Against the Stream: Total Eclipse of the What Now?

Andrew Sullivan is running a cheesy '80s video competition over at his place, and one of the nominees is Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart," a video which, until today, I had not seen in about 25 years. Sully seems to think there's something sublty sexual about Bonnie stalking through the hall's of a boy's school in a revealing white dress, but the whole thing has always had a kind of Village of the Damned quality to me. You be the judge.

Other interpretations abound. This guy thinks it's the best video ever, writing:

Imagine taking every hair-brained idea that pops into your head, mixing them in a blender, and pouring them into a boy's preparatory school. Then put Bonnie Tyler in a slinky milf dress and highlight Jim Steinman's bombastic production with plenty of slow-mo effects. The end result is truly a work of art.

But then we are gifted with this, er, extensive, exposition of the true meaning of the song by another writer.

With the introduction of there being three shots of a chaotic Last Supper, Mulcahy uses the symbol of the number three throughout the entirety of the video. The number three is a powerful number and has a variety of meanings when used as a symbol, but one of the main characteristics the number three represents as a symbol is that of The Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is a religious reference to God the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Mulcahy uses the number three in ordinary ways, which upon first glance of the video could be undetected or unnoticed. It is the repetition and demonstration of the number three to create a strong emphasis, which is important and worthy of examination. The opening shot of the video is of three lit windows (0:06); there are then shots of three open doors; three lights hanging from the ceiling and each contains three little lights; three white lit candles; and three empty decanters within the first thirty seconds of the video (0:18-0:31). By presenting the audience with these images of three and the symbolism the number usually evokes of The Holy Trinity, subconsciously creates a religious viewing of the video, which in turn also produces a deeper moral issue for the persona of the song, as well as adding to the struggle and battle between what is morally right and wrong. Mulcahy continues with the use of the number three and the religious symbolism in a scene where Tyler is on a balcony above a set of stairs where six boys clad all in black leather are in rows of two, therefore making the number three the predominant visual, are ascending the stairs beneath her. While the audience is shown Tyler standing on the balcony with her legs astride, they are also presented with an image of looking down on the boys who then proceed to make actions that can be interpreted as beckoning Tyler's persona to come down to them, to join them. These images make it appear as though these desirable boys are asking her to make a decent into the underworld or to give into her temptations of desire and lust for them (1:55-2:04). The scene then ends with the camera panning down, and then zooming in for a tight shot on the architecture of an arch between Tyler's open legs (2:30-2:33). What is fascinating about Mulcahy's focus on this specific architecture, is that in many Roman Catholic churches and cathedrals, this Gothic style of arches have been used and are still incorporated into modern churches today is very sexual. These types of arches were normally found in the entryway to the churches and they were designed to look like the woman's labia, due to the fact that the church was thought of to be the female component to Christ, or in other words, the 'wife of Christ' (Marin). Weather Mulcahy deliberately presents the audience with this very sexual religious symbol; it does fit in with everything else he seems to be trying to accomplish with his video adaptation. These arches are probably the most sexually charged religious images within the video and in turn add to the previous scene of temptation the boys clad in black appeared to be offering her. Thus, also putting more of an emphasis on the sexual religious images, that in turn, fuel the persona's battle between what is morally right and wrong.

Jim Stienman's original lyrics to Bonnie Tyler's 'A Total Eclipse of The Heart' are laden with symbols and themes to emphasize the persona's internal struggle of desire from something she cannot have. Russell Mulcahy takes the internal struggle of the persona and the symbols Stienman created and propels and manipulates it into a music video adaptation. He not only draws on the original lyrics, but also enhances them, turning the inner struggle of the persona into a full-fledged battle within herself of what is morally right and what is wrong. Mulcahy accomplishes this feat by drawing on the themes Stienman created; the representation of light versus darkness, religious symbols and the sexual tension those symbols emanate. Though it would appear that when the lyrics and the video are examined at first glance, would appear to have almost nothing in common, but in fact correlate on a variety of levels. Both work together to create a piece of art that challenges social boundaries and the audience as a reader and a viewer to examine the efforts of their creators to see just how they work as one to draw attention to the moral issues faced by today's society.

Freshman comp students take note: The paragraph was invented for a reason!

You have to give credit where it's due though, it takes an enormous amount of dedication to spend this much time exegeting this particular song. I don't know if it qualifies as the worst video of the '80s, but it's definitely in the top 10. Of course, I watched it repeatedly when I was 13 and MTV was constantly on in the background.

Check out Sullivan's contest if you want to vote. If you're interested in watching more cheesy and sexually charged '80s video, check out the link above. Honestly! I don't know why my parents let me watch MTV when I was a kid. I suppose the expected most of that symbolism to go over my head, as it indeed did.