Synopsis

A primitive man encounters the bewildering rituals of modern tribal life, where fashion, music, sex, alcohol, and consumer culture replace traditional symbols of belonging. He tries to escape, but seductive figures and increasingly chaotic celebrations pull him deeper into the spectacle. As the gathering expands into a global party, the imagery turns apocalyptic, combining pleasure, destruction, and rebirth. The man emerges battered but transformed, suggesting that enlightenment comes through accepting the endless cycle represented by the video's recurring wheel.

Factoids & Trivia

• We Are Shining is the London-based production duo of Acyde and Morgan Zarate. "Wheel" was their debut track and arrived in 2013.

• The video was built from still images and video material gathered from multiple sources and transformed into hundreds of GIF-like animated sequences.

• The duo supplied a collection of internet images representing their musical influences. The visual approach was intended to parallel sampling and appropriation in music.

• Its central idea is "modern tribalism": fashion, music, nightlife, and consumer goods function as contemporary signs of identity and group belonging.

• The video's primitive-man narrative was framed as a metaphor for a post-colonial, late-capitalist apocalypse. Its final cycle of destruction and renewal gives the title a literal and symbolic meaning.

• The deliberately overloaded montage was recognized in year-end music-video coverage as an especially intricate and watchable example of GIF-based filmmaking.