A Video Redone: Eminem's "Mosh"
If you watched Eminem’s “Mosh” video within the last few weeks, you didn’t see the original version.
“We had to figure out how to keep it going,” said video director Ian Inaba in New York Magazine. “Seeing that the voting thing didn’t work out so well,” as Inaba put it, the ending was changed.
The animated video begins with Eminem tacking up newspaper articles on the wall. They are marred with red pen and headlines like, “Bush knew of terrorist plot to hijack US planes,” and “Sick wounded troops held in squalor.” An article from the fictional Washington Herald simply reads, “Bush declares war.”
Then Eminem, our cartoon hero, theatrically dons a black hooded sweatshirt.
Outside, a black man walks down the street as a police car pulls up alongside him. The white driver leers at him, and the officers, with nightsticks in their hands, force him on his knees against a wall. After an implied beating, he stands up angrily. He heads home, throws on a black hoodie and heads back out.
A helicopter flies overhead, as Eminem performs. Bouncing to the beat, his audience wears camouflage from head-to-toe. (Eminem seems to enjoy putting the masses in uniforms. Just think of the army of blonde guys in jeans and white T-shirts in “The Real Slim Shady” video.)
The focus shifts onto an angry kid in the crowd who stands with his arms folded and barely moves. Cut to a flashback of the angry guy walking to his suburban home. He wears an Army uniform with the name ‘Kelly’ above one pocket, smiling as he approaches the Welcome Home sign hung above his door. His Mom and younger siblings stand waiting for him, but they look unhappy. Then Mom holds up a note which reads, “Private Kelly, you have been re-assigned to Iraq.”
He takes the letter, which appears to be signed by George Bush, and shouts “F--k Bush!” a line that is echoed in the lyrics. Pvt. Kelly then slowly and deliberately puts on the familiar black sweatshirt, pulling the hood over his head.
He takes to the streets, where Eminem is outside rapping with hundreds of other hooded kids. They walk forcefully. One pounds his right fist into his left palm. Others raise their fists in the air.
Viewers then see a young woman walking home. She finds a letter reading, “Tenant 508, This is your notice of eviction.” It is also signed by the President. She looks up at the TV screen where her two kids are watching Bush’s State of the Union address. The ticker on the bottom, in small letters, says “Another favor for the wealthy,” and then in large letters, “Tax cuts!”
The Presidential address is cut short by breaking news about a terrorist alert. Osama Bin Laden is addressing the public, we assume, by video. But then the background behind him drops to reveal that he is a cardboard cutout in a television studio.
The woman pulls on black sweatshirt and joins the mob on the streets, as Eminem lyrically lays out his political opinions:
“No more blood for oil / We got our own battles to fight on our own soil / No more psychological warfare to trick us to thinking that we ain’t loyal / If we don’t serve our own country, we’re patronizing a hero / Look in his eyes / It’s all lies / The stars and stripes, they’ve been swiped, washed out and wiped.”
In the old version, all of angry-looking people marched to register to vote, and the video ended with the words “Vote on November 2nd” on a black screen. Sure, it’s cheesy, especially for Eminem, but I appreciated the change of pace. I expected the video to end in riots and violence, but instead of a revolution in the streets, I saw a revolution at the polls.
But while I appreciated the overall message, I took issue with the simplistic handling of the issues. Racial profiling, tax breaks for the wealthy, and the current war situation are complex topics, and Eminem frames them in black and white. Blame the President for your local cops, blame the President because you’re broke, and blame the President that you enlisted in the Army. But the simple treatment seems forgivable when presented in the larger context of political involvement.
In the newer version of the video, however, Eminem and his sweatshirt-wearing army do not march off to vote. Instead, they attack the police with a fire hose and then flood the Capitol building. They storm in, carrying anti-war signs and a freedom of choice banner.
Bush, Sen. Kerry, a smattering of Justices, and a slew of other politicians are all within the doors for the State of the Union address. The hooded army erupts in protest and our country’s leaders only grow more and more worried. As they cower, Dick Cheney has a heart attack, and the screen fades to black.
While I understand that Eminem’s management wanted to take advantage of the video’s popularity, this is ridiculous. Since “the voting thing” didn’t work out as hoped, we should all storm the Capitol and protest the election results? I was terribly disappointed that Kerry was not elected, but the majority agrees that Bush won the presidency fairly this time around. It is unfair to present oversimplified issues, point fingers at the President, and then advocate violence in response to a fair election.
But then again, I shouldn’t have expected much from a guy who threw up on Michael Jackson and wore a big plastic butt for his other videos.
