Pearl Jam - Do The Evolution
by Samir Hourani
1. Introduction
This
essay analyses the animated music video to the single ‘Do the Evolution’ by
Pearl Jam, which was released in 1998. After outlining the original backstory
and production details, as well as giving a short summary of the video, the
analytical part is divided into sub points. Each of these sub points focuses on
a certain subject of interest, such as the themes and symbolism prevalent in
the video, two of the most predominant narrative techniques, the correlation
with the lyrics of the song and finally the many historical references, which can
be found in the various scenes. A final conclusion of the video will evaluate
whether its core message is still relevant today.
2. Backstory and production
The
video to Pearl Jam’s single “Do the Evolution” was co-directed by Todd
McFarlane and Kevin Altieri. McFarlane is mainly known for his work as a comic
artist for both Marvel and DC comics. At the time of production he was in the
process of establishing his newly founded McFarlane Entertainment Company, when
Pearl Jam’s lead singer Eddie Vedder asked him to make the video. McFarlane
developed the original character and background designs with Joe Parson of
Epoch Ink Animation and got Altieri to direct the video.[1]
At the time of production, Altieri just finished the last episodes of ‘Batman:
The Animated Series’, which would remain his most successful piece of work to
this day. The total production time of the video was sixteen weeks, spanning
from initial concepts and rough cuts over creating the animation in Korea, to
finishing the final cut at Vittelo Productions in Los Angeles.
Vedder
said that the inspiration for the ‘Yield’-album and especially for the song “Do
the Evolution” came from David Quinn’s novel ‘Ishmael’,[2]
in which the central message revolves around humanity’s self-centred obsession
with technology. Vedder stated: “This
book is a conversation with a man and an ape. And the ape really has it all
together. He kinda knows the differences between him and the man, and points
out how slight they are, and it creates an easy analogy for what man has done,
thinking that they were the end-all. That man is the end-all thing on this
earth.” [3]
3. Summary
The
video shows the evolution of life, beginning from the first cell division, over
the dinosaur- and Stone Age, to the peek of human reign on earth in a
futuristic scenario. Through the course of evolution, the video cuts back and
forth between different stages of human society with a focus on some of the
most violent and destructive episodes of its history, such as both world wars
and the Vietnam War. It also depicts humanity’s obsession with technology and
how it is utilized in favour of an even more destructive behaviour. The video also
points out socio-political problems of humankind such as blindly following
leader figures, murder and humiliation in the name of religious- or political
movements, racism and radical nationalism, as well as environmental problems
like the abuse and exploitation of animals and nature. The video ends with the downfall of humanity through
a devastating, global nuclear war, which renders the planet devoid of all life
forms. Through the entire video, a woman with black hair and clothes reappears
in between scenes, seemingly entertained by humanity’s failure to establish and
maintain peace amongst each other.
4. Themes
The
main theme of the video is the focus on humanity’s violent nature and how it
remains essentially unchanged over the course of history. Sub-themes deal with
various social and economical issues in which said violence manifests, such as
war, the abuse and exploitation of animals by the hands of man, slavery and
racism, domestic violence as well as the rapid spread of the human race,
causing the extinguishing of other species by exhausting the planet’s resources.
Although there are a lot of fast cuts, many scenes seem to be intertwined in
the their composition and cinematography in a way which creates a parodist
sub-theme, such as the repetition of settings which are applied to both humans
and animals. While Ryan has pointed out that “literary themes that embody evolution range from violence and war to
love and marriage. The tendency toward violence in humans is a response to
adverse environments […] that made a capacity for violence an adaptation that
increased human fitness to survive and reproduce.”[4] ,
these ancient adaptive dispositions receive a highly ambivalent treatment
in the video, which highlights human violence in a sarcastic way and thus
rarely focuses on the survivalist aspect of evolution.
5. Symbolism
Visual
metaphors and symbolic means are extensively placed throughout the video from
start to finish, ranging from provocative open display to more subtle ones that
may only be perceived through the viewer’s subconscious. The most predominant
comes in form of the woman in black who is shown in between scenes and who also
gets the most screen time out of any character. The female character is
portraying ‘Death’ following humanity from the moment when a human is first
shown committing murder to the point where all of mankind is eradicated from
the planet. The polarizing symbolic nature of a woman portraying death -in
contrast to the traditional notion of femininity associated with the act of
‘giving life’- was inspired by the DC Comics series ‘The Sandman’, in which
death is characterised by a young ‘Goth’-type woman wearing black clothing.[5]
She watches man’s violent outbursts through the various conflicts and is
increasingly entertained by the rising murder rate spread by war and famine.
Humanity in return is monotonously depicted as the one entity that ends all life,
which is symbolised by the gigantic machine shaped like a woman giving birth,
mass producing babies with bar-codes on a conveyor belt. This further illustrates
the devaluation and disregard of human life by man himself, since the mass-produced
babies effectively become an automatized economic commodity.
The
same symbolic nature is attached to the Christian cross. Whether in form of the
Crusader’s helmet, as burning cross in the KKK ritual or as sea of tormented
souls turning into cheap crucifix pendants from a shady street vendor, the
devaluation and parody of religious symbols -and therefore religiousness- is
highly present. In his analysis of ‘Jesus and the Crucifix’, Malone explains
the habit film to set the crucifix in relation -and as a binding mechanism-
with culture.[6]
Religion appears as a concealment factor to mask and justify man’s inherent,
violent ‘culture’ of meeting his own selfish demands for the sake of serving a
higher entity, while in reality his actions only serve his own greed.
Mankind’s
relationship with nature receives the same treatment as the scenes highlight
its macabre progression: First, man overcomes his very own nature by stripping
of his primate form in favour of the corporate appearance. He then starts to
exploit nature by abusing animals and he lastly destroys nature, symbolised by
the gigantic machine devouring everything in its way including entire eco systems,
to satisfy his selfishness. The symbol of ‘the machine’ therefore proves to be
the symbolic epitome of human evolution as a sign of technological progress and
ultimately as replacement for natural functions in return for a process, which
automatizes, extends and amplifies them in increasingly negative ways.
6. Narrative techniques
6.1 Repetition
The
scene progression in the video is made through the use of rapid jump cuts,
which renders the narrative fast paced, increasingly chaotic and seemingly without
any logic continuity. However some specific scenes are repeated throughout the
video, such as the group of people dancing around fire. In the first instance,
the group consists of cave men holding hammers. (fig. A) The second time the
scene depicts a group of Indians holding tomahawks (fig. B) while the other two
repetitions show homeless people holding bottles of alcohol and the members of
the Ku-Klux-Clan in their ritual robes. (fig. C, fig. D) While the scene
repeats four times with the various groups taking the exact same body postures,
each rendition follows the evolution of man from the Stone Age to modern time.
The focal point in this progression is fire, which remains unchanged as corner
stone enabling man to rise over other life forms.
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The
same use of repetition can be found in the scenes where the video rapidly cuts
between the judge, a general, a priest and a politician. (1:56 - 2:00) While
all of them pose as leading figures to humanity, the video reveals the same
puppeteer in the background, pulling their strings. More repetition is observed
between scenes where characters take up similar poses, such as the Roman
general and the American cotton farmer whipping their slaves, the caveman and
the crusader holding their respective weapons (fig. E, fig. F) or the Roman
emperor and the factory owner holding their sons next to them. (fig. G, fig. H)
Here repetition is utilized to point out the lingering notion of man’s
stagnant, violent state of mind, despite his technological evolvement. Again,
this points out the central message of constant parallelism between mankind’s
evolution and technological advancement and it’s implementation into human
society, without bringing actual change to its core nature.
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6.2 Tone and colour
In
some instances, the video shows the use of subliminal changes in colour and
tone -or what audiences would consider ‘lighting’ in classic film- to
illustrate certain effects. The transition between the herd of wild horses and
the battalion of tanks (0:47 - 0:53) is further emphasized by the change in
background colour from blue to red, along with a slightly darker overall tone, creating
a more dramatic effect on the viewer as red is often associated with violence.[7]
The same change in colour scheme is found between the test monkey and the death
row inmate, namely the change from a well lit blue steel table to a dark red
room in which the electric chair is positioned. Another interesting colour
relation is found in the character design of the ammunition factory owner
wearing a blue jacket and his son, wearing a red one. Under the premise of
previous scenes effectively depicting the worsening of the respective
circumstances by turning from blue to red, the generational change from father
to son is here put in a highly suspicious spot as well. (fig. G, fig. H)
7. Lyrics
The
video’s visuals are tightly interwoven with the lyrics. While they do not match
the depicted scenes frame by frame, there is a clear correlation. The lines “Admire me, admire my
home, Admire my son, he’s my clone” appear synonymous with the Roman emperor and the
factory CEO watching over their property with their sons by their side. “These
ignorant Indians got nothing on me” and “Buying stocks on the
day of the crash” fit perfectly to the according scenes. It can easily be
observed that the lyrics played a major role in the conception and creative
writing of the video.
8. Historical references
Since
the video revolves around human evolution through the different eras in time,
it holds many references to historical events. The businessman jumping to his
death from the building is a reference to the Wall street crash of 1929 -the
biggest stock market crash in the history of the United States- which signalled
the beginning of the great ten year depression and caused investment bankers to
take their lives. There is also the reference to the Crusades by the Roman
Catholic Church, a military campaign aimed at the aggressive expansion of
Western Christendom causing massacres within the borders of Europe. The Ku Klux
Klan -a United States born right wing movement which became infamous for its
violent acts against African-Americans-
is also highly prevalent in the video during the scenes of the cross
burnings and the one instance where group members dance around the fire. They
are shown wearing the traditional white robes and the conical hats. The
reference to Nazi-Germany is made by showing the marching troops, along with
the tormented people within the concentration camp and book burnings. However
the swastika symbol is here exchanged with what appears to be the letter “S”,
which resembles the symbol for the German ‘Schutzstaffel’ during World War 2. There
is also a World War 1 battlefield scene highlighted by the gas masks and the
characteristic ‘Pickelhaube’ worn by the German troops. The scene in which a
fighter jet bombs the village holds two historical references. The first, being
a reference to the Vietnam War, is rather obvious. During the Vietnam War the
American forces committed countless atrocities to the population of Vietnam by
carpet-bombing them, humiliating and murdering civilians and by contaminating
the land for generations to come. The sheer evil and mindlessness of these
actions is also emphasized when the jet pilot takes off his oxygen mask, only
to reveal a frantically laughing skull. However, the more subtle reference is
found in the crying baby (fig. I) which reminds the viewer of ‘Bloody
Saturday’, a photograph from October of 1937, which became world famous within
a month of its publication. (fig. J) It
showed a Chinese baby crying in front of railway station that was bombed by the
Japanese only a few minutes before the photo was shot.
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9. Conclusion
The
video to ‘Do the Evolution’ stands as cornerstone of late 90s music and its
socio-political core message remains relevant to this day. The idea of
geopolitical criticism was everything but a revelation at the time the video
was first aired. On the contrary, those messages appear to be a hallmark of
music videos of that particular era and genre. Implementation of anti-establishment
themes and provocative notions into music videos were a guarantee for attention
in a time when people did not have access to the many sources of information
and social networking of the following decade. Artist deliberately made use of
them for sheer shock value, to intrigue and maintain fan bases and to create
sales, and naturally to set themselves apart from the mainstream acts which dominated
the charts. And while ‘Do the Evolution’ did not offer anything ground breaking
for its time, it holds certain qualities which gave it a timeless appeal. To
this day it is subject of discussion whenever people stumble upon it, whether consciously
or by accident. The all-encompassing factor of compiling mankind’s complete
sociological, political and technological advancement within a 3-minute video
that solely focuses on the negative, the destructive and the evil leaves a
lasting impression.
When
trying to draw a conclusion on the video, it inevitably leads to the question
of what it would potentially look like if it were made today. The geopolitical
landscape has changed in the following two decades after its original release,
but when looking at the events that occurred within this era, we find that once
again the core message remains essentially unchanged. The video ends with the
complete destruction of earth by the hands of man, yet the very last scene also
shows a transition from the fiery remains of the inhabitable planet to the
silhouette of the same cell that started life in the beginning. It leaves the
viewer with a shallow prospect of uncertain hope, but also with a reminder that
it is ultimately us who write the next chapter in the story.
10. Bibliography
Dringenberg, Mike; Gaiman, Neil. The Sandman, issue #8. Burbank: DC Comics, 1989
Malone, Peter. Screen Jesus: Portrayals of Christ in
Television and Film. Plymouth: The Scarecrow Press, 2012.
Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit.
New York: Bantam/Turner, 1992.
Ryan, Michael. An Introduction to Criticism:
Literature/Film/Culture.
Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
Ryan, Michael; Lenos, Mellissa. An Introduction to Film
Analysis: Technique and Meaning in Narrative Film. New York, London: The
Continuum International Publishing Group, 2012.
Electronic resources
http://www.epochinkanimation.com/mvs.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20000526203544/http://www.addict.com/issues/4.02/html/lofi/Cover_Story/Pearl_Jam/page_11.html
[fig.
J] taken from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Saturday_(photograph)#mediaviewer/File:BattleOfShanghaiBaby.gif
[fig.
A - I] screen captions taken from:
http://vimeo.com/81290635
lofi/Cover_Story/Pearl_Jam/page_11.html
[4] Ryan, Michael. An
Introduction to Criticism: Literature/Film/Culture. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. P. 125
[6] Malone,
Peter. Screen Jesus: Portrayals of Christ
in Television and Film. Plymouth: The Scarecrow Press, 2012. P. 275
[7] Ryan,
Michael; Lenos, Mellissa. An Introduction
to Film Analysis: Technique and Meaning in Narrative Film. New York,
London: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2012. P. 108