Mykki Blanco’s new video “High School Never Ends” takes Shakespearean tragedy to new places.
The clip, directed by Matt Lambert, takes Romeo and Juliet as its inspiration but replaces “fair Verona” with rural Germany.
Says Blanco: “I had once thought Europe was my safe haven from American white supremacy, and how wrong I became.”
Shot by cinematographer Martin Ruhe, “High School Never Ends” is “a heartbreaking story about outsiders—in this case, queer ones” and ends in graphic bloodshed.
According to Blanco and Lambert, the video is also about the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe.
Said Lambert: “It never once overtly comments on orientation or race, but only ideas of ‘us’ and ‘them’.”
The track was produced by and features Woodkid. The video was produced by Iconoclast in collaboration with The FADER and !K7.
Watch (warning: graphic):
