You're Beautiful Part 1

You’re Beautiful Part 1

Muse – Knights Of Cydonia

Written By Aaron

‘Knights of Cydonia’ is one of Muse’s most memorable music videos to date just because of how weird it is. Directed by Joseph Kahn, who has worked with the likes of Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, it features robots, cowboys, an apocalyptic world and a woman on a unicorn. Because why not, right? Appearing on the ‘Black Holes And Revelations’ album, it primarily falls under the genre of alt-rock. The video is obviously made in parody of the stereotypical sci-fi/western films of the early 90’s.

One major point of the relationship between lyrics and visuals is that at some points throughout the video certain cast members will mouth the lyrics, but will do it after it has been sung and end before the next line starts. The lyric ‘you and I must fight for our rights’ is sometimes said when there is some form of oppression going on in the video, as when the character ‘Princess Shane Kuriyami’, played by Cassandra Bell, is about to be hung. Similarly, when the main character is stranded in the dessert and spots a skeleton of someone who shared a similar fate, the lyric ‘you and I must fight to survive’ is sung, indicating that he must fight if he is to survive his current situation. There aren’t many other instances of this as the video is mainly used in a narrative sense to tell the story of ‘The Man With No Name’, the main character, as he fights to protect his love, the princess, from the evil ‘Sheriff Baron Klaus Rottingham’ in Cydonia, a fictional town on Mars.

There are a lot of connections between the music and the video however, even right at the beginning when the main character is riding into the town on horseback; the guitar is played to sound like a galloping horse and the same is done with the drums. At certain points the entire band can be seen portrayed as a hologram, like when the main character enters the saloon, instead of a live band, they are a hologram. Often times the beat will kick in just as something big is happening. For example, during one scene wherein the main character and the princess are in a bar playing cards, they get into a fight with the princess slapping the main character. Each time she slaps him, it cuts to a different room where they have less and less clothes on, until they are in just their underwear, and as he grabs her hand to stop her from hitting him they kiss, and at that moment the beat kicks in. The same thing happens when the main character is stranded in the desert and spots a woman riding on a unicorn, as he reaches out to her his hand drops, revealing her to the audience, it is right then that the song kicks in again. The music also just gets generally faster and faster as the song and story progresses.

The video doesn’t really focus on Muse themselves however; they appear as real people instead of holograms occasionally. This is usually when the song has a chorus. They appear edited over the actual video somewhat opaque. I can imagine the record company would try and sell this song purely on how strange the music video is. It really make you think what the hell they were thinking when they were making it. It can almost be referred to as a parody of sorts, as it can be quite humorous at some points, so maybe that was a selling point for the record company. The video also relates quite well to previous videos by Muse in that it looks weird and meaningless at first glance, but when you combine the lyrics and the music and the video together, it actually has a very strong meaning. This particular song is about standing up for oneself. I personally think this video is a little bit different to many of Muse’s other works because it tells a story quite literally in the video. Many of their other songs also tell a story in the video but none area as literal as this.

There is a little bit of sexualisation throughout the video too. The female lead, the princess, is somewhat sexualised in that there is a scene depicting foreplay between her and the main character. There is also a point in the video in which the sheriff licks her face while she is at the gallows, in an obviously creepy manner. The woman on the unicorn in the desert is also somewhat sexualised, wearing revealing and tight clothes. This is probably done to bring in a wider audience, as it usually is. It also feels out of place in a video about cowboys and space robots to have a skimpy woman so the only real explanation is that is done for sales. During a sex scene between the main character and the princess, the camera crew can be intentionally seen in a mirror next to the bed. There aren’t many other indications of the notion of looking in the video aside from that one character, perhaps this was done intentionally.

There are a few intertextual references throughout the video. My favourite is when the main character is riding into the town he rides past the Statue of Liberty half buried in sand. This is obviously in reference to the film Planet Of The Apes. Right near the start a title card plays announcing the name of the producer as Gustof von Musterhausen. While this is a fictional character, there is a MySpace page called Gustaf von Musterhausen, which only serves to provide information on the video itself.  The entire video is an obvious reference to spaghetti westerns. The video even comes complete with start and end credits, making it look like an actual movie.

It also references many Kung-Fu movies as at the start there is a montage of the main character practicing fighting moves, with the names of them appearing next to him as he is doing them.

The music video is primarily narrative based as I have previously pointed out; however there are some aspects of a performance based video. This is because the band can be seen throughout the video as either a hologram or edited over the video itself.

In summary, I think this video is quite strange (obviously), but I also think it puts forward a powerful message. Looking back at what has been said, this video is full of little things that would make any music video viewer quite happy. From the weird setting in a western village to the stark contrast of the robots and laser guns, it really is a treat for the eyes and ears too, as the song is great to boot. I personally think this video is a narrative masterpiece. It tells a story while not really trying. I think it is a parody of old style western films and sci-fi films too, while also taking itself serious enough to fully portray a story set in a goofy world. It is primarily a narrative video with elements of a performance based video too. Overall, I think it is a testament to great filmmaking and will more than likely stand the test of time, viewed by many people trying to break down a music video for years to come.