lierdumoa | on vidding, again

permetaform just posted her latest vid.

"Gravity" by A Perfect Circle
Fandom: Pirates of the Carribean
Summary: Captain Jack Sparrow, in five minutes.
Download: HERE

permetaform made it. You know it's good. Go watch.

This vid is

permetaform's gift to the PotC fandom. It's an serious look at Captain Jack Sparrow -- one of the least serious characters ever created. And it works.

I think the reason people vid at all is for the chance to make something like this. I know it's the reason I vid. I see something about a character or a pairing. I see something beautiful, but not necessairily obvious and I want to make a vid so that everyone else can see it. I don't know if anyone actually read my post on how vids are like meta. You can write meta, and you can talk till you're blue in the face, but will people actually listen? Vidded meta tends to work better than written meta because seeing is believing. Showing is better than telling.

Chances are, if you're not in the PotC fandom you never bothered to take Jack seriously. You thought he was funny and clever, but didn't bother to look much deeper than that. This vid forces you to look deeper than that.

And all the fandom folk are going: "Yes!!! That is Captain Jack Sparrow."
And all the non-fandom folk are going: "Oooooooooh! WOAH."

So I was discussing this with

permetaform tonight and we got to talking about, of all things, Eminem. We both like Eminem. Honestly, trying to explain to others why we like Eminem is like trying to explain to non-fandom people why we like slash. People look at us like we're crazy until finally we give up trying to explain the deeper meaning and just say, "But look how pretty he is!"

How many people actually look at the lyrics to Eminem's music and try to psychoanalyze him with it? Most people just add up the number of times he says the words bitch and ho, label him a misogynist homophobe, and dismiss him.

Remember how I vidded Brian Kinney to "Superman" by Eminem?
And my initial reaction to the song was: "Eminem, you mysogynist asshole. Heh."
And my next reaction to the song was: "Oooooooooh! WOAH."

Which isn't to say that Eminem isn't a misogynist asshole, but that he's so much more than that. He's fascinating. He's got issues and layers and he's not nearly the caricature he portrays himself as in his music. The caricature is what he wants you to see, not what he is. Looking back, I think that vid was for Eminem as much as it was for Brian Kinney. Most people took the vid as an opportunity to look at the song differently. A fair amount of people were just appalled that I was comparing Brian to antichrist!Eminem.

At first I was all "OMG angst!!! People don't like my vid!!!" Now that I've had time to think about it, I have to say I'm pleased with both reactions. As a vidder I'm happy that people were able to understand my message, and as Brian (the vid was in Brian's point of view) I'm happy that I got to piss off and offend people. Cause that's what Brian Kinney does. No apologies, no regrets.

On a somewhat related note, my Butterfly Effect vid project has been officially postponed. The vidder's block is killing me. The vid is going nowhere. Plus I just brainstormed some good ideas for my The Fast and the Furious vid. Brian/Dom shipper vid. It will be my gift to the fandom. My serious take on what looks to be a superficial movie about cars. Wish me luck! And, you know, try not to hurt my feelings if the vid ends up sucking.

Current priority listings:
1. FatF: "Chemicals Between Us" by Bush
2. J&SB: "Mandy" by Barry Manilow
3. BE: "Spring Haze" by Tori Amos