpretation is justified. In any case, I think the sun and the desert itself are both emblematic of X's condition-- unenlightened, devoid of inner growth, trapped within a figurative spiritual desert.
Finally, X himself is introduced. His very appearance, with his flesh comprised of television-screen-like material, implies that his entire being is made up of, as the song discusses, someone who lives vicariously through watching others. He is first shown watching as the large tentacled destroyer moves across the horizon and mars the landscape in the distance. Because there is such great distance between him and it, he does not feel threatened, and sees it more as a spectacle. The panes of floating glass that appear most closely evoke the feeling of television screens as well; just as televisions are to us, they can be seen as X's portals to the outside world.
And then, the insect appears. Unlike many of the other interpretations I've seen so far, I believe the insect represents a wholly positive influence on X. The insect is his catalyst to see beyond the screen. It lands upon his hand, opening an eye in each of his palms, forming hamsas. In this context, he has begun his journey to greater awareness.
It is at this point that the potential of the eye-worms is fully realized. At the beginning of the video, they are firmly anchored to their host, unable to move beyond his most superficial of limitations. They are mostly confined to the inside of his head, as his ability to interpret information is largely irrelevant to his initial existence. Once his hamsa eyes are open, however, his eye-worms are able to actually free themselves from their confinement. One of them moves skyward, to examine the sun more closely, while the other sticks its head through the pupil in one of his hamsa eyes. This is a perfect representation of a balanced increase in X's awareness, both of the external world around him, and the internal world within him.
With his new awareness, the next time he gazes into his portal to the world, he sees his own reflection. Suddenly, he is no longer a witness or bystander, but the one being watched. Glancing over to his side, he sees another person, the same as him, staring into the same glass. Finally he is aware that he is not the only person indulging his innate voyeuristic tendencies-- and even more striking, he is just as likely as anyone else to be the target of voyeurism. The point is further driven home when the insect lands once more on him and releases one of the tentacled destroyers directly above him. There is no longer distance between him and the disaster; the disaster is happening directly to him. While some may cite this as proof of the insect's negative effect on X, I say it is quite the opposite. It is absolutely essential to his full understanding of the world that he experiences firsthand what once seemed so enthralling at a distance, because when it happens to him, he gains a totally new perspective. Hence, the insect is once again serving as a catalyst for his spiritual growth.
As the destroyer knocks him down and he falls to the earth, his new perspective allows him to finally achieve a higher level of consciousness, represented by the development of the fetus within his head into the skeletal-looking being. His journey through Grey's Net of Being landscape is, in my opinion, a visual representation of the process of soul-searching. When at last he reaches his ultimate revelation, he connects with it, mirroring the event of conception. Out of the conception comes a ray of light and fire. At last, his major epiphany is at hand.
Suddenly, the glass shatters; X's portals to the world are no longer necessary, because he has reached a total awareness of the world within and without. The destroyer tumbles to the ground; X is no longer focused on watching it, so it ceases to matter. Even the insect disintegrates into dust; with X's total awareness finally achieved, the catalyst has served its purpose to finality, thereby rendering its existence meaningless.
X undergoes his final transformation, transcending the confines of the desert. As the video reaches an end, he has become the eye of the planet itself. This is symbolic of his transmutation, from an individual, focused only on his own being, to one of myriad cells making up the greater consciousness of the world. He has realized his connection with every other living thing, and in so doing he has gone from being an isolated and self-absorbed individual to being part of the whole.
I watched the video with a friend of mine who thought the eye worms represented our interpretation of good (the blue one which goes through the hand pupil) and bad (the red one) or something like that and how these get lost once we look up to the skies to find an answer, when it is really all in ourselves... made sense to me since they detach from the eyes once X looks to the sky..
