Stanley Kubrick’s undeniable influence on Blur’s video for ‘The Universal’
At the height of Britpop in 1995, a chart battle between Oasis and Blur saw the latter triumph with their first number-one single, ‘Country House’. Taken from The Great Escape, the song was one of three others from the record to find a place in the top ten of the UK Singles Chart. One of these was ‘The Universal’, a song which has now established a solid position in the band’s back catalogue.
However, the track was quite the sonic departure from Blur’s usual sound, featuring meditative strings and trumpets, which evoke a much more mature atmosphere than other tracks on the album, such as ‘Country House’ or ‘Charmless Man’. Likewise, the lyrics are much less character-driven. Instead, Damon Albarn explores the malady of the general British public, unmotivated and reliant on the idea that what they want “really, really, really could happen” at some point, despite not taking any steps to get there.
‘The Universal’ references themes that are prevalent in the dystopian fiction of writers like George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, such as panopticism. Albarn sings, “No one here is alone/ Satellites in every home/ Yes, the universal’s here/ Here for everyone/ Every paper that you read/ Says tomorrow’s your lucky day.”
With that, the music video for the track suitably pays homage to the dystopian works of Stanley Kubrick. Notably, the video was directed by Jonathan Glazer, who went on to direct his first feature film, Sexy Beast, in 2000. Glazer also helmed the brilliant movie Under the Skin, starring Scarlett Johansson, which is widely considered one of the greatest films of the 21st century. However, before gaining acclaim as a filmmaker, he was a prolific music video director, working with the likes of Massive Attack, Radiohead, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Jamiroquai.
Glazer demonstrated his love for cinema by getting Blur to dress up as the droogs from Kubrick’s incredible film, A Clockwork Orange, in the video for ‘The Universal’. Albarn portrays Malcolm McDowell’s Alex DeLarge, the central character, doing his best Kubrick stare as the camera slowly pans out to reveal the other band members, all wearing matching white outfits.
Throughout the video, Albarn continues his Alex DeLarge impression, flashing unnerving smiles and glancing at the camera with a thickly lined right eye. The setting mirrors the movie’s opening scene, where the delinquent gang sip drug-infused milk in the Korova milk bar. However, Blur becomes the bar’s entertainment as they perform their track to a bizarre cast of characters. The band appear to be the only characters aware of the corrupt nature of society, reflected in the song’s lyrics, whereas everyone else carries on mindlessly.
The drugs these characters have taken prevent them from seeing the true nature of reality, acting as a metaphor for the submission and docility of the general public, paying no mind to Albarn’s efforts to encourage them to take control of their own lives. Moreover, the video also features scenes of a giant golf ball-shaped speaker, which mirrors the monolith in Kubrick’s ultimate masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In an interview with Film School Rejects, Glazer discussed the influence of Kubrick on his work, including Under the Skin. He joked: “I’ve picked his pockets, really. People politely say ‘homage,’ but I probably stole his wallet.”
Watch the video below.
