A Clockwork Orange + Blur = The Universal

A canção chama-se The Universal, é dos Blur e está no álbum The Great Escape de 1995. Jonathan Glazer é o realizador responsável por este videoclip, um dos meus preferidos. Além deste videoclip, foi ele o realizador de outros videoclips memoráveis para canções dos Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out) e a Karma Police -, do Nick Cave - Into My Arms - e dos Massive Attack - Karmacoma.
Para o videoclip da The Universal, a ideia do Jonathan Glazer e dos Blur, foi prestar homenagem a um dos melhores filmes de sempre (na minha opinião, obviamente - isto é o meu blog, não é?), o A Clockwork Orange de Stanley Kubrick.
Passo agora a bola deste post para a página da wikipedia sobre a The Universal, onde fui buscar (não é ctrl-c, ctrl-v, porque foi com o rato que o fiz) este belo texto sobre a relação do videoclip com o filme de Kubrick.

The band is presented as imitating the opening scene from the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. Blur star as the gang, with Damon Albarn as Alex. They are dressed in white, much like the walls in the bar. Throughout the video they appear in two places, first in a couch admiring the other patrons, and second in the bar's stage performing the song.

The video is not exactly a copy of the film, some differences are:

• In the film the bar is excesively decorated, the walls are black and have words painted. In the video the walls are made of white, padded cushion. They resemble the walls of a psychiatric hospital room, designed to prevent mental patients from hurting themselves.
• In the film the pieces of furniture of the bar are sculptures of naked women. The video has normal tables and sofas. The naked women are replaced by mannequin legs that adorn a niche in the wall.
• The gang in the film are also wearing white, but have black bowler hats, which are missing in the video.
• The attitude of the characters is different. In the video, the band is curiously watching the other patrons, almost studying them. In the film, the gang is only concerned with themselves and are there to prepare for the night. The other patrons are overlooked in the film.