'Up in the Air" by 30 Seconds to Mars Video Analysis

Hello world,

Today, I want to discuss the artistic and aesthetically pleasant video 'Up in the Air" by 30 Seconds to Mars, because I am clearly obsess with this song and video.

It has been a while since I have seen such a video done with such an artistic concept behind. Lets be honest, 80% of current music videos are crap and it is nice to see one that it can view several times and won't bore me to death.

So, I haven't done any research whatsoever about the director of such a video but I have to say, Kudos for you, Bartholomew Cubbins and thank you for placing a lot of effort into this video.

I am going to attempt to interpret to the best of my knowledge what it is happening in these series of beautiful sequences.

If you didn't understand anything about the video, the greatest clue as to start decipher this art piece it's at the end of the credits:

This is the end of the video, believe it or not

Basically, it is the name of a king in Greek Mythology who was punished to push a rock up a hill for an eternity and this one is cursed to roll back down for Sisyphus to push it up again.Thus, Sisyphus repeats this action to no end, story to teach that this is what he got because of his arrogance by feeling witter than Zeus. It is used also used a reference as to explain addiction...and obsession.

Irrational dreams that you are addicted to... A drug per se ;)

In summary, addiction meaning to repeat the same action over and over again, expecting a change in vain. NOW, you get the song, right?

'Stuck in a moment of emotion' = Trying to move on and staying stuck in one place.

If you want to know more about Sisyphus and are to lazy to google it, here is the link for wikipedia: Sisyphus

There is also a Russian folk tale that is similar to this story, if you have seen the "Storyteller" you will know what I am talking about...

The Story of "The Soldier and Death"

It is the first episode of "The Storyteller"

Anyway, going back to the video, I shall start on with the symbols:


1) Circles. They are everywhere in this video and it is not only circles but the spinning of them. If we follow the story of Sisyphus, the rock is "round" and a circle itself that just keeps going and going forever and ever. My bet is that all of this circles represent life as an ongoing process that we keep repeating with not much change. The circle of life, you say? yeap... that is my guess too. It goes with the lyrics of the song "A thousand times tempted fate. A thousand times I've play this game. A thousand times I've say today..."

3 skulls in a triangle formation...Keep this one in mind

Spinning around in a circle...literally

 This concept also applies to the repetition of movements/scenes and the rewinding scenes.

2) Animals. They flash in the video from time to time, zebra, lion, bird, wolf and even a snake.

Bet you didn't see this one the first time you watched the video

I think the people at the end having that fight of color at the end, are each one representing an animal seen in the video and it is actually a fight of survival at the end. The girl or guy on the bicycle really looks like the bird that flashes on the video for a few seconds.

On top of the picture, the one with the hat made out of feather. Too similar, don't you think?

I guess the girl with a stripe bra is a zebra, and the guy with the long puffy hair is a lion...lol

Plus, I bet you saw the bunny man and confused him with the bunny from the movie Donnie Darko (Even thou they don't look alike). Or is it just me?

Bunny Man and his army!!

Donnie Darko's bunny man (Tumblr)

3) 3...Yeap, the number 3

Remember the coin with the 3 skulls? HA!

 Triangle, trinity and basically the symbol of the new album. It entitles "Love, Lust, Faith" and these three components like 3 lines end up composing a fourth element a "triangle"... "Dreams"

4)Colors. I am going back to the color fight, the whole scene is like a survival fight in the Darwin view but it made me think that it also has to do with personality and individuality. To be more specific, how people are shaped and 'colored' by environment, people, and themselves, all of us are not painted in one color but we are painted by everything... and how people fight for their dreams. Or maybe I am thinking about this one, waaaay too much.

The drummers with the different masks, they are one color and are pretty much following the band's drummer, Shannon Leto. I shall leave you to interpret this one *whistles*

 This takes me to Themes

1) Fight. There are two different types of visual fights, the already mentioned fight with the powder colors and the fencing one.

Both to which are done to emphasize the fighting for 'dreams' and are caused by "Love, Lust, and Faith" which are repeated at the beginning of the video and just before the fight with the color powder but translated on Spanish (amor), Russian (страсть ), Chinese (信条) and French (rêves).

2)Running. Jared Leto shows up running twice and to be quite honest, I am not sure of the reason. I am going to take a guess is the running away from everything when faced down with life itself and obstacles. If you have a better idea, let me know because I am intrigued.

3)Fire. Burn baby burn, disco inferno~

Light my fire *wink*

Just like a phoenix? Burn everything to the ground to start all over but nothing anew for there are always ashes.

Now I shall move to the different Characters and Scenes

1)The girl who thinks and pretends to be older... yes, the one who eats ice cream and frozen lollipops and who has this nice scene with balloons that zooms out greatly. I think all these females are an attempt to emphasize 'Love, LUST, faith" and "dreams" Plus, the theme of 'Arrogance' from Sisyphus's story.

Acting tough like a grown up and who eats seductively with a spark of innocence

She is just a girl in a million and yet, somewhat unique.

 2)Woman on the rodeo bull machine. She must have something to do with the video besides being the sex appeal, right?? Well, someone has to tell me because I still don't have a damn clue besides her appearance screaming LUST all over the place. Besides the already mentioned themes... this video might have the 7 deadly sins hidden somewhere... This woman has to be lust and the chubby one has to be gluttony. Pride.. the girl with the arrogant tattoo? lol ... Not sure if I can pull this out of my ass, really...wrath, be the adolescent?? XD

Lust, I got it!

Sisyphus's arrogance?

3) The bee man and butterfly girl. This one is hard to figure out because it can fall into different categories, maybe in the differences in gender and social views? Like men are working bees and woman are beautiful like butterflies. Or how fragile and insignificant an individual is in comparison to the whole humanity, like one bee in a colony or a butterfly in a million.

 Lastly,

4)The gymnastic, she is literally up in the air, chasing a dream... duh!

However, she is the ONE that wraps everything together (My guess why she is the icon of the video)

'Up in the Air. Chasing a dream so real'

The audience pretty much can assume she is a gymnastic who is passionate about what she does (her dream/drug/love) She 'fights' and jumps through obstacles to be victorious and be above all. She repeats her routine (Endless cycle) in what could be in vain or not.

 "A thousand times tempted fate. A thousand times I've play this game. A thousand times I've say today..." 

FITS PERFECTLY and I bet she has done sacrifices to be where she is and... you can guess the rest.


Other frames that I found during the flash of sequences that don't last but a few seconds AND are peculiar to me are these:

The only plantae in the entire video

A closed door

Men in military attire with guns

Your turn to tell me what these 3 mean.

Thank you for reading, this took me hrs to make. Hope it helped illuminate your artistic side and aid you to figure out the complexity of this wonderful work of art.

Ciao~

UPDATE: Someone told me that Sisyphus is likely to be referring to the production house company since it also appears at the end of "Beautiful Lie" video. However, on this video it appears as "Sisyphus Product" so it is up to you to interpret it in any way you like, I think it still fits somehow on "Up in the Air." ;D

Thank you, to the lovely person who let me know about this. Keep the comments coming~