Re-Flex - “The Politics Of Dancing”

  We start out with a title card explaining who Re-Flex is and how they have a secret radio station where they are transmitting directives to destroy the forces of evil and… oh, screw it. It’s really too much to read, let’s just wait for the less challenging parts of the video to play.

  We’re in a car, driven by somebody with sunglasses, headed toward… whoops, we don’t know, because we cut to somebody else wearing sunglasses spying on somebody else who isn’t wearing sunglasses. (With me so far?) Then we cut to a street, where another somebody in an overcoat is waiting for an old-model car to drive toward them. Cut back to the… um… second sunglass guy peering over a balcony and looking very suspicious. (I’m so lost right now it doesn’t really matter.)

  Then some guy in a poor-choice outfit (overalls are involved, I really don’t need to say any more) races up to a sign-posting thing and slaps up a poster for “Re-Flex Radio”. Then he runs off to ask his guidance counselor why he can’t get a real job.

  Now we seem to be in the recording studio for this mysterious Re-Flex Radio, and some guy wearing glasses and an aggressive mustache is waving his hands about. (Quick shot of a radio antenna with fake beams billowing outwards. I guess this is supposed to mean that we are live, on the air.) The second sunglass dude (let’s make this easier and call him Blue Jacket Guy) marches up to the sign-posting area and rudely rips the “Re-Flex Radio” announcement off the wall. We’re probably supposed to hate him, so let’s keep that in mind.

  Back to the studio, where Mustache Man throws something across the room, and then begins singing the song. He’s really not very cute, so thankfully the camera cuts to the rest of the band playing their instruments in another part of the studio. The song is now being broadcast at least ten blocks, based on the puny radio antenna which we briefly reviewed. But the signal is strong enough that a couple in a passing car gets the message, even though it doesn’t inspire the female half of the couple to take off the stupid handkerchief on her head.

  Back to the studio again, where the band is still playing, and based on how people are acting, the term “drug use” pops into my head. Then we have a scene with some mysterious woman shoving markers around on one of those “war strategy” boards that old people used in black-and-white military movies. Quick montage of various people turning on their radios and receiving the anarchic message of Re-Flex.

  Studio once more, with the band playing. The overriding theme would be “why are there mannequins placed about the stage in sexual positions?”. (The “drug use” phrase rears its ugly head once again.) Cut to that one guy waiting for the old car. He’s finally made it inside and the car races off to either save the world or get an oil change.

  More of the band playing. The mannequins seem to have multiplied, which can quickly happen if you turn your back. The guy playing keyboards is skinny enough that he could easily slip through a storm grate, so I’m a little worried about him. Another shot of Blue Jacket Guy, peering over yet another balcony. I’m thinking he needs to find another hobby. Or get laid. Something.

  Cue some woman typing on an old-fashioned typewriter and smoking. She turns her radio up, which triggers a shot of old-car guy barreling through the streets of some vaguely British town, followed by Mustache Guy wadding up some paper that displeased him. Then we have a montage of Blue Jacket Guy (well, he’s not wearing the blue jacket this time, so it might be his evil twin) ripping down more Re-Flex posters, some people we don’t know talking on the phone, and somebody hooking up wires to a device. If people are hooking up wires to a device, somebody is going to die. This much I know is true.

  Things get even weirder. We see Mustache Guy singing in a newspaper photo, way before Harry Potter did that, somebody being interviewed next to a bus, a trollop talking on the phone with images of beaver on the wall behind her, and more shots of the mysterious woman moving markers around on that damn military board.

  Back to the studio, where people seem to be having a really nice time, but we still don’t know what the hell these people are trying to prove. Cut to several people on roller skates, whizzing about on some parking lot while a nun stands in the background (2:47 in the video), contemplating the level of blasphemy that she is witnessing. I’m sure she’s more than ready to contact Rome.

  Now we have an odd woman with brightly-died hair at the top of a flight of stairs. There’s a man behind her, and it would be perfectly understandable if he shoved her down the stairs, but he doesn’t. Cut to the one guy in the blue coveralls (I know, there’s way too many “guys” in this video, just ride it out) running like hell. He’s clutching a tube of paper, so we’ll just have to assume that it’s important in some way.

  Back to the people skating in that one parking lot. Everyone is going backwards, so I don’t know if this is a political statement or if these people are just really confused. They seem to be enjoying themselves, so I really shouldn’t complain about the clarity of their actions. The skaters then race past another guy with red shoes who is dancing with manic frenzy. He seems to be very talented and rhythmic, but I don’t understand why he’s here.

  Shots of that old-timey car still racing to wherever, mixed in with the Skater People terrorizing other people in the vicinity and glimpses of the band still performing the song in the underground (I’m assuming) studio. Quick scene with an older couple listening to the radio but acting like it’s 1943 and the Germans are about to drop bombs. Some people just can’t keep up with current events.

  The old-timey car finally arrives at its destination, and Overcoat Guy jumps out, ready to work whatever evil he has been assigned by shadowy management people that we’ve never seen. Quick shot of Red-Shoe Guy still rocking to his own personal soundtrack, and then cut to the radio studio, with the band still jamming.

  Final shots are of obviously mean thugs breaking into the radio station, intent on destroying free will and the natural right to make cryptic videos. They find the studio completely deserted, which means that somebody is not going to get a Christmas bonus. The camera pans to the still active radio antenna, and the words “To be continued” flash on the screen.

  Which is a total lie. Because Re-Flex didn’t do a damn thing after this song.

  Or did they?

  Cue evil, underground laughter…


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