"Lazarus" is a 2015 song by English rock musician David Bowie and was his last single released before his death from cancer in January 2016. The official music video, directed by Johan Renck, was released three days before Bowie's death and resulted in Bowie's first top 40 hit single hitting the Billboard Hot 100 in more than 28 years.
According to Bowie's producer Tony Visconti, the lyrics and video of "Lazarus" and other songs on the album were intended to be a self-epitaph: a commentary on Bowie's own impending death. The name of the track refers to the subject of a prominent miracle of Jesus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores a man to life four days after his death. During the week of shooting the video, doctors reportedly informed Bowie that his cancer was terminal and that they were ending treatment.
The video is shot in a location which looks like a hospital death bed and Bowie appears in a variety of costumes such as a nightshirt with a bandage and buttons sewn over his eyes and a diagonally striped suit referencing the back cover of the 1991 CD reissue of the Station to Station album, where he is pictured sitting on the floor drawing the kabbalistic Tree of Life. This “intertextual” referencing is what Andrew Goodwin refers to in “Dancing in the Distraction Factory” in which he states that music videos often borrow from other texts to create layers of meaning. In this instance Bowie is providing his fans with visual references from his long and illustrious career in order that they can reflect upon his art in a similar fashion to Bowie himself.
Andrew Goodwin also states that in music videos the lyrics are represented in the visuals. In Lazarus lyrics appear to be “amplified” and given layers of meaning. For example, during the line “i'm so high it makes my brain whirl”, he is whirling within the frame, and is very high up in the frame, which reflects the lyrics and puts the audience in the same position as Bowie.
Musical mood changes are also referenced visually within the video. For example, when the first verse ends, as the girl under the bed (death) reaches up to get Bowie, the music becomes higher and more screechy, mirroring the raising of the hand.
Goodwin’s “notion of looking” is indirectly referenced through the fact that Bowie is wearing buttons and bandages over his eyes. This suggests that he cannot see what's happening around him, so someone could be watching him. The girl who represents death backs this up, as she is seen watching him from different positions in the room as he is lying in the hospital bed, effectively blind.
Goodwin also states that the record label often places demands upon an artist in terms of meeting fan expectations. In Lazarus this is achieved through the persona of a second Bowie clad in black who can still pose, pout, pick up a pen and create. This represents him to his fans as being the old Bowie that they love, who is creative, iconic and energetic, contrasting him shown in the hospital bed. His unique and edgy dance moves further emphasise this return of the old Bowie.
The video also uses iconography linked to Bowie’s star persona such as the camp dance moves and the tight, abstract bodysuit. The fact that he comes out of the closet at the start of the video could be referencing the camp or gay persona that he put on earlier in his career. At the end of the video the returned to the closet which could be representing the fact that he is leaving this persona behind as he dies.
No comments:
Post a Comment