Here's the video for reference.
I've placed occasional times in the video so you don't get lost if I prattle on too much
I'd like to note that I'm going to analyze the video first, and then the lyrics, because cross referencing them will give a better idea of what they're each about. I think the lyrics of the song make more sense if you understand the theme of the video.
0:00
The opening of the video starts with a desolate wasteland, where the center is a tent. This is kind of symbolic of the theme of the song and accompanying video, but we'll get to that a bit later.
A hiding child inside of this huge tent sees the band ready to start playing the song, and is first hiding from the band. The band stands in a circle, where the center of the circle is empty, and the circle as a whole resembles a sun symbol. For future reference, I believe that the sun symbol represents the attention of people in general. The reason why System of a Down is not in the center will become more relevant later.
The child comes out and reveals himself to have a very alien-like appearance. In a sense, a deformity. Considering the events of the rest of the video, I consider this to be a superficial quality of the child that is less a reflection of his personality and more a reflection of what the people see in him- appearances.
0:40
We cut to L.A., a scene with a bunch of bouncing car and overall "gangster" imagery. The background shows the boy's face all over the billboards and buildings of L.A. The child acts thug-like in a group full of similar acting people.
We see a shot of the child hanging out with two women in red dresses, their arms around him.
The child is riding through LA in a car, the two women in the back seat and a man driving him. The color red is prominent throughout the entire video, and the car itself is red.
The child is escorted through the hollywood walk of fame by the women in the red dresses. Whereas before it was evident that the child was enjoying the attention, he now shows evidence of not enjoying it. The child in the case of the video is representative of inner child, as well as of fame in general, as the attention he has received is first very well recieved by him, but is now starting to die off, and he's less interested in his status. He's starting to slouch into a visible depression.
1:37
Next, we see him in a day-time bar like setting, the women in red dresses still surrounding him like before. Only this time, it's different actresses, who are clearly meant to be significantly less attractive than before. It seems clear to me that these women represent "groupies" in a sense, or at least women that crowd around famous people. I believe that we see the entire video from the child's perspective, and in this case, the effect of having women in easy access is now wearing off, and he's seeing the ugliness inside of them. Also present is an older man. I believe this guy to be somewhat representative of an executive of sorts, as just the child's mere presence in the room leads to significant attention.
The child walks out of the apparent bar to an adoring crowd of paparazzi. The child is clearly not happy. He is escorted out of the bar by a man and the two women in red dresses.
So far, I've only been really discussing the things that happen in the child's story, but the entire time there's been cuts to the band playing (within the tent). But there's one key scene where the child is back in the tent. The child opens his eyes and stares upwards towards the ceiling. There appear to be things in the upper part of the tent, but I can't tell what. But I think it relates to the "aerials" theme.
2:47
We cut to what I think is one of the most important scenes in the video... the child, stiff, standing in front of two women who are modeling for a photoshoot, of which the child is the most important part of the shoot. One of the women is wearing red, the other is wearing turquoise. A different woman who is wearing red walks away shortly with a red shirt and a turquoise shirt. Not sure of the significance, maybe you could tell me?
We see slow motion shots of a very extreme photographer taking photos of the boy... something's clearly wrong, because usually photographers act like that towards... people of similar energy being photographed. Not a child with an angry expression standing dead still. In a sense, this is a mini-critique on the ridiculousness of the media.
The woman in red with the shirts tries to see if the turquoise shirt fits on the boy. Not sure of the significance, but colors play a big role in this video. A very important thing to note is that I took the color red in MS paint and hit "invert colors", and I pretty much got the turquoise, lightish blue color of the scene. So maybe that has significance? I don't know.
3:21
A bit later, we cut to a scene of the boy in the bar receiving falling money as the two women from the beginning (?) surround him. All three of them are happy. The women in red from the bar are in the back sitting down. What this says to me, at least, is that this boy made some sort of deal, in a sense, sold out for money and fortune, and is receiving temporary happiness. Soon after this scene, we see the boy in the tent, now empty, walking towards the center. The whole time he does this, there's flashes of the band as well as flashes of earlier scenes. The video ends with the boy laying down, as if depressed or exhausted, in the center of the sun. What I think this all means is that the boy represents famous people or people who wish to be famous and make money. At least, he represents the inner child of them, and in another sense, also represents people who were famous by accident, be it child stars or people with deformities such as the elephant man. The sun is the center of attention of people such as the media and pop culture. The child is at first hiding away because he has yet to become famous. At the end, when he depressingly walks towards the center, he is in the limelight, he is famous, and depressed and exhausted. This is not what he truly needed.
Going back to the pivotal scene where he stares up at the "Aerials", this kind of leads into the lyrics. I think what that image means is that the child has opened his eyes up to the not too good goal of becoming famous or fortunate. The reason why it's a tent in the desert is because the desert represents the loneliness of his essence, and the tent represents the "media circus", so to speak. The child is the center of attention, and at first he likes it, but as it progresses, he sees less and less worth in his decision, but he clearly made a deal when he accepted a ton of money, thus the paparazzi. He is temporarily happy as in the scene of him receiving tons of money, but it shows that he doesn't remain happy for long. Meanwhile, the people surrounding him are shown as ridiculous, ugly people, who all seem to adore him. The gang from the beginning is relatively faceless because they're never the center of attention. The women in red dresses get a lot of attention because they represent one of the main prizes of fame, and eventually, one of the main costs of fame, which is a gradual disgust towards what you once thought was beautiful.
The band, in the case of the video, is just there to sing the song. But since they are a part of the video at all, that means that the song carries meaning to go along with the video, as far as I'm concerned.
The lyrics -
"Life is a Waterfall
We're one in the river
and we're one again after the fall"
I think this means that we either spend our whole lives being more than one person, or that we start out whole, split, and then become whole later on in life. With the video, this line means that the child is not really himself in some way.
"Swimming through the void
we hear the word
we lose ourselves but we find it all"
More water imagery, and since water is supposed to be life, it seems to suggest that we are looking for our way in life, but as we lose ourselves we find it all, to suggest that as we get famous or make a lot of money, we lose our true selves in the process.
"Cause we are the ones that want to play
always want to go
but you never want to stay"
"Want to play" to me means that we want to play the game of life. We always want to strive for fame or fortune and never want to live our lives with what we have. Interesting how it switches from "we are", to "you never". The switch in perspective to me means that SOAD represents the ones that want to play. The child represents the one who never wants to stay. SOAD, in context of the video, I think is supposed to be the people in the background making the decisions, not the celebrities that are presented. THEY are the ones that want to play, as if they're playing with your life, but YOU never want to stay. To me, this could go either way. Either it means they never want to stay famous, or they never want to NOT be famous. And in that case, they never want to NOT be famous until they actually have to live with the consequences.
"And we are the ones that want to choose
always want to play
but you never want to lose"
To me, this means that you want to get everything out of life (fame or fortune again), but you never want to give that all up. And in context with the video, the people NOT in the spotlight that make important decisions want to "choose" (in general), but the celebrities in the spotlight always want to play the game of getting rich and famous, but they never want to live with the consequences.
"Aerials in the sky
when you lose small mind
you free your life"
Not sure what the "aerials" are supposed to be, but I kind of assume that it means the prize that you strive to achieve. When you DON'T get fame and fortune out of life, or when you give it all up, you are truly free from such materialistic endeavors. "Small mind" either implies the childishness of such goals or the narrow scope of such goals.
"Life is a waterfall
we drink from the river
then we turn around and put up our walls"
I'm guessing that drinking from the river means barely getting much out of life before turning your back on it. Since it feels like it's talking about fame and fortune, it may mean getting rich and then creating a protective shield against all of the "troubles" of the real world.
"Swimming through the void
we hear the word
we lose ourselves but we find it all
Cause we are the ones that want to play
always want to go
but you never want to stay
and we are the ones that want to choose
always want to stay but you never want to lose"
Repetition, I already explained it.
"Aerials in the sky
When you lose small mind
you free your life
Aerials, so up high
when you free your eyes
eternal prize"
Aerials represent the ultimate goal of fame and fortune, so when you "free your eyes", that means when you think beyond just materialistic needs, you get a much more eternal worth out of it.
Now, the last few things I've said have been contradictory, so I offer two interpretations to what the band themselves represent in the video
1.As I've said before, they could represent the malicious people behind the scenes who manipulate people's lives for personal gain, and ruin their lives in the process.
2.It could also be that SOAD represents people who HAVE gotten famous and fortunate, as a warning tale to others that fame and fortune shouldn't be the ultimate goal in life.
I think you guys know what is your truly ultimate goal. don't be so childish
