The genre of the music is alternative rock music, by a band called Paramore. In 2009, the album 'Brand New Eyes' by Paramore was released, with many new songs including 'Brick by Boring Brick.' Unlike most of their videos about relationships between lovers and friends, this song has a background on raising an issue on Monarch Programming, or otherwise known as mind control. Monarch Programming is when children are made to disconnect from the reality of the cruel things in life (such as abuse and electroshock therapy) to their own alternative one where they can be in a happier place. The child becomes unaware of their true state in the real world as they are lost in their own fantasy. Fairytale images are used against them to strengthen their illusions.
Monarch Programming has for years been symbolised by a butterfly, because of the way butterfly's can genetically pass on information of a place to their offspring. Scientists were intrigued and looked into humans. They found some children could 'dissociate' from reality, and be made to believe something else, just like offspring of butterflies are made to believe a place is okay through parents.
In this video, a young girl is trying to escape reality by going to her own fantasy world. The lyric 'too far for us to find' and 'forgotten the taste and smell of a world that she's left behind' suggest that the girl is so deep down in her own made up fairytale, that she has completely forgotten about the real world. It has been said that the girl is a younger version of the main singer, Hayley Williams, who is also in the video: they wear similar costumes and both have long blond hair. The video uses the symbolism of butterflies to raise awareness of Monarch programming: the young girl wears one on her back to show she is under mind control.
As the young girl enters the realm of fantasy, the door violently shuts behind her to show that she has been forced into this world. The world looks magical with the glowing and vibrant scenery with hundreds of colourful flowers, massive mushrooms and an enchanted castle. There are also fantasy characters with the wolf and grandma from red riding hood, a princess, a knight and a dwarf. These emphasis the fairytale realm, and they are also disguises for the people who have put her under Monarch Programming as good people to save her, when really they are abusing her in the real world and making her dissocaite from it.
As the girl gets to the castle, there are many floating mirrors reflecting the girl's image, as well as multiple depictions of the girl to suggest that her mind is fragmented and broken. The reason for the title 'brick by boring brick' is the idea that this girl has slowly built up this world, and has ended up building an illusion as powerful as a castle. The castle represents her mind, with the mirrors acting as illusions. The girl see's her reflection as an independent and happy girl. as she brushes her hair in the mirror. As the girl looks around her mind (the castle), she discovers that in reality, her life is tragic. The sky turns dark and lightning and thunder strike above the castle. Scary puppets come out of the mirrors, as well as a burglar and axe man who scare the girl away from the truth of the real world.
Hayley Williams sings 'So get your shovel and we'll dig a deep hole to bury the castle.' She wants to bury her own experiences of mind control from her childhood, or to more disturbingly, show the outcome/consequence for most who go through Monarch Programming. This could explain the ending when the child falls into the dug up grave and they start to bury her. This is referencing Alice in Wonderland as Alice also falls into a hole to a world of wonder, but wakes up to find it was a dream. In this case, Monarch Programming is similar to a dream as it is not reality: the reason for burying her suggests that the girl will only escape her fairytale illusion in death. You can also see a white rabbit in the grave in the music video, which supports the Alice in Wonderland theme.
The target audience for this video is for Paramore's main stream audience of young adults and teenagers. It is describing the consequences of trying to escape reality, and that we have to be strong and mature about life to be happy.
http://vigilantcitizen.com/musicbusiness/paramores-brick-by-boring-brick-a-song-about-mind-control/
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