Escape From Suburbia: The Mint Chicks "Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!"

The Mint Chicks "Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!"
dir. by Sam Peacocke
This is a simple video for a simple song. And both are brilliant in their subtle and efficient use of space. The singer implores his love to come out and take a chance with him, and promises that he isn't "too young to love." The video puts further impetus behind his words by emphasizing the mundane confinement of a life without risk. She slowly moves from the darkness of her home to the bright lights of the open field as her vision of the world increases.

It begins with a nearly shut door, emanating light from inside; hinting that we will soon see what people so feverishly hide behind bedroom doors. Next we get the protagonist laying on the floor of an empty room - eyes closed as if she is only now waking up to the realities of existence. A wolf suddenly appears and she decides to see where it leads her. She passes a robotic housewife, a man on the toilet, stagnant lovers and two men wrestling in front of a statue of Mary as she strolls along the sidewalk. The alternatives to following this big bad wolf down the street seem horrible, and she has almost no choice but to follow, hood on (we couldn't help but make the connection again). The tentative fear of humanity leads them to do some fairly strange and boring things.

The lyrics of the chorus bring to mind high school romance ("come over to my house") and underscore the central themes of the piece. We could all use some of that naive courage of our adolescent emotions, no matter what our age. One imagines the boy who stands despairingly at the edge of his roof hasn't experienced much of life at all, and thus he is shocked to see someone pass him by so freely. Sometimes all it takes is a simple walk through the neighborhood to realize how beautiful and exciting life is outside of your protective bubble. Or as The Mint Chicks so aptly put it, "Come on girl, just go out!"