Help (video)

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"Help" (1999) is a video by Ximena Cuevas documenting the anniversary celebration of Yellow Submarine in Mexico City. The Beatles' song "Eleanor Rigby" plays while the camera focuses on one woman in the crowd who mouths the words to the song. This image is tiled on the screen so that four images of the woman are shown. The woman clearly does not know or understand all the words to the song, and there is a disconnect between the sound and the picture that further alienates the woman. The lyrics to the song--"Ah, look at all the lonely people"--reinforce this alienation and loneliness. This video is a significant work in the history of video art, and it deals with themes of globalism, consumerism, and the pervasiveness of American media culture.