LOTS of people are talking about “Storm” — a seven-and-a-half-minute film directed by Romain Gavras that features the Swedish rapper Yung Lean (Jonatan Leandoer Håstad, his stage name is a play on words: lean is a recreational street drug made by mixing prescription cough syrup with soda and hard candy). The video consists of two parts — “Storm I” which is a short drama set in an all-boys school and “Storm II” that includes stunning choreography by Damien Jalet.
Let’s start with Storm II because that’s the clip that is generating the most discussion. (Watch on YouTube starting at 4:18.)
Storm II is beautiful, mesmerizing, hypermasculine, violent, terrifying, thrilling, and easily the most brilliant choreography I’ve seen in years. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it and, as others have reported, I found myself watching it again and again. Notice that the entire dance routine is a single shot without any edits. Numerous rehearsal videos show that this is NOT the product of artificial intelligence.
However to fully understand the video one must start at the beginning and watch the full seven minutes and 34 seconds (Storm I & II). In context, a very different picture emerges. (Trigger warning: it’s very violent.)
In the full video, Yung Lean is the alpha male gang leader at an all-boys school who bullies the weaker boys to adopt his violent ethos. It’s Lord of the Flies or The Chocolate War but with better choreography.
What becomes apparent rather quickly is that one is watching an overtly fascistic theater piece.
The video is about bringing order out of chaos, celebrating a certain hypermasculine violence in service of power, and the overarching goal is hierarchy and control.
I went back and read the lyrics of Storm II and those raise an eyebrow as well.
We stand united through the storm
Lay all your love right on my door
I’ll never fall, I’m standing tall
Go take the darkness out my heart
Okay maybe he’s singing to his sweetheart. Or maybe he’s just really bonded with his minions. Then things take a turn.
It feels like a drug drug drug
Give you no love love love
Until the sun comes up
You’re all out of luck luck luck
We don’t give a f*ck about what
Comes out of your neck or tongue
When you see the stars better run
I’m no ethnomusicologist but I’m pretty sure Yung Lean is talking about inflicting harm on his rivals alongside his enthusiastic and obedient crew.
II. Making sense of this moment
I already feel like a joyless scold and that’s not my intention here. The video is extraordinary. All art is subject to interpretation and perhaps my interpretation is off base. But what I’m curious to explore is WHY this video emerged now and why it resonates with so many people. The artists pulled it out of the air — the zeitgeist — and the essence they distilled is pure fascism. So why is fascism the electrical current we can feel in the air right now?
As a point of comparison, the video for “Stop Me From Falling” by Kylie Minogue features excellent choreography but no one comes away from that feeling like civil war is imminent. With “Storm” it’s different. The video has captured the public’s imagination with endless reshares and reaction videos on social media — a gravitational pull that persists even when one is troubled by the imagery. The audience is participating in, dare I say hungry for, the same dark energy as the artists. (In fairness, most people are responding to Storm II and are unaware that Storm I exists.)
Before I go any further I need to define fascism, because that word is often stretched until it means little more than “things I dislike.”
Historian and political scientist Roger Griffin (1991) argues that the ideological core of fascism is palingenetic ultranationalism — palingenesis meaning rebirth. Fascism is animated by an organizing myth: the nation was great, it has fallen into decadence and humiliation, and only a violent, cleansing rebirth, led by a strong man and a mobilized people, can restore its glory. Authoritarianism merely wants order. Fascism wants resurrection.
That’s a pretty good description of “Storm” as well. Decline, humiliation, a charismatic leader, a mobilized band of brothers, the violent restoration of a lost order and beneath all of it, the ecstatic feeling of being reborn into something powerful. The video has no political program. It is the mood of palingenesis, condensed and set to music. But again why would that land with the American audience right now? – Toby Rogers
Dr Toby Rogers is well known for his research about vaccines causing autism and the horrific deaths and injuries from the Covid vaccine rollout. His autism thesis is a valuable research tool:
https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/handle/2123/20198/Rogers_T_thesis.pdf
Toby Rogers has a Ph.D. in political economy from the University of Sydney in Australia and a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley. His research focus is on regulatory capture and corruption in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Rogers does grassroots political organizing with medical freedom groups across the country working to stop the epidemic of chronic illness in children. He writes about the political economy of public health on Substack.
https://tobyrogers.substack.com/p/this-fascistic-moment?
