Music is way communication that allows people to illustrate their feelings at certain times in their life. 30 Seconds to Mars composed and sings a song called “A Beautiful Lie” that is really relatable to the lifestyle that most teenagers live. The idea of having relationships, or grades, or friends, or anything else that only provides temporary happiness. So instead most teenagers tend to tell themselves that everything is okay and these are the lies this band is singing about. These lies create such a beautiful life that is unrealistic. When these people do this they start to think their life is the best it is going to get rather than keeping their expectations high and striving to achieve a better life. There are two scenes during this music video that seem to hit these ideas about temporary happiness best; at around forty seconds into the video and also at around two minutes (when the ice burg is shown).

Forty seconds into the song there is imagery shown when there is a picture of a group of small children that appear to live in the artic area. Their lives are completely different than those who live in other parts of the world. Their families live on the ice and when the ice can’t be broken the families cannot get food, so they starve. These boys would then take the dog sled and go hunting and fishing for their families. Fishing was the hardest part because it all depended on the quality of the ice and if you could put a fishing line through it. This picture tells a lot about the lives of the children. They look sad and tired, but at the same time they all stand tall and look courageous and go to extreme measures in order to provide for their family. The children do not realize now how hard their life is because they enjoy doing what they do. The picture is in black and white, which adds a lot of contrast and emotion to the picture. It evens out the playing field when it comes to how we look at all the children because now each face cannot be distinguished as well. The viewer must focus harder on the picture and every little detail in order to get the full story from the picture. But the adults of the families understand the harsh reality of dealing with the brutal winters and the slow melting of the ice will force the families to find a new way to live or even a new home. The ice berg is an even better example of a temporary solution. 

The ice burg in the video is big and beautiful but in the end this ice berg is going to melt and turn into water. Since the creation of the video in 2010 almost ¼ of the arctic ice shelf has melted. This means that a lot of people have lost their homes, food sources, shelter, etc. Plus, the water level is increasing slowly, thus leaving the people that live in the lowlands in potential danger. The ice berg is an accurate representation of temporary happiness because although the ice seems perfect and whole now, it will eventually melt.  There are a lot of factors involved in keeping the ice berg a solid object floating in the ocean, but there are also a couple that could force the ice berg to melt. Since these families base their lives on something that is temporary, they live life based on temporary happiness because as soon these ice bergs melt their lives will be turned upside down and they will be forced to adapt to a new lifestyle. This is very relatable because a lot of teenagers have ice burgs all over their lives. School is a great example of something that is full of ice burgs. If the student gets an A on a paper, that’s an ice burg, because it is only temporary and as soon as you stop working hard, the ice starts to melt and the grade slowly decreases. 

30 Seconds to Mars does a great job creating a song that is very relatable for those that really struggle in life and those that believe they aren’t struggling, but then end up with problems. Temporary happiness causes people to be stressed for little reasons because they look back on what happened and realize their mistakes. There is a lot to learn from events that cause temporary happiness, but people do not realize how important it can be to reflect on what happened. 30 Seconds to Mars is trying to make people aware of these lies. There are a lot examples of things the band is referencing that they believe provide temporary happiness relationships, or grades, or friends. There are two scenes in the music video that show examples of what life can be like when you rely on temporary happiness. 