2. THOM YORKE
• The video presents us with an older, tired-looking
Thom Yorke who isn’t immediately recognised until
he comes closer to the screen. This presentation is
used to suggests the movement of time, and that
Yorke is becoming an older man, since the band is
old themselves.
• He is travelling through door to door, stopping
and deliberating between them and is a metaphor
for the choices Thom has had to make through his
life.
• He never turns back and is constantly pushing
forwards, continually searching for meaning.
3. MISE-EN-SCENE
• The use of many different places in the video suggests
that Yorke is travelling through his life and is on a
journey. It also creates the sensation that the audience
is on this journey with him, supporting him from afar.
• Yorke’s outfit in this video was designed by Rick
Owens, which suggests at a subtle link to Yorke’s ex-
partner Rachel Owen with the similarities in the
surname. The look is monochromatic and makes him
look somewhat dishevelled, as though he hasn’t put
much thought into his outfit.
• As well as this, there are no costume changes,
suggesting that, since he began his journey, nothing
has changed.
4. LYRICS
• “And we are/Just happy to serve” Suggests at how the band is serving
their fans and the media consumption of the world but perhaps this is
the reason his relationship came to an end. Here the lyrics correspond to
the visuals for perhaps the first time though the video as Yorke smiles as
the word happy is spoken.
• “Beyond the point of no return” As Yorke moves in the opposite
direction of the exits throughout the video, suggests that he is simply
trying to move forwards without looking back to escape his mind and
his fantasy which this seems to be.
5. EASTER EGGS
• The scene in the hospital could be considered a link to the
time Yorke spent in hospital after a car accident in 1987,
especially considering there’s a wheel hanging on the wall, an
odd feature for a hospital.
• However it is also a place where his children were born and
where his partner became a mother, which is referenced to the
release date of the video being Mother’s Day weekend
(America).
• You also begin to notice that almost every room has a woman
in it and, of which, the majority are mothers. And, even when
a female is not directly in the shot, there are references to
women in photographs and with props.
6. EASTER EGGS
• In numerology, the number ‘6’ is the motherhood number.
It represents, sacrificing, caring, healing, protecting,
teaching and loving. It may be because of this that the
number six shows up multiple times in the music video.
• Having just understood the meaning behind the number
23, we see that 2x3 is 6, another link between Rachel Owen
and motherhood. These subtle links suggest that Yorke is
struggling to let her go, constantly thinking about her and
seeing her wherever he goes.
• The running time of the song is 6:24 (6=2+4). When Yorke
enters to the beach, the number 6 is shown. The door to
the library has the numbers 123 on it which add or
multiply to 6.
• The video was release on May 6 2016, Mother’s Day
weekend in America
7. RELEVANCE OF RACHEL OWENS
• In 2015, Thom Yorke announced the split between him
and his long-term partner Rachel Owen, who passed
away a year later in 2016.
• In an issued statement, Yorke said. “After 23 highly
creative and happy years, for various reasons we
have gone our separate ways.” The number 23 is of
note here as it is also the total number of doors Yorke
walks through in the video.
• This is suggestive that Yorke is perhaps visiting his
own life and revisiting his 23 years with her.
8. RELEVANCE OF RADIOHEAD
• As you go back through the video, Radiohead
albums are referenced constantly, suggesting
that not only is this video reflecting the
domestic life he and Rachel shared, but also his
life with the band he helped create.
• These references are everywhere in the
background of the video and it is obvious that
Yorke’s life with Rachel was saturated and
surrounded by Radiohead
9. MOTHER NATURE
• Motherhood is also represented through the idea
of mother nature. There are separate scenes of
mountains and beaches, both of which show up
through the music videos in painting.
• Yorke also walks though a forest to reach a house
which also continues the tree theme from outdoors
on the walls and though the paintings.
• This idea of motherhood can also be continues into
the final scene where Yorke enters a ‘womb-like’
cave and lies in a foetal position next to a fire, all of
which suggests to the idea of pregnancy of
motherhood. This suggests that Yorke is living his
life again to end if where it started, a metaphor for
the idea of rebirth perhaps.
10. SECRET MESSAGE
• At the end of the music video, there is a phrase played in reverse. When you
revert it back to normal, it’s two phrases played over one another: “Half of
my love” and “Half of my life”.
• In 2016, Yorke was 47 years old, suggesting that the 23-year love he had
with Rachel was half of his life.
• As well as this Radiohead’s first album, Pablo Honey was released in 1993,
which means that 23 is also the number of years Radiohead have been
recording.
• This all leads to suggests that this final message is symbolic as it is Yorke
having to find the balance between his love and life which are both his
partner and the band he has led to become so successful.
