Analysis of Fall Out Boy's "The Youngblood Chronicles"

I wrote this for my first year writing class, and thought it was pretty interesting and maybe someone might enjoy it :) it's my first real analysis outside of articles or "classic literature" from high school, so I'm still grasping the ideas of how to write one. But I hope you enjoy :)) I think it's pretty silly

Textual Analysis of The Youngblood Chronicles

The question of what it means to be human is one that plagues many throughout their lifetime, making one wonder what—if anything—their life can be summed up into as a human being. In the 2014 musical thriller The Youngblood Chronicles, a band of heroes called the Defenders of Faith fight a pushing-and-pulling battle against their humanity, struggling to root themselves in who they truly are. Fighting temptation, evil and the silence of noise, the Defenders fight to keep ahold of what glues everyone together as humans—music. In The Youngblood Chronicles, the music which the Defenders of Faith serve to protect stands as a metaphor for humanity, to show just how powerful and intertwined the arts are with who people are as humans through motifs, irony as well as parallels. 

Serving as the villains of the story, the Vixens wish to destroy rock and roll—and music in general—in order to turn humanity into the soldiers for their own greed. To tear apart the Defenders of Faith, the Vixens use their own humanity against them. Although the Vixens use various attempts at torture for every member of the Defenders, their tactics are most effective on Patrick. With their psychological warfare, the Vixens alter Patrick’s brain in order to turn him into a mindless monster whenever he hears music. What once was a representation of his individuality and served as his connection not only to the other Defenders, but to his humanity as well, is ironically turned against him. By uprooting what makes Patrick who he is, the decay of his humanity is clear throughout the course of the film, and even serves to tear apart the rest of the Defenders through acts of betrayal, violence and destruction of music. During a scene later in the film, the lyric, “Anything you say can and will be held against you,” plays on repeat. This further emphasizes the point that Patrick’s own identity is being utilized to tear him apart. Watching Patrick become more and more of a killing machine, the music starts to fade, as his humanity begins to completely disappear until he’s stuck in the murderous state the Vixens put him in.

Another strong symbol that is used throughout the course of the story are visual motifs, specifically focusing on temptation. The Adder continuously tries to tempt the protagonists throughout the film, working to break the fickle grasps of the Defenders and lure them into the Vixen’s web. The motif of the snake and the adder are shown steadily during the film. It gives the Defenders the mental dilemma of whether they’re going to keep fighting, or give into the easy road, which would throw all their progress away. During the feast that the Vixens throw for the Defenders is the first place where we see this motif manifest. While drugged up, the band of heroes hallucinate the disgusting food on the table to be a delicious banquet fit—among the platters is one covered in apples protected by a snake. Later on in the film, when faced with any sense of escape from their messy situation, the snake and the apple keep appearing as an opening, but only end with the characters being sent back to the Vixens. Constantly being fed these false hopes, the Defenders fall for it every single time, and are continuously punished for their actions. Having to always fight this temptation, the defenders struggle to keep themselves grounded in their cause. This symbolism heavily mimics another very famous piece of media—the Garden of Eden from the Bible. The film uses the Bible to further support the push-and-pull of the group fighting and giving up. Patrick says, “We’re all fighting growing old in the hopes of a few minutes more to get on St. Peter’s list. But you need to lower your standards, ‘cause it’s never getting any better than this.” Being the member most tormented by the Vixens, Patrick is able to see from an outside eye the doomed state of his group, and watches as they all fall into a repeated act of temptation. 

Though on opposite sides, parallels tie both the Vixens and the Defenders of Faith together in order to further separate the two groups. These parallels continue the theme of Biblical motifs and cult-like behavior in order to further represent the connection and disconnection of humanity between the heroes and villains. Once in Heaven, the Defenders are offered communion in the form of guitar picks by God, which then give the Defenders the power to defeat the Vixens. By accepting the musical communion, a visual tie between music and humanity is represented on screen. The Defenders accept “music”, and thus accept their humanity, which reunites them—fixing the bonds that the Vixens destroyed between them—giving them the power to overcome this impossible feat. While accepting this virtuous act, God tells the crew that they’re still fighting as “the last damn kid still kicking that still believes”. Fighting until their last breaths, God realizes that although the Defenders did not believe they could overcome the temptation of the Adder and the Vixens, even in death they continue to give themselves up for humanity. Contradicting this humane act, the Vixens are shown participating in a cult-like ritual, sacrificing their blood, body and musical instruments to a destructive being. The Vixens’ act of giving up their tie to music highlights that they’re power-hungry enough to sacrifice all of their being—including their humanity—in order to gain this faculty.

By protecting and sacrificing themselves for music, the Defenders of Faith truly fight for the humanity of themselves and others. The Youngblood Chronicles cleverly displays the strong tie between music and humanity through the irony, motifs and even parallels between the heroes and the Vixens. By battling temptation, torture, and even one’s own mind, the Defenders of Time are able to not only restore peace and humanity for themselves, but also fight to give it back to the Vixens who tried to take it all away. As God told the Defenders, “You are what you love, not who loves you,” and music is what ties us all back together. 

Works Cited

Wentz, Peter Lewis Kingston, and Patrick Stump. The Youngblood Chronicles, 24 June 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZyWxbojYH8.