How Riding With No Handlebars Can Lead To Corruption
a Marxist Analysis on the Flobots' "Handlebars" Music Video
a Marxist Analysis on the Flobots' "Handlebars" Music Video
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Marx argues in his essay, "The German Ideology," that humans are distinct from animals due to the fact that we are able to produce material items--whether that be an automobile, a purse, a computer, or a bicycle. In the music video "Handlebars" (by the band, the Flobots), we are taken from one "human" ability (human once again relating back to the fact that we produce material items) to another. The song starts off simple ("I can ride my bike with no handlebars"), travels into capitalistic thought ("I can make money, open up a thrift store"), technology ("I can make new antibiotics"), power ("I see the strings that control the system"), corruption ("I can do anything with no permission"), and inevitably the end of civilization ("I can end the planet in a holocaust").
The opening scene of the music video immediately establishes conflict: in the foreground, two friends on a hill surrounded by trees, grass, fields, flowers, etc. In the background there are skyscrapers, a huge city, urban life, and more. These opposites emphasize the metaphor of peace and corruption, a theme which is present throughout the entire video. Immediately, we learn the ideologies of the friends when they stop riding their bikes (with no handlebars) and approach a fork in the road. One sign shows a dove--symbolic for peace, freedom, equality, love, hope, dreams. The other sign shows the letter "c" in an octagon--synonymous with structure and all the bad "c" words (corporations, companies, capitalism, consumerism, conglomerates). I will identify both characters based on their decision on which path to travel: there is the Proletariat, or the one who goes the route of the dove, and there is the Bourgeoisie, the one who goes the route of the "C".
The Dove Path leads to an extremely community-oriented neighborhood. People are dancing, kids are playing hopscotch, and everyone seems to know each other (evident in the Proletariat's wave to the man on the balcony). There are birds flying, open spaces, and sidewalk chalk drawings. These scenes of the neighborhood further emphasize the lyrics in the song which are nostalgic, innocent, and playful ("do-si-do," "tie a knot in a cherry stem," "comic book").
We make the transition from this innocent ideology to one which is more technologically inclined when the song makes a shift from the verse to the bridge: "...And I can see your face on the telephone." The music video transitions to the Bourgeoisie's journey through the city. We see a single black bird in the sky--counterpart to the initial dove of the Proletariat. With the introduction of technology, the Bourgeoisie views life vastly different from that of his Proletariat friend. The lyrics echo this as the narrator can "design an engine 64 miles to the gallon," "make new antibiotics," "run a business." The character of the Bourgeoisie is heavily seen in these lyrics: "And I can make you wanna buy a product / Movers, shakers, and producers." There is a return of the "C" when the Bourgeoisie shakes hands with a CEO and receives a stack of money. We can assume, by the montage, that the Bourgeoisie begins to work his way up the corporate ladder--the American Dream at its finest. It should be noted that perhaps, at one point, the Bourgeoisie character was a proletariat like his friend...but with capitalist greed and the drive to stay "alive and on top," he became bourgeois.
There is a transition from capitalist thought and technological ability to power and even greater technological ability. The Bourgeoisie switches from talking on the television (evident of the little "C" in the corner) with a "C" logo in the background, to the American flags as the backdrop of his speech. He becomes the leader of the nation and, as the song progresses, continues through a pattern of corruption.
The dove motif returns to us in the next scene: it is flying in the air, only to be grabbed by a black bird and presumably killed...a strategic foreshadowing of the Proletariat's fall. Bentham and Foucault's panopticon emerge with the development of surveillance cameras in the music video. The Bourgeoisie's power grows more oppressive with Big Brother techniques. A wall with the dove spray painted on it is bulldozed down; a billboard of the "C" is erected.
From this point, the Bourgeoisie character demonstrates the concept of interpolation; he represents the government when he speaks on television, operates from his erect tower, etc. He is hailing (a concept Althusser expresses in his essay, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses") the world--specifically the Proletariat friend--and they are responding. The Proletariat character believes he is free...this is evident in the way he shakes his head at the television broadcast of the Bourgeoisie friend before walking away. Incidentally, he as a subject does not agree to be controlled.
A soapbox revolution stirs. The Proletariat persuades people to rebel against the Bourgeoisie character (and by extension, the government). A man masked in a bandanna spray paints an "X" and the word "liar" over the Bourgeoisie before joining the movement. We can return to Marx's "Communist Manifesto" to predict the outcome: "...war breaks out into open revolution, and where the violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie lays the foundation for the sway of the proletariat."
Bourgeoisie's corruptive power is emphasized through the lyrics. "My reach is global / My tower secure / My cause is noble / My power is pure." In the music video, there is a return to the panopticon--more technologically advanced, this structure operates using multiple floating cameras to observe the active subjects. There is no escape for our Proletariat from this structure.
With the new level of human consciousness achieved by the rebels, a protest begins. The Proletariat and his crowd of dissidents face the police (like the Bourgeoisie friend, the police are one of the many faces of the government) in a climatic ending of violence and death--very appropriate considering the tone of the song during this point. Technology advances even more (a progression seen by the comic book, the engine, the antibiotics, and now, the missiles) as power breeds corruption, and we are left with a narrator screaming about how he can "hit a target through a telescope," and "end the planet in a holocaust."
Our Proletariat meets an unfortunate end. The Bourgeoisie friend shows surprise and sadness, creating the assumption that he still has some kind of humanity in him. There is a return to the "good ol' days" of riding a bike without handlebars before we cut to black.
The Flobots' "Handlebars" examines the correlation between technology and corruption, between capitalistic ideology and the ultimate downfall of civilization. The linear progression of simplicity to basic technology, of advanced machinery to the ultimately technological "god"-like invasions is examined through the music video itself. It is important for us as a society to take into account criticisms like this one. Even if the music video and the Flobots aren't 100% critiquing Capitalism (and they certainly aren't advocating Marxism), one can still see the parallels between this "Handlebars" story and that of Marx's bourgeoisie and proletariat predictions. It is also important, then, to re-examine our history so that we can equip ourselves for the future...as Marx does in his "German Ideology" essay (a retelling of history through a Marxist lens), so we must do with important occurrences and events.
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Works Cited
"The Communist Manifesto." Republished by The Australian National University. 28 April 2008. 4 August 2009. http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html
Wexler, Steven. Lecture Series. California State University, Northridge. Northridge, CA. July - August 2009.
I thought this screen capture was interesting. It's a nice subliminal message; only stays on the screen for about a second or two. Perhaps the Flobots' & the music video creators wanted to speak on this:
-b
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