By Alex Carot
Storified by Alex Carot · Tue, Aug 14 2012 09:27:57
Why?
National Anthem's lyrics are in tune with today's society- focused on money and power and the lust to be a power-figure: "Money is the reason we exist" "Tell me I'm your National Anthem" .
I have always been a fan of Lana Del Rey's mix between orchestral sounds and hip-hop beats; her voice- a blend of rap and vocals that almost seem to be whispered to the audience. In a word, this song compiles all of the facets that made me become a Lana Del Rey fan. When I discovered the video on YouTube, I immediately became further obsessed with and drawn to National Anthem.
The unexpected provocative avant-garde factor is what attracted me to the video. When first hearing National Anthem, I never would have pictured this particular video story-line: Lana portraying both Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy Onassis- the two biggest female power and glamor figures of the 20th Century and A$AP Rocky playing an African American President Kennedy (the alpha male power figure of the 1960s). The clip's aesthetically pleasing black and white and sepia-toned visuals further enhanced the intriguing aspect of the song. They all merge together and tell the audience a story.
The Video
"Every so often, I top what I've done, and this video is definitely the most beautiful thing I've ever done. I wrote a treatment for me and A$AP Rocky, because I just thought he'd be really perfect to star in it" Lana Del Rey, Huffington Post
The National Anthem video was release on June 17th 2012 and was directed by Anthony Mandler who, in an interview, revealed that the video's vision was forged by Lana herself: "And really, what Lana was trying to do — this was her concept, she came to me with it, and I kind of dug it out with her — was really look and explore an archetype; just like Shakespeare wrote 'Romeo and Juliet,' and that became the archetype of the forbidden love story."
Ever since, it's YouTube publication, the video received over 5,000,000 views, over 64,000 likes and over 2,000 dislikes. It has been the source of much controversy and heated debate amongst viewers resulting in a divide of opinions: some very racist about President JFK being black, some defending and praising the video for being a work of art and others simply giving their opinion of the song itself. To site a few:
National Anthem & Reification
In On the Fetish Character In Music Adorno points out that in today's society, the consumer worships the money he/she spends on the commodity. This is reflected starting the first lines of National Anthem's lyrics: "Money is the anthem of success". The song as a whole deals with the love of money as well as the love of frugal spending/living: "Wining and dining, drinking and driving, excessive buying, overdosin', dyin'". The song's lyrics can be linked to Adorno's argument that the exchange value is "reified" into the use value. This process leads to a worship of the commodity through irrelevant consumption- commodity fetishism. This is an important trend throughout Lana's song and in her video- portraying a Kennedy-like seemingly picture perfect family without a worry or care in the world. Everything is about outward appearances- looking happy, glamorous, rich, care-free: "blurring the lines between real and the fake"
National Anthem & Decultivation
In National Socialism And The Arts Adorno brings up the subject of "neutrolization of culture and of the arts" as a reason for decultivation. He explains that under Nazi ruling, art and music were purely based upon embellishment and looking physically appealing. The objectification of art is brought into play. This is something that can also be noted in National Anthem. Indeed, through her lyrics, Lana paints an objectified picture of life and love (they are materialistic and superficial): "He loves to romance 'em, Reckless abandon, Holdin' me for ransom, Upper echelon" The video as well, with its' harmony of colors and perfectly filmed sequences reflects this "neutralization of culture"- everything is monochromatic in the way the characters' actions are presented: they are all portrayed through a beautified lens.
Personal Score
When the score assignment was brought up in class, I understood it as us
being asked to create some sort of charade that would depict our song
and its' video. It was interesting to see how each classmate dealt with
the assignment. I chose to depict it
first by explaining what its title consisted of and secondly by drawing
one of the compelling and intriguing components of the clip: Lana playing Marilyn.
Promotional Work
YouTube Video Teaser
date released: june 26th 2012
576,993 views
6,042 likes
179 dislikes
date released: june 26th 2012
576,993 views
6,042 likes
179 dislikes
