Textual Analysis of Videos-Sleep Now in the Fire, Rage Against the Machine

This video has an overall message about the vast greed that permeates American society, as well as general ignorance among the American people. Much of the video is filmed outside the New York Stock Exchange, as the band did a live performance there in protest of wall street announcing “record profits, record lay-offs)
There are three different types of footage used in this video:

Footage of the band performing outside the New York Stock Exchange
This was filmed live, with the audience you can see. the band are again dressed casually.


Secondly there is fictional footage using humour, parodying "who wants to be a millionaire" with "who wants to be filthy f#@%ing rich".

This is used to deliver the message behind the song, as it delivers shocking facts about the inequalities of western society as well as the complete ignorance about them from much of the population. As it is drawing on the conventions of quiz shows it uses two main angles, one showing the presenter and the other the contestant, as well as some with the audience in focus.

The third type of footage used is footage of the band, presumably shot in a studio, which has been green-screened onto backgrounds demonstrating the incredibly opulent lives led by the wealthy, as well as the repressive methods used to maintain this wealth.



In the majority of these shots the band are dressed smartly, as this manner of dress is often seen to symbolic of being of a higher social class. The fact that this is overlaid with images of greed and violence reaffirms that wealth and prestige are not presented as positive attributes. Also, when people are shown in the background, they are much larger than the band, showing their position of power and also making them appear frightening and less human. The band shots are mainly focused on the singer. Most of the band shots are medium close ups.

Towards the end of the video a contestant wins the jackpot, answering "How many Americans live in poverty?" with "35 million". He is then presented with massive amounts of money, presented to him by smiling women in tight-fitting dresses, representative of the commodification of sexuality. He disgustedly hands the money back to the presenter, at which point the audience stand up and applaud, before coming down to the centre and rioting with money flying everywhere. This is an obvious analogy to a people's uprising with the intent of redistributing wealth evenly.

Overall the video uses rapid cuts, building up sequences to give a sense of the narrative whilst maintaining the fast pace of the song.