Rabbit in your headlights

Watch this music video. Yes it is five whole minutes of your life - - but you must see the end.

Let me catch you up:
This is a music video directed by Jonathan Glazer for Unkle’s first song off of their 1998 release of Psyence Fiction. The track “Rabbit in Your Headlights” features front man Thom Yorke from Radiohead. The song alone is mesmerizing, but when paired with Jonathan Glazer’s visuals…it becomes, like nicotine coated smack syringes - - addicting - - euphoric - - mind altering.

Form and Function
The song consists of lyrics which could be interpreted as little snid bits of social commentary. Thom Yorke sings “I’m a rabbit in your headlights, Christian suburbanite, washed down the toilet, money to burn.” The chorus offers vivid picture of hypocrisy - - the “rabbit in your headlights” symbolizes the disaffected, disenfranchised broke down existence of most men and women, especially those living far below a 6 figured income. He sings this song to the “Christian suburbanite,” who in this instance, is being characterized as the wealthy people who put on a façade of good willingness and charity, but are in fact only judgmental hypocrites who do little to nothing to benefit the good of the people. The “rabbit in your headlights” can also be interpreted as being put on a spotlight and being completely vulnerable to the menacing smiles and apathy of the “Christian suburbanite.”

Jonathan Glazer’s video delivers Unkle’s message by matching the form of the video to the function of the song. The song contains some really heavy content, and instead of backing out on that message or sugar coating the meaning, Glazer goes straight to the jugular on this one and not only does he do the music justice, but he also creates an environment that supports the music’s message rather than hinder it. The video begins with a man walking through a dark highway tunnel. Cars are swerving around him, not even stopping to help him off the road or rolling down a window to see if he is okay. Eventually cars begin to hit him and drive off. The first hit nearly kills the man, but each one thereafter makes him stronger - - strong enough so that he is getting up right away. The man is speaking in what sounds like tongues, or perhaps is merely gibberish. This imagery presents him as a madman, but what is ironic is the people in the car seem madder because of their apathy at the sight of his destruction. I think the visuals here make the song even more complex because we don’t want to believe that this is actually happening, but instead we can think of the whole scene as a metaphor - - the man has become invisible to society in the same way that the poor, homeless and crazy have become invisible to society. We may make sad attempts at showing concern, but in truth, do we ever really do something about it?! We become so comfortable in our lives that the problems of other people are just things we talk about, analyze, commodify, or in this instance, write about.

Spoiler Alert
The end of the video is pure visual candy. It does something the song alone can not - - which is to redeem the subject of the song, the rabbit in your headlights. There are many ways to interpret this, especially since the man is in the position of a crucifix and there are religious overtones throughout the song. Either the man is a symbol of sacrifice for the rest of society, meaning his misery gives the Christian suburbanites something to throw their money at to feel better, or it simply symbolizes humankinds ability to overcome all of the hardships in life and still live on.