Radiohead - Burn The Witch - Essay

How is media language including the intertextuality used in ‘Burn the Witch’ to construct representations of groups, messages & values?

The music video I will be analysing is Burn the Witch, by Radiohead. It was reported that this music video represented their views on the refugee crisis, and how they are treated and observed as, in societies such as those in the UK.

Burn the Witch is a narrative music video which illustrates the scary events of an inspectors (who is a guest) experiences when visiting a town, which looks peaceful and full of life. This music video depicts mob rule in a rural community. The inspector is first shown the town by the mayor and witnesses the people of the town carrying out everyday tasks such as mowing the lawn, reinforcing a happy village life. However, later on, he is exposed to a series of unsettling sights, such as children happily playing dunking chairs, which was used as a test to see if someone was a witch. There was also reference to the old act of marking the doors with red paint if someone was infected with the plague, back in the eighteenth century, so people could stay away from those houses. As well as this, he sees a lady being tied to a tree with males around her with swords possibly doing a type of exorcism, and many more disturbing events culminating in the unveiling of a structure resembling the wicker man, which is an obvious intertextual reference. The mayor convinces the inspector to climb into the wicker man structure, where he is then locked inside as a human sacrifice, and the wicker man is then set on fire. As the flames gather, the people from the town turn their backs on the wicker man and wave goodbye to the camera, showing elements of breaking the fourth wall. After the song ends, the inspector escapes among the trees and is seen wiping his face, to get rid of burns and dirt.

As the music video has been linked to the classic 1960’s show called ‘Trumpton’, which has the same type of characters, it does contrast the idyllic, crime-free rural Britain previously seen in the music video. 'Trumpton' is a visual representation of how right-wing politicians want to describe Britain without migrants. This music video can also be conveyed as criticism of the European migrant crisis, and the scapegoating of Muslims in western society, by politicians such as Donald Trump. The name. Trumpton’ also sounds like the US presidents second name ‘Trump’, which may be another reason why this type of music video was created. The mob mentality seen in this music video is present in the video and the film ‘The Wicker Man’, since the villages of both are synchronised and seem to be brainwashed to follow the lead of the mayor, and this may reference to Western culture, whereby certain populations are persecuted for being different, and could be seen as a critique of Western politics, such as Donald Trump, who was discussed above.

Throughout the music video, some of the mise en scene is re occurring. An example is the reoccurring crates if tomatoes, which is a reference to the empty crates of summerisle fruit in The Wicker Man.

A key part of this music video is the bird singing happily at the open and close of the video, which is in contrast of the scary lyrics and vision of mob-like communities. Radiohead had formed a company called ‘Dawn Chorus LLP’ and another called ‘Dawnchoruss Ltd’, which is a tactic that Radiohead normally employ prior to a release of an album to minimise the effect its success or failure would have on any other albums they have created.

To conclude, this music video is a great representation of what Western society could be like at the worst of times and what it feels like for those who are being affected, this also highlights the impact of what music/videos can have on an audience and conveys Radiohead’s messages clearly regarding the refugee crisis.