“Heroes”— the video (1977)

“Heroes” was the second and final Bowie video directed by Stanley Dorfman, and, not including the videos made for the 1969 Love You Til Tuesday project, it was Bowie’s sixth overall video. Like most of its predecessors, Bowie remains fixed in one spot while the camera moves around him. He never so much as lifts a foot, though he tells a story through his gestures and facial expressions. And that story doesn’t seem particularly uplifting.

“Heroes” has become one of Bowie’s most popular and frequently covered songs. Outside the context of the album and this video, it is often used to emphasize heroism and hope. Bowie himself sometimes used the song for that purpose—for example, during his performance at the Concert for New York in October 2001, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. However, the 1977 Dorfman video suggests the original idea was more about desperation and doomed love than optimism.

In the video, Bowie never looks happy or in love. He appears tortured, showing this in his face and nearly contorted gestures. Because he doesn’t move from his spot, his swaying body seems to suggest being stuck rather than dancing. He runs his hand through his hair nervously, then puts his hands in his pockets in resignation, and clutches his body as if he’s cold or sick. All of this aligns with the song’s lyrics when taken in full context, not just the line, “we can be heroes.”

Doomed love is a recurring theme in Bowie’s songs. “We Are the Dead” (1974) is based on Orwell’s 1984, where a couple are doomed by an oppressive totalitarian government simply because of their relationship. The seemingly lighthearted “Let’s Dance” contains the ominous line, “Let’s dance, for fear tonight is all.” There are other examples, as Bowie often acknowledged the idea that time is an enemy and the clock is always ticking.

But this isn’t an analysis of the song’s lyrics, though—just the video itself, which evokes strong imagery.

Perhaps the most memorable feature of the video is Bowie’s backlighting. It makes him seem angelic or, possibly due to the crucifix he’s wearing, reminiscent of Jesus on the cross. Bowie chronicler Nicholas Pegg noted that the effect is similar to Liza Minnelli’s performance of “Maybe This Time” in the 1972 film Cabaret.

I’m reminded of an even more similar image, likely coincidental—when the aliens emerge from the spacecraft in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. That film was released in November 1977, and it’s unlikely anyone involved in the “Heroes” video could have seen it by then. I am not suggesting that the one inspired the other, however my observation is that the backlighting suggests something unearthly about Bowie.

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The only exception to Bowie’s usual stillness in videos (post Love You Til Tuesday) was Mick Rock’s “The Jean Genie” video, where Bowie mostly stays in one spot but is also seen in concert footage and shots with model Cyrinda Foxe in San Francisco. “Heroes” would be the last of this ”living photograph” style. Up to this point, Bowie’s videos had been evocative but left much for the viewer to interpret. That would soon change, but fans had to wait until 1979 to see his next official video…