Vid Recs: Through Critical Eyes

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

Vids in this post approach the certain aspects of their respective shows from more critical point of view, and some of them are frightening and uncomfortable to watch. They all succeed in making you think.

Heroes: Jack or, Adventures in Reading Against the Text, by lcsbanana. I believe this has come up in another post already, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to bring it up again. This vid does a great job of de- and reconstructing the portrayal of women in heroes, representing them as powerful figures that they could be.

Smallville: Sugar, by keewick. This has been linked in another post as well, but while it isn't critical in the way other vids included here are, it does deal with the way Lana is portrayed on the show, as an object and and obsession, and succeeds in showing that there is also a valuable character beneath the surface.

Veronica Mars: Martina, by keewick. Rape was an often-used theme in Veronica Mars, but also the one the show didn't know how to deal with most of the time. This vid does, making the threat of rape terrifying in the way the show never did. Contains disturbing subject matter.

Supernatural: Women's Work, by sisabet and sockkpuppett. This famous vid is about Supernatural's treatment of women, which is brutal most of the time, and how the only way to avoid victimization is either to be left behind (Cassie, Jo) or go evil (Ava), although the relief can be short-lived. Given how women have been handled in the third season, the vid still has a message to deliver. Contains disturbing subject matter.

Gone With The Wind: Beethoven's Fifth Gold Digger, by absolutedestiny. Gone With The Wind is a movie with problematic attitude to race. Kanye West's Gold Digger (vid uses a mash-up version) is a song with problematic attitude to women. Together, they make an interesting, challenging vid. A look at Scarlett O'Hara, how she stands out from her time.

Comments

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

This looks like a very intriguing list. Despite never having seen even a single SPN episode, I know "Women's Work" and found it brilliant. So I'm interested in the perspective of those other vids on their source material.

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

I hope you like the vids! The injustice in "Women's Work" is universal when it comes to different shows, which I think makes it approachable to non-SPN fans as well. I think you could easily make a similar vid about Angel or Heroes, for example.

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely. As much as I love Angel as a show, I would dearly like to see a similar vid for this fandom.

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

As a fellow Angel-fan, I couldn't agree more.

[bell]

Heh, great list-- in fact, these are some of my favorite vids. :)

I don't suppose you have more recs along these lines, do you? Because they're great and I'm greedy~.

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

I can't seem to help mentioning vids that have showed up in other posts, but I just have to bring up shati's 3 AM Call (http://shati.livejournal.com/201480.html), a Heroes-vid. Like the vidder herself says, it's not Jack or Women's Work, but it's an interesting exploration of how Niki is portrayed on Heroes, how she's constantly forced in a victim's position and strives to discover her identity.

For Supernatural, there's The Darkness in Dean (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUkiDtCay34), by hay1ock (http://www.youtube.com/user/hay1ock). The focus is on Dean, and while it's not as striking as Women's Work, it too shows how easy it is to create creepy or disturbing stories out of the source material. With one of the heroes as the villain no less.

This Dexter-vid is also about a male character, but it also deals with exploitation: West of Her Spine (http://sweetestdrain.livejournal.com/181914.html#cutid1), by sweetestdrain. I hadn't seen one single episode of Dexter when I first watched this, but it nevertheless succeeded giving me a look into a very disturbed psyche.

absolutedestiny's Revenge (http://absolutedestiny.livejournal.com/159782.html) is about women in exploitation cinema, who are first victimized, after which they take their revenge, although the movies themselves aren't really about empowerment.

I hope you enjoy these!

[bell]

Oh, thank you so much! I don't know any of these. /starts downloading/

I'm always glad to find more women/feminist-oriented vids, since that's what pulled me into the medium in the first place. "Martina" and "Women's Work" had a great impact on me in how poweful vids could be~.

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I'm interested in women/feminist-oriented vids, as well as other fanworks, which is why I'm excited this community exists. And I completely agree about Martina and Women's Work. WW especially had a huge effect on me. I've never seen a statement done so well.

[rez-lo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for grouping these like this, for this comm. I'm really loving how fresh all of the recs seem, even when the work itself is more or less world-famous already.

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

All these vids are pretty well-known in their respective fandoms, so I was initially hesitant about reccing them, but I thought it would be good to group them. Glad to hear that others think so, too.