This Week in the Mercury
Friday, August 29, 2008
Video Can Someone Please Explain "November Rain" to Me?
Posted by Ezra Caraeff on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 3:38 PM
It's been 17 years since the video for Guns N' Roses' "November Rain" came out, and I still don't get it.
I know there was supposed to be a pair of sequels that wrapped up the batshit crazy plot (How did she die? Why did the Best Man leave the ceremony to solo in some desert by himself? Did they really build special stairs for Slash to climb in his ascension of Axl's piano?), but "Don't Cry" just made everything more confusing (Slash dies?) and "Estranged" had dolphins in it.
Fucking dolphins!
Wiki, take it away:
Much speculation exists about the shot of Axl walking past the gun store. Some take it as a sign that Axl killed his new bride. Others think it may mean that Stephanie has already visited the store, and Axl is too late to save her. Yet another theory is that, while Axl didn't physically shoot her, he may have pushed/motivated her to kill herself. There is even some confusion as to how Stephanie died. While most accept that she was shot in the head, some believe that she is killed by the lightning strike at the end of the wedding reception. However, the mirror over half her face gives credence to the "gunshot theory", as the families of head trauma victims often employ mirrors to give the appearance of a full face. It's entirely possible that the gun store was just a clever play on the band's name.
That doesn't help me at all. Anyone?
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It's not important how she dies. The real crux of the video is the complex emotional interplay between Axl and Slash. "The Bride" is merely a canvass on which that rich story can be painted.
Slash must go out into the desert because he is mourning the loss of his friend, just as his friend will soon mourn the loss of his bride. The desert represents Slash's inability to just be happy for Axl, his need for some time on his own to work through the web of feelings entangling him.
One could make a powerful contextual and motivational argument that Slash killed the bride. It is only during her death march that Slash, employing the piano staircase, has the upper hand in his relationship with Axl. Perhaps he expects Axl to turn to him in his mourning without understanding that it is precisely in these times, during the cold November rain, that everybody needs some time all alone.
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