The Wonder Years "Dismantling Summer" Video Reviewed

The Wonder Years, pop punk extraordinaire, released a video for their song “Dismantling Summer”, a single off of their latest album, “The Greatest Generation”.  They’ve been really busy with their headlining tour, but it’s nice to see that they’re still keeping up the pace with their music video releases, and this one was by no means lacking any of the attention to detail the other videos have involved.

The video involves Dan “Soupy” Campbell’s family celebrating Thanksgiving, but without him.  In all of the family photos, Dan has been replaced with what appears to be a strange mannequin with a beard.  At first it’s really comical, and silly.  It’s absolute nonsense and definitely has a humorous quality to it that I really appreciate.  However, as the video goes on, it gets kind of sad.  Soupy is bummed out and wants to be a part of the festivities; his mom doesn’t even know who he is when he texts her.  It’s pretty heartbreaking because even in the end, (spoiler alert) there’s no resolve.  The mannequin has taken his place and it looks like its there to stay.

As for the song itself, it’s one of their more commercial sounding songs, but is still really good.  The video really made the meaning more obvious- he feels left out and replaced and the “I haven’t felt a heartbreak until now” is not about love, but about his family.

Overall, I’m incredibly impressed with this song and video and how well they fit together.  I can’t wait to catch them on The Greatest Generation Tour and hear this song live.