Simplicity in "Where is the Love?"

By Rosie Van Vliet

The music video for “Where is the Love?” by the Black Eyed Peas was released in 2003. Shot in East Los Angeles, the video features the members of the band along with many other people, most of which are children. The overarching theme of placing question marks all over the city, along with one sub-story of a man getting arrested, best serve the purpose of this video and its song: to illuminate the hate in the world to everyday citizens and ask them, “where is the love?”

The symbol that stretches through the entire music video is a question mark. This symbol has a lot of characteristics that create a theme in this music video. The question mark literally represents the most vivid symbol, being a very distinct shade of red in the otherwise washed out film. This fact makes the viewer think about the meaning behind the symbol itself. The video is obviously posing a question for the viewers with the use of this symbol which can be found in the title of the song: “Where is the Love?” The enhancement of the question mark itself causes the reader to think about the question more thoroughly, and ask themselves, “where is the love?”

One other characteristic of the question mark is its sporadic placement throughout the video. The symbol pops up everywhere: on buses, skyscrapers, even interrupting children playing video games. By literally shoving the question mark in people’s faces, the band - acting as “freedom fighters” - is forcing the characters, and subsequently the viewers, to think about its meaning in society. By the end of the video, the characters look up in wonderment at all of the question marks floating around, sharing the feeling of togetherness that the band has said is missing throughout the whole song.

I really enjoy the use of this symbol throughout the music video. It keeps everything cohesive and really makes it clear that the message of this song is to wonder about where is the love in today’s broken society. The two characteristics mentioned above are the characteristics that make the message the clearest. Viewers are not confused about the meaning behind the symbol, which is something that I value as a critic.

Secondly, the sub-story of a man, played by band member apl.de.ap, who is arrested for vandalism after placing a sticker with the question mark symbol on the back of a city bus is also very

meaningful. Apl.de.ap sits on a step after being arrested, talking to the cops by singing his verse of the song directly to them. This image is probably the most powerful one in the whole music video. He is explaining to policemen, which are universal symbols of “the man” and “society”, exactly what is wrong with “the man” and “society”. The storyline of him being arrested while trying to promote peace resonates with the viewer so deeply that they find themselves on his side, which is the whole point of the video itself - to get people to understand the necessity of peace, unity, and equality.

This video is very successful. It is cohesive, symbolic, and powerful. The use of the question mark as a symbol for the title of the song (“Where is the Love?”) and the storyline of a man being arrested and singing to the police are two of the most meaningful images in the video.