November 20, 2008

Derek Jarman: The Smiths “Ask”

More Jarman videos! This is one of several he made for The Smiths, Ask, from 1986.

Derek Jarman’s films and The Smiths’ songs share similar motifs; this video is a prime example. Both reflect on a fractured world. While Morrissey croons, “If it’s not love then it’s the bomb that will bring us together” Jarman’s video depicts romantic encounters in front of an abandoned warehouse. The skeleton dance partner makes the entire scene into a dance macabre: the youth celebrate but the world falls to pieces.

 

Comments (4)

  • I think it’s Bristol docks actually, the big building on the left being the former warehouse that recently became M-Shed.

  • Stuart, more specifically Stothert and Pitt Cranes on North and South Sides of the Royal Victoria Dock, Barking, London. Now grade 2 listed and form part of the redeveloped docklands.

  • Not Salford, looking at the cranes I would say Royal Victoria Docks London.

  • Did Jarman film it on the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford?

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