Radiohead has a long and distinguished history of having creative music videos helmed by some of the most renowned directors working such as Michel Gondry for 2001's 'Knives Out' and more recently Paul Thomas Anderson's music video for their upcoming album (as of writing it comes out tomorrow) 'Daydreaming'. Their second most recent music video, Burn the Witch was created in just six days by the production company 'Jackknife'.
The video mimics the stylings and subverts the conventions of old 60s and 70s children's programming such as Trumpton and Postman Pat to deliver an unsettling vision of a cult-like village people who burn a man who is implied to be the judge of a village of the year competition in a giant wicker man. The childlike aesthetic stands in stark contrast to both the dark and dreary vocals of the track and the events unfolding in the video. Characters for the most part communicate through hand gestures and various body language due to their simple designs. This dissonance makes it more unnerving then when events take on a darker tone. It acts both as a satire on the culture of small village towns as well as a parody of genre.
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