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Julie M. Montgomery

Professor Sobocinski

ENG 1201 Section 525

16 February 2020

Land of Confusion

“We live in a land of confusion” is the refrain from the song “Land of Confusion” sung by the

group Genesis in 1986. The music video features the band and all the characters in the video as

puppets. In 2005, the band Disturbed created an animated music video for the same song. The

message for each video is similar and they both use Pathos as their rhetorical appeal. The music

style of Genesis and Disturbed are dissimilar and the audiences they attract are not the same.

The “Land of Confusion” released by Genesis and covered by Disturbed both make political

statements on the turmoil in our world. The Genesis version focuses on the United States in the

1980’s and the Disturbed video emphases the chaos in the entire world.

The story told by Genesis, through the use of puppets, is set during the presidency of

Ronald Reagan. He is dreaming about all of the corrupt world leaders in the 1980’s, issues

with conservation, the Iranian crisis, the arms race, the results of nuclear war and other

military conflicts. During the video, he is restless while sleeping so he is sweating profusely

resulting in him drowning in his sweat. President Reagan pulls on a Superman uniform to

help save the world, but the video satirizes him as an old man watching television who cannot

make a difference. They show him living in the time of the dinosaurs with his wife,

Nancy. In the end, he destroys the world by accidentally pushing the nuclear war button

because he is senile.

The story told in Disturbed’s video is conveyed in a dark animated piece. The video

shows conflict between the super power countries and a villain, whose symbol resembles a
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dollar sign. A character with red eyes and big white teeth flies to the earth in a fire ball. In

the next frame, this character is chained in a brick cell and breaks his chains to free

himself. At this point in the video we do not know that he is the hero. The world leaders are

in a room trying to make decisions, but instead they are fighting with each other. In the

meantime, all the armies are marching on cities, hurting civilians and dropping bombs in oil

fields. One clip shows the world leaders table with the villain’s dollar sign on it. The hero

remembers a time when money wasn’t the drive for the world and it was a beautiful

place. Once the hero has the people behind him, he rallies them to organize and take back

their world. They go to the villain’s office and tie him down. The hero punches him in the

stomach and all the money flies in the air, repairing the world. All the worlds’ iconic sites are

restored and these cities no longer look war torn. The story ends with the message that people

need to stand up and take back their world from the leaders who are driven by money instead

of human need.

The theme in each video is similar. The Genesis version focuses more on the events in

the United States in the 1980’s, President Ronald Reagan and his failings because of his

age. In the Genesis video, rhetorical appeal used is Pathos. Genesis focuses on the feeling of

people coming together, and using their resources and loving each other to lessen the

confusion and make the world a better place. The Disturbed version also uses Pathos, but

concentrates on the hero helping the people to see they have the power and if they organize

themselves, they can make the world a beautiful place. The goal is the leaders work for the

people and not the other way around.

Since the groups have a different style of music and video, they appeal to different

audiences. The Genesis video is corny and represents the 1980’s sound. The song is sung in
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a pop music style and all the characters are puppets. At the end of the video, musicians and

celebrities all come together to sing about using love to help save the world. The

song is sung in a light, upbeat way. The video added humor by using Bonzo; the chimpanzee

President Reagan made a movie with when he was an actor. The video showed important

political content from this era, but they kept it light. This video would appeal more to

educated women in the 15-25 age range due to its light pop sound and message.

The Disturbed cover has a harder metal sound and the video is animated. The

Disturbed version uses a lot of red and black in their video and the focus is on the themes of

war and corruption. Most of the video shows war or people fighting and the hero in the video

is pretty scary looking. The band Disturbed is a heavy metal band so the music was darker

and louder. They did not show any humor in their video. I believe because of the more metal

animated feel of this video it would appeal more to men who are 15-35 years old. The

socioeconomic status would be low to middle class. This video may appeal to males who are

interested in politics and are frustrated with their government.

Genesis and Disturbed videos both agree that “we are living in a land of confusion”

and in the 19 years between the releases of these music videos, the political climate

worldwide has not gotten better and there is no hero in sight.

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Works Cited

“Disturbed - Land Of Confusion (Official Music Video).” YouTube, 26 Oct. 2009,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV4oYkIeGJc. Accessed 08 Feb. 2020.

“Genesis - Land of Confusion (Official Music Video).” YouTube, 18 Sept. 2014,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq7FKO5DlV0. Accessed 08 Feb. 2020.