Knights of Cydonia

For this post I had difficulty choosing between the Muse song that chronicled human history (of course ending with the aliens and giant fiery robotic teddy bear attacks that are bound to happen in the future) and Knights of Cydonia, which tells the classic tale of the space cowboy. I went with Knights of Cydonia.

The lyrics to Knights of Cydonia basically exhort one to "fight for their rights", in a very general poetic sense, not mentioning what exactly those rights we should be fighting for are exactly. It opens with the artist briefly mentioning history and noting the difficulty of living/"winning" when "fools can be kings"

The video tells the tale of a kung fu space cowboy who is new in town, and not only gets the girl, but gets on the wrong side of evil cowboy (dressed in black) who runs the town. We're not quite sure why he's evil, he just looks scruffy and tries to kill the cowboy and hang his girl. In the end, following some karate, a laser shoot out, and a hot chick in a metallic bikini on a unicorn, the cowboy defeats the evil cowboy and rides off into the sunset with his girl.

Perhaps what is most interesting about the video is how it makes a point to copy conventions of the classic Western film. The salon scene, shoot out, and even the pan from the sign "town of Cydonia" to the cowboy entering the town are all classic western elements. Of course the robots, kung fu, and lasers are all added fun.

My actual favorite narrative music video is the trailer for Gears of War featuring Mad World, because I love how the camerawork, editing choices and music flow together so perfectly. (Perfectly I say!)