There There. (The Boney King of Nowhere.)

Theme: Victim mentality and "Learned Helplessness".

This is my shot at an interpretation. I remember instructors who wrote "GCE" on the top of a test question to indicate that the student had made a "Gross Conceptual Error". A world not based on reality can dominate the imagination of someone to such a degree that their choices, life's direction, sense of self, and unforeseen consequences are unavoidable. An oversimplification might be climbing out on a limb, then sawing between yourself and the solid tree trunk.

So....from the video, we see foreboding forest, the main character crippled with doubt, fear, hesitancy.... expecting the worst from the future.

Then he spies a "hobbit" scene ... or so it seems to me, Tolkien being so popular and young adults dressing up as animals and calling themselves "furries". This scene has been called mice smoking inside of a tree -- pleasure, retirement, live where you want, no responsibility, "I would be okay if everyone would just leave me alone and let me live the way I want to" -- the addict's mantra-- in a mild and homey setting. Solitary philosopher-monks, it seems. The main character chooses not to hold this scene as his goal. (Although it is attractive to so many others).

Next up is the family life -- fellowship, wife and kids and grandkids, reunions, a clan with a patriarch, plenty of food to eat, rabbits (a symbol of reproduction) gathered around -- "run rabbit run, dig your hole under the sun and when at last your work is done, don't sit down its time to dig another one" (Pink Floyd of course). Not his cup of tea I guess.

Now, the cat wedding is more of a church scene than anything else. But romance figures well here also. The congregation is supportive and conformist, but seem to lack expression and depth, even to the point of appearing dreadfully doomed to a lifeless existence. Cats having nine lives meaning something about the afterlife??

Back in the woods, the darkness and the raven rule the night. The shining coat is an invitation, to think differently, to help others out of their victim mentality, to lead a life (and walk a different path) not live by the force of habit, have a different (non-conformist) approach, and seek a higher reality.

Getting the right fit seems important here. Are your dreams helpful to you, a good part of you, meant to be yours, or are you just borrowing someone else's?

Once the coat is donned, finding the shoes comes naturally. (Thinking differently means behaving differently). Escape the victim mentality. Avoid being caught up in -- and agrEEing with! -- those who surrender to circumstances, give in to a mundane life, consider themselves destined for mediocrity. Now the running is a pace that is necessary to grow as an artist and become great, gain some recognition, stand out from the crowd, while expressing unique-ness and talent.

However, if you have spent any time practicing (or even considering!) some of those "Gross conceptual error" lifestyles -- for lack of a better short description -- your past can catch up to you and prevent success. In fact, "hanging out" with those who see themselves as victims, "little people" subject to the forces of habit and conformity, can influence you. Ravens symbolize IMHO the baggage, ~old tapes~ and habits that carryover tenaciously when trying to "make a break for it".

Then as you grow up and grow old, hardening of the attitudes can set in. All of a sudden, the ravens which perch in your tree are part of your "scene" something that others can see and possibly learn from. You are both an obstacle and an object-lesson.

"Maybe we ARE just victims" you might say. Maybe we are fated to mediocrity. Maybe learned helplessness is inevitable. But just because you feel it doesn't mean its there.