Many visual texts, such as music videos or graphic novels, show symbols through many different types of visual motifs. Many people think that the song and music video   This video is set in an old-time carnival and freak show, and is in black and white, adding to the antique feel. “Soul to Squeeze” by Red Hot Chili Peppers are meant to be a representation of the struggles of addiction, a problem that the lead singer of the band, Anthony Kiedis, has struggled with throughout his life.

The beginning of the video shows many different characters who are supposed to be “freaks” but a cone-head man is the most prevalent throughout the video One of the first scenes shows the cone-head man after the freak show at the carnival has ended, and he is walking alone. This represents the meaning of the song because it’s showing solitude or alienation. Often times addicts feel like they are alone, headed down a path of self-destruction and that there’s nobody who can relate to or help them. The cone-head man being alone and alienated correlates closesly with the addict walking and being metaphorically alone.  The character is alone and it gives a feeling of being different and lonely/unwanted. This scene, just as the rest of the video, is in black and white, which begins the video in the old-timey mood that is prevalent throughout. It’s also dark, creating a sad/lonely feeling. Since this scene is toward the beginning and the video overall goes from being sad/negative and improves in the mood as it goes on, it makes sense for this scene to have a sad or somewhat depressing feel to it.

Another scene, with a different type of feel, is when the cone head man is riding with a girl in the back of the truck. This scene is in black and white, still but has much brighter lighting, giving it a happier feeling. “Today love smiled on me. It took away my pain said, ‘Please, oh let your ride be free. You gotta let it be.’ oh yeah” These are the lyrics being sung during this scene of the video. Kiedis is talking about finally feeling love after battling his addiction and being numb to emotion for so long because of it, which makes sense; the scene holds a much happier, more positive feel because he is talking about things finally improving in his life after being so tough for so long. The rays of sun in the shot give a feeling of hope and happiness and you can see specks of dust floating around in the light which is another small detail that really helps keep the old-timey feel.

The feel of this music video improves as it goes on, going from sad and in despair to happy and showing hope. I think this helps represent the meaning of addiction in the song in the way that he is fighting it in the beginning and as time goes on, things improve and it’s easier to see the light at the end of the tunnel or the way out of bad times. The old-time feel stays consistent throughout and I think the video does a good job of conveying the deeper meaning of the song.