Ren: The establishment. Protected from "the rain" (the "Storm") by the Poncho (remember that!) . Romain: "Us" (The public) Literally "playing along", obeying orders. . Explains the change from the "exchange of goods and services" into the abstract concept of a "promise" quantified by a coin, or piece of paper, then the corruption which follows. . Next, the Politics(!) Written "Peak Donald" making direct references to the Southern Border and hypocritical attitude. (incoming!!!!!) We ALL came from "somewhere else". . Finishing with "There's no left, there's no right, in the middle we sleep" ... Which is true. The "ping pong politics" are divisive, but essentially keep "us" guessing and changing the control to "the other side" every few years, with the previous incumbent condemned as "the bad guy" (unfortunately, recently correct!) Or just "inept" (2 for 2?) BUT all the bluster serves those in "the club" using the system for their own gain, rather than working for "the people". And guess who elects them.... Every time (we are part of "the game") . UNLESS the time comes where we "see" (you're "on the money"!!) . The choice? Burn the population? Not possible. . Realisation.... . The protection is gone (poncho) . The "Establishment" (the System burns. . He's talking Revolution. . Becomes more apparent in Part 2.
Thiscwas Ren and Samuel Perry-Falvey's first one shot video. It took them 183 takes to get it all the way through. They were also changing things as they went. I think you did fine. Think art meets greed, meets humanity trying to make sense out of it all. I see the hostage as the contollers, Ren the rebel, but when he turns the mirror on himself, instead of killing the system, he kilks himsrlf in protest. I always see the Buddhist monk during the Vietnam war who burned himself in protest to what was happening in the world.
Don't watch/listen to Ren expecting to have the same musical experience you're used to. Not all, but much of what Ren has to say just happens to be being delivered through the medium of music. Even with his more light-hearted videos, you'll want to quite literally leave ALL of your expectations at the door. Forget genre. Forget formulas. In fact, lots of the time, you can forget the chorus and bridge as well, as a lot of what he does is linear. I don't mean this as any kind of diss... I really want you to be able to enjoy and appreciate how truly unique Ren actually is. Lots of people, literally across decades, think 20s to 70s, have referred to him as a generational artist. At least one or two univ profs have started YT channels to create course material (mental health field); many reactors have changed their formats to bring in multiple guests, playing many of the same songs over and over. One guy has even created software so that he can create yt concert videos with more than 100 or 200 reactors at a time. And I know I'm ranting, so I'll stop. As cliché as it sounds, Ren is really not just another performer. He's a well rounded musician who sugarcoats nothing. I hope you will continue to enjoy the ride. Sorry for the PhD thesis. 😂
Excellent commentary. Great call on the eyes. So many don't even make note of that. 😊 edited to add: No one is obligated to like every song by an artist, even an artist they like and respect. Mad props for keeping true. Full disclosure, I love this one musically, but I'm a theatre nerd, so 🤷
Just wanted to share a bit of love! Partly because I want EVERYONE to experience all of Ren’s stuff, and partly because Ive watched tons of reactions, and you’ve had a few new takes! I haven’t heard anything new about it in a while! Keep it up! ❤
This one's one of my tip top favourites, both because I've been a very political person for a very long time and because the video's such a chilling masterpiece of storytelling... and also because the hook is so incredible. I've seen a few different ways of interpreting it; my favourite interpretation is to think of narrator-Ren and the hostage as both being Ren (think: Hi Ren), and the set as an allegory for Ren's mind (like Hi Ren, Sick Boi, and Chalk Outlines). In this interpretation, narrator-Ren has been awoken to the systemic injustices and corruption of the dominant planetary civilization, which is driving us to the edge of the cliff and perpetrating horrific human rights abuses, injustices, and ecocide; narrator-Ren is trying to find a way out of participating in it but of course it's impossible to extract yourself. The hostage is everyday-person-Ren, trapped into feeding The System. He plays the guitar when he's told to play, he stops when he's told to stop, and he doesn't even "see" what's unfolding around him. Narrator-Ren is enraged at his continued participation in The System/at his inability to extract himself from it or effect change from within, driven mad by his forced-contributions to the problem, and probably filled with self-loathing that he's not managing to try harder/sacrifice more to try to get things to change. When narrator-Ren can't extract himself from participating in The System, his incredibly dark conclusion is to decide that the only way out is to eliminate himself and he does so like the Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc did in 1963 in protest of Vietnam's persecution of Buddhism - self immolation while seated cross legged on the ground. Ren refuses to comment on the video (as far as I'm aware); it's one where he really enjoys that people have different interpretations for.
Appreciate you keeping it real! It seems like a lot of reactors bite their tongues when they have a thought that might upset a fanbase. I like hearing what people really think, though. This was one of Ren’s earlier videos. They did an unbelievable number of takes to get it, over several days. Someone involved said in an interview that as shooting progressed, they added in more and more ideas. So I think it makes total sense that you’re a bit puzzled by the final outcome. It could be seen as more of a creative exercise than a super focused visual support for the lyrics. And yeah, depending on a person’s knowledge background, etc, the lyrics may be more or less hard-hitting. But what makes me really appreciate the video is knowing about the logistics of the video shoot itself. For example, they had someone hiding behind a pillar (I think) monitoring the video, whose job it was to call off takes (before Ren got to pouring the oil on himself) if there was anything wrong, since they only had one shot at that. It’s really incredible what they were able to achieve on tiny budgets in all the videos from before Hi Ren blew up. Achieved through resourcefulness, networking, rule-bending/breaking, etc. Money Game 3 was the first video they invested significantly in. Looking forward to hearing more reactions from you! Not everything Ren makes is a work of genius (in fact, he briefly considered shelving the Sick Boi album due to the number of silly songs it contains, and overall just feeling that it didn’t showcase his full potential) but I really enjoy his versatility and perspective.
From what I've read from other comments Ren recognizes that he is as much a part of the money game as the guy (representing greed) who he ties up. So it would be useless to kill him because Greed will forever live on, so best just to kill himself. I'm glad you will see it through to the last video. Entertaining.
Thank you 🙏💚 Kid Vision 💚 for your 🐷 Ren - 🎸💰🐚 Money Game reaction! #moneygame #firstmoneygame #ren Sack-man/guitar player is Romain Axisa www.youtube.com/@RomainAxisa from www.youtube.com/@thebigpushband a great artist and former flatmate of Ren's.
Self-immolation is historically the ultimate demonstration of protest, usually political or religious. I have not even tried to interpret the video, just enjoy the emotions it produces. Also love, love, love the melody: rain, rain, rain, rain .... (or maybe reign?)
You are actually one of the most intelligent reactors I’ve come across. Super accessible and non pretententzois try to apply as an overlay, but trying to understand and getting most of it right. Eventually. Life is a process. Your harers are late to the game
Ren wanted everybody to be uncomfortable when they watch this. Nothing he ever does is an accident. He wanted us to have like 1 million questions and it be just sitting here like WTF when it was over. That’s to get us ready for the next one.
