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Analyzing Visual Texts - Connor Kading

This document analyzes and compares the music videos for the song "Down Under" by Men at Work and a cover of the song by LVNDSCAPE & Rat City. Both videos celebrate exploration and nature but also portray warnings about overdevelopment destroying culture and the environment. The original video follows an Australian man traveling the world, while the cover features a woman exploring forests and beaches to escape modernization. Though different visually, both uphold the message that adventure requires preserving nature and culture from excessive development that threatens their futures.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
91 views4 pages

Analyzing Visual Texts - Connor Kading

This document analyzes and compares the music videos for the song "Down Under" by Men at Work and a cover of the song by LVNDSCAPE & Rat City. Both videos celebrate exploration and nature but also portray warnings about overdevelopment destroying culture and the environment. The original video follows an Australian man traveling the world, while the cover features a woman exploring forests and beaches to escape modernization. Though different visually, both uphold the message that adventure requires preserving nature and culture from excessive development that threatens their futures.

Uploaded by

api-534370383
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Connor Kading

ENG 1201

9/24/2020

Analyzing Visual Texts – Down Under Music Videos

The cover of Down Under performed by LVNDSCAPE & Rat City is new twist on an old

song that keeps to the heart of exploration that Men At Work produced originally when the

video for one of their greatest hits was released. The two performances both keep to the heart

of the song with beautiful adventurous tunes and provide the spirit of exploration within their

amazing environments.

The adventurous journey within the original video is that of an Australian man travelling

the globe where he is inquired by all kinds of people from all different cultures about his home.

This happens in all kinds of locations throughout the original video, such as an Opium den, Sand

dunes, and bars, among many other locations. The heart of exploration is well and alive within

the video of the song, and often does it pan to many different locations that aren’t just within

different sand dunes, but also to many other structures layered throughout the music video.

The many locations of the video speak to the heart of not only the unique locations that are

visited, but also the people who the main character encounters along the way.

While the jubilant exploration is a big part of the video, there is a darker side to other

visual significances within the video itself. One of the biggest imageries that is shown is the
coffin that is carried through the dunes at the end of the video, which is signifying the death of

something more than just a person. The death is about an idea, or the national spirit that

Australians would hold so dear as they travel throughout the world, which within the culture of

the country is slowly being lost to the further advancement of overdevelopment. This is shown

through various lyrics within the song, as well as other scenes such as the zombie van. A

prominent line to signify this loss would be: Can’t you hear that thunder? You’d better run;

you’d better take cover.

This modernization is echoed in LVNDSCAPE & Rat City’s music video of the song, as the

woman journies throughout all of nature after leaving the sprawling city behind. Despite being

less folk-like in terms of music style and not holding all the lyrics within the original song, the

heart of exploration is still the key part of the music video. Throughout the forests and the

beaches, the woman prances through them with wonder and awe as she looks around, meeting

each individual environment and basking in its beauty. The escape from modernization allows

the full potential of the wonders of nature to be soaked in by the woman, which in turn allows

for greater emphasis on the dangers of overdevelopment destroying the beautiful world

around us.

While Men at Work and LVNDSCAPE & Rat City have many differences within the video,

the key similarity is the message that both of them work to produce: The Adventure, Culture

and Nature of the world is an escape, and too much overdevelopment will prevent that from

being a reality for us in the future. This is a message that resonates even now, as the remake by

LVNDSCAPE & Rat City was made only a year ago in 2019, almost 39 years after the original

release of the song in 1980. With the development of more land and the construction of more
buildings, both of their warnings – The destruction of culture and nature – brings a kindred

spirit between the two videos, allowing them to work together with seamless ease.

The remake of Down Under by LVNDSCAPE & Rat City is a fresh coat of paint onto an

old, amazing song as it keeps to the core of the original message. While not pertaining to the

overdevelopment of culture, the destruction of nature is just as important to keep preserved as

the warnings echo throughout the music, whether they be tunes from the past or notes from

the present. The message of both of these songs is applicable to our situation today, as the

political strain on our nation threatens to tear the culture we hold dear, as well as the modern

threat to our environment and climate.

The original hit song Down Under by Men at Work, and the subsequent remake by

LVNDSCAPE & Rat City almost 39 years ago still holds a message for us all today. With the

current political and industrial climate, the exploration that keeps us intrigued with life will lose

a vital part of its essence, and our adventure will cease if we do not heed the message that is

brought to us.
Works Cited:

Records, Spinnin', director. LVNDSCAPE & Rat City - Down Under (Official Music Video), 6
Aug. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY39EQD22Jc.

Work, Men At, director. Men At Work - Down Under (Video), 7 Feb. 2013,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR9iY5y94s.

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