Weekly Blog Post 5

As mentioned in earlier posts, Scroob and Dan have worked hard to make their listeners question the manner of everything about their world through contrasting word and message. This use of logos can is even more readily apparent within the filming of the "Thou Shalt Always Kill" video. The contrast of message and filming starts fresh from the beginning, as Pip walks down an English street, past a children's park and down a tight and dirty alleyway, all the while rapping his list of rules to those nearby. Now, as his speech invokes the image of a preacher on a soapbox, professing his beliefs to the masses about him, congregated of their own accord, the viewer will notice that Scroobius Pip is, instead, walking his message to his audience, those both listening willingly and those (like the boy reading the magazine) not so much. Logically, we expect him to be a central character, staying in a well-traversed area, but not where the majority of the populace could merely drive by, say somewhere like a town square, whereas we find him here, on an over-populated and busy street corner, walking so fast that even the few who might hear him and wish to listen further are passed up before they could truly recognize what they had just experienced.
This is followed quickly by a series of lyrical and visual disconnects. As he recites, "Thou shalt not attend an open mic and leave as soon as you've done your s---ty little song or poem, you self-righteous prick," we see Scroobius standing in the limelight of a stage barren, save the lone microphone. The next line, "Thou shalt not return to the same club or bar, week-in, week-out, just 'cuz you once saw a girl there you fancied that you're never going to f**king talk to," finds him sitting in a dim-lit club, beside what could very well be the kind of man he intends to hear these words. Then that fateful line I've quoted many times before, "Thou shalt not put musicians and recording artists on ridiculous pedestals, no matter how great they are or were," and where is Mr. Pip at this crucial moment? Standing on a white stone pillar, right where any passer-by could see him, of course!
Juxtaposing these elements brings them to the forefront and makes them the obvious central messages of the video. Because, as fun as the lines about pheonix/phoenix and "When I say..." are to watch, they do not linger in the viewer's mind to the same degree as these strange disjunctions.