The Danse Macabre and Media

I’ve just discovered Lorn's music video for Acid Rain and it felt like I’d just experienced something profound. It has a visceral depiction of dying zombie-like cheerleaders desperately performing a final, frantic routine before succumbing to the void after a fatal car accident. This aggressive, isolated (for the most part) dance against the backdrop of a desolate American landscape symbolizes a struggle against the inevitable - high entropy aka death.

This modern struggle echoes the historical Danse Macabre, the medieval art motif where Death leads all people in a collective dance to the grave, emphasizes the universality of mortality. In some North American folklore, such as the Ghost Dance, ritual dancing served a deeply existential purpose, aiming for communal spiritual connection with the dead and hope for renewal in the face of suffering.

The most striking contrast to the cheerleaders’ frantic fight is the ending of Ingmar Bergman's film, The Seventh Seal. In its famous final scene, the characters, led by Death, are shown holding hands and dancing joyously. This act is not a fight, but a profound acceptance and resignation to their shared fate.

A fascinating modern parallel to these existential dances is found in the video game Elden Ring, specifically with the Dominula Dancers (or Godskin Followers) in the Windmill Village of Dominula. These figures are seen performing a seemingly joyous, ecstatic ritual dance around the windmills. However, the context for this is deeply disturbing. The dancers have been driven to a state of feral bliss by their devotion to the Godskin Cult, sacrificing others (and perhaps themselves) in their frenzied celebration. Their dance is an expression of being enraptured and in awe of cosmic bliss.

Ultimately, these varying cultural depictions—from the frantic struggle in Lorn's video to the serene acceptance in The Seventh Seal and the ecstatic delirium of the Dominula Dancers—use the powerful, expressive act of dance to explore humanity’s core responses to death and cosmic power: isolation, community, struggle, peace, and terrifying rapture.

These are heady thoughts to be had after watching a music video which lasts for less than three minutes.