Danger: Falling in Love May Cause You to Become a Zombie

Throughout the course of the past couple of decades, there has been an increasing number of catastrophic occurrences in the world that continues to have a substantial impact on lives today. Populations are still very much affected by the consequences associated with events like the September 11th terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and many more. Real-life examples are not the only place the world can be seen falling apart, though, as there are numerous movies, tv shows, and online creative videos emerging that are solely dedicated to the concept of apocalyptic world destruction. The band Bring Me the Horizon incorporates the aforementioned theme in the music video for their song, “Follow You”, which was published on March 16th, 2016 following the release of their long-awaited album, That’s the Spirit.

The video begins with eerie background music mixed in with the sound of a news report, while words fade on the screen reading, “Love is blind, deaf, and fucking dumb”(00:00:14). This sentence is continually cut out of the frame and reappears in between flashes of videos of chaotic uprisings around the world until the words, “Follow You” (00:00:35) are shown. Beginning instrumental music of the song can be heard as the video pans over to a man dressed in all black sleeping on a couch, and then to an older lady sitting in a rocking chair with a shotgun in laying on her lap. Scenes quickly become gruesome when the video shows a dead man lying on the ground while a golden retriever licks the blood from his blown-off face, but these scenes don’t stop there. The man that was sleeping wakes up, puts on his headphones, and walks out to the porch with the dog following behind him; this scene turns twisted as the dog is suddenly shot in the face by no one other than a mailman.

As the man walks out into the neighborhood street, the scene of the video is clearly set as the beginning of an apocalypse where people are wreaking havoc by vandalizing property, killing people, and rioting. Continuing his walk down the middle of the street through the war zone, he is smiling, singing along to the lyrics, and dancing enthusiastically, all the while being completely oblivious to the chaos ensuing around him. He eventually walks up to a house and knocks on the door which is answered by a blonde woman. The man greets her with a smile and a hug, and it is only then when the camera pans around does the audience see that she is actually a zombie. The video ends with the closing lyrics, “I will follow you” (00:03:36), and the zombie shutting the door to the house. Two key aspects this music video may disclose are that society illustrates love as something that is expendable and that if mankind doesn’t change their ways, they may be veering towards the end of the world.

The first feature of society that this video could reveal is that it illustrates love as something that is expendable, something that doesn't mean much and that can be tossed around. This raw and touching song denounces this conception in the way that it serves as a wake-up call to everyone to cherish and be loyal to loved ones before the end of the world. Lyrical content expressing loyalty and devotion to one's significant is important in today's communities because loved ones are often taken for granted. In scenes leading up to the ending of the video, the main character is seen walking past gunfights, plane crash debris, burning buildings, and even clowns terrorizing people just to end up on the porch of his significant others house, who also happens to be a zombie. One particular close call the main character has while navigating through the streets is when he singing and dancing to the lyrics on top of a car that is simultaneously being defaced with mallets and crowbars of the like.

Before the car is doused with oil and set on fire, he is able to jump off onto the street and continue on his way, however, some other people aren’t so lucky and get set on fire from the explosion. This dramatization goes to show that no matter what the circumstances or the rough patches a couple may go through, people will go great lengths or put themselves in danger just to be with their loved ones, and in fact, they might even decide to be dragged through hell just to be with them. Another example of this song urging people to think of love as something more can be seen in the exaggerated lyrics, “You've got me on my knees, I'm your one man cult” (00:01:44), that purposely compare being in love with someone to being in a cult. This drastic correlation helps further ingrain to the audience that love is so much more deeper, powerful, and meaningful than what society makes it out to be and that all should strive to understand such a concept.

The second observation this video shows about society is that if people don’t open their eyes to the world around them and begin to change their ways, the world may be heading on path towards destruction. This first revelation can be seen in perhaps one of the most relevant scenes compared to the time this music video was published. At one moment, the audience sees the main character happily walking down the street singing, “Cross my heart and hope to die” (00:01:47), and the next there are five police officers kneeling on the pavement, execution-style, after having their guns overtaken by five black and Latino citizens. This particular part of the music video uses up close and personal views of the pain these officers are going through and audio of them begging for their lives even peeks through the audio of the song. Lyrics being sung signify that one makes a commitment or a pledge to do a certain thing, and with the timing of when these lyrics are said, it seems to foreshadow that these people who have taken oaths to serve and protect their country will soon die. This prediction is true as all five officers are shown shot dead on the street in the background of a clip of the main character walking after he has passed the scene.

Interestingly enough, the man actually acknowledges the situation by doing a gentle wave towards their direction as he continues walking down the street. Including this small detail draws attention to how people recognize that incidents, such as police brutality, are happening but are used to it to the point where they’ve become unphased and disassociated, even so to the extent that nothing is done about the problems that arise. The second example of this urgent wake-up call taking place can be seen in two shorter areas of the video that are clearly shown to further show society’s blindness to certain issues. Specific scenes like a man in a yellow hazmat suit with visible boils on his face throwing up on the ground, seemingly infected with a disease, as well as earlier in the video where the golden retriever is shot in the face by the mailman serve to illustrate this revelation. The revolting scene of the sickly man vomiting and the cruel clip of the dog being shot were intentionally used to set a high shock value and cause discomfort to the audience that watched the video. The importance of showing such clips aims to get the audience to realize that they turn a blind eye to issues like disease, animal abuse, senseless killing, and other social issues, which in turn has heavy consequences and impacts on how society’s people live. Therefore, the use of such images within the music video is a wake-up call to say that if society doesn’t change their ways, the video’s reenactment of the apocalypse may very well be the reality of the world someday.

Some messages this music video sends to society can be quite confusing seeing that the song is filled with such emotional power towards love, while the video is a chaotic war zone featuring mass destruction as the result of the world at large being blind to the events happening around them. Through further thought of this juxtaposition, the overall message gives the impression that it is actually quite beneficial and useful to the world at large. The sappy love song serves as a reminder to all that love is not something that is dispensable, it’s something that all should treasure before it’s too late. After all, a lack of love and compassion towards one another causes universal violence and uprising which could soon take a turn for the worst. The video showcasing absolute carnage to not only a single suburban street, but all around the world should be enough for society to open their eyes, ears, and minds to the world around them and make a change before it’s too late. Over the course of time, this music video may be the valuable key that humanity needs in order to change the way they think before loved ones are lost and before they completely destroy the very place many call home.