You know that mainstream culture has adopted the 2012 meme when Britney’s on the bandwagon: the pop star’s new song and video, “Till the World Ends,” features Ms. Spears surrounded by a large group of revelers greeting the “apocalypse” many seem to believe will occur on December 21, 2012. While the video is filled with images of death and destruction, at least it ends on a positive note, with Britney looking out at the sunshine after emerging from underground. In general, though, the video doesn’t seem to (surprise) do any real thinking on what 2012 might actually be, preferring instead to recycle images from the Jerry Bruckheimer movie of the same name.
TNT Magazine reports:
Britney Spears’ Till The World Ends video has launched and plays on the belief held by some that the world will end on December 21, 2012, when the ancient Mayan calendar runs out. In Britney’s world, however, when the world ends, the party starts. The video features Brit dressed in leather jacket, underwear and fishnets rocking out in a basement party as the city above her is demolished. Meteors crash to the earth and black clouds roll over the city as Britney’s mates hop down manholes to join in the party.
“Keep on dancing till the world ends,” sings Britney in her red catsuit as a crowd of sweaty, skimpily-clad dancers grind away.
Britney posted the Till The World Ends video on Youtube this morning, a day after releasing a 30-second teaser clip. Till The World Ends was written by Ke$ha and a second video – a director’s cut with an even more apocalyptic theme – is in the pipeline.
(You can see the clip here.)
What do you think—have Hollywood and the mainstream media gone too far on pushing a “doom and gloom” interpretation of 2012, without considering that it may be a spiritual advance instead of a physical catastrophe?
