Depeche Mode Video

At this point in our class-wide internet dredge, Dante is showing up in increasingly silly parts of pop culture, which is why I thought I should write an entry on the music video to Depeche Mode's "Walking in my Shoes."

Depeche Mode is a British band that formed in 1980 and has been plugging along ever since, at one point being considered one of the top electronic bands in the world. "Walking in my Shoes" is a single they released in 1993, which later appeared on the album Songs of Faith and Devotion. The album title must have indicated a more generally religious frame of mind, because the music video of "Walking in my Shoes" is inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy.

The lyrics of the song are actually pretty anti-Dante, because the narrator is a confessed sinner who isn't "looking for absolution," whereas Dante is a man with a relatively clear conscience who nonetheless travels the path to enlightenment. This fundamental difference probably explains the direction that the video takes.

The video has a motif of band members being stranded alone (or in listless groups) in a dark corner; the use of this kind of shot at the beginning suggests Dante's beginnings in the Dark Woods. In fact, the character who is clearly meant to represent Dante first appears 18 seconds in. He is later shown flipping through the pages of a tome, which we could assume to either represent his Comedia, or to be a bible. The other blatant connection to Dante's Inferno is the backdrop of the music video, which depicts a path leading up a mountain, much like Dante's path leading up from Hell through Purgatory to Paradise.

The plot of the music video, such as it is, seems to involve the Dante character's attraction to a female character that probably stands in as Beatrice. Since this version of Dante (as voiced in the lyrics) is a sinner not seeking absolution, the flirtation between him and Beatrice is blatant and a clear perversion of the "real" Dante's holy bond with saintly Beatrice. At 2:44 the couple in the music video kiss, thus falling into temptation. The pair starts wearing the birdlike, demonic masks we were introduced to at the start of the video, which reinforces that they have now become sinners like the other creatures of Hell. They seem very happily in lust, though, as evidenced by their ice skating activities which take place at the base of Hell, with the path to Heaven seemingly forgotten for good.

Throughout the video, other grotesque characters dressed in a medieval style make appearances. Their faces are made to be disturbing because they're supposed to be in Hell, but I also found myself reminded specifically of the thieves in the 8th circle, whose bodies are constantly distorting and metamorphosing.

The music video was directed by a Dutchman by the name of Anton Corbjin, and I'm sure that he had a great time putting it together; I doubt he got hung up on faithfulness to the Comedia along the way.