The visual for the Smashing Pumpkins “Drum + Fife” is one of the more powerful videos to drop this year. There is a clear political purpose behind the visual, and the video describes perfectly how little kids are being injured by a “man’s world.” Then on the flip side, those who fought for our country are often left out in the cold due to their poor state of mental health.
The visual consist of showing kids being killed off by mines in the desert. This shows the post-affects of war. The remnants that soldiers are leaving behind are still harming people long after the war is over. PTSD is somewhat the same way. the mental affects of war stick people, and the trauma experienced during war can make it nearly impossible to revert back to a normal life. A strong show of feminism is seen here as well, because the lone survivor of the mine field is a girl. She continues to march through the mine field banging her drum. The allegorical sense of this is not as direct as the main messages of the remnants of war and the affects it is having on the people with either allegiance. The rugged nature of the video might be difficult for some to watch.
What this video accomplished besides serving as another vehicle to promote the Smashing Pumpkins new album, is that the visual brought the discussion of the care of our soldiers once they have returned home to people’s conscious. Every year soldiers return home only to find the world they once knew is longer suited for them to live in. The other objective of children being killed can easily be understood by anyone. The last few seconds of the visual show the girl, still banging her drum, give the ex-soldier a medal. This was done to symbolize how both struggles are something we as a society should be more aware of and concerned about.
The Smashing Pumpkins will be performing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on April 2nd in an effort to promote their most recent album Monuments To An Elegy . Also the band will follow up the Late Night performance with an acoustic rendition of the song “Drum + Fife” on Good Morning America. The notion that the band is trying to use their platform to bring awareness to topic that his little light shed on it is incredible. Check out the Smashing Pumpkins new video for “Drum + Fife” above.
Leave a Comment