Geek Bearing Vids

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Here are some multi-fandom recs for female-centric vids that I have enjoyed very much over the course of the last year.


Battlestar Galactica:

Hera Has Six Mommies by tallulah71: big fish, little fish, swimming in the water/come back here and give me my daughter

For a show that has been obsessed with parents and their offspring, with evolution and reproduction from the very beginning, this vid is a perfect commentary. The music choice -- a mash-up of various female artists -- reflects the multitude of human and Cylon women that are all drawn together by little Hera and what she represents: the "shape of things to come". Rich, intense, multi-layered, complex and creepy, this is a fanvid you can spend rewatching and analyzing for hours.

Jolene by nicole_anell: Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene / I'm begging of you please don't take my man

Poor Cally is a minor character on BSG I have had a bit of a rocky relationship with: In the end, I think I liked her quite a lot, not because she was always very likeable, but because she was always believable, young and lost as she was. I also happen to think that she got short shrift by the writers. This video, however, presents us with Cally as a person, not as a crazy depressed suicidal housewife to be put into the fridge by the Other Woman. From her POV, the sexual seductiveness and terrible beauty she sees (or believes to see) in Sharon and Tory become a metaphor for the irresistibleness of the Cylons themselves, for their destructive power and for the fact that they do take Tyrol away from her because of what he is. Wow.

Love Lockdown by obsessive24: I’m in love with you, but the vibe is wrong

I have got a secret penchance for Admiral Cain and her completely screwed-up relationship with Gina. On the one hand, the whole Pegasus arc makes me uneasy because female power is presented as pathological; because lesbians are EV0L and may not even have on-screen sex; because war crimes are explained away by feelings of personal betrayal rather than institutionalized violence yadda yadda yadda. On the other hand, I love all the disturbed female renegades calling the shots and running amuck in space. This vid helps me a lot to focus on what I like about Cain & Gina: how both their feelings are sincere; how they betray each other and themselves; how they are trapped in all that destruction and gratuitous violence which obliterate their private intimacy; how their love affair literally ends in nuclear blasts -- twice. Plus, the rhythm and the beats and the cutting of the vid are breath-taking.

My Medea by taragel: And this child I would destroy / If you tried to set her free

A haunting and melancholy look at Kara's arc in the New Caprica episodes and Maelstrom: It makes great use of flashbacks, black-and-white colouring and 'blooming' fade-ins and fade-outs to tell a rather sad tale of childhood and motherhood without false sentimentality.

there's a war going on for your mind, laura by beccatoria: new forms are beginning to take shape / once occupied minds are activated

OMG, how much do I love this vid? I can't even begin to enumerate the reasons for liking it so much. It mainly boils down to what the title already says: There's a war going for Laura's mind. The whole political and mythological arc of the show rests on Laura here, and it's a woman's mind that matters: her view of humanity's fate, her responsibilities, her decisions. As far as vidding technique is concerned, it is also a marvellous illustration of non-literal lyrics interpretation.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Scarlet Ribbons by aycheb: And for me some scarlet ribbons / Scarlet ribbons for my hair

The vidder herself describes this as a feminist fairy-tale, and I am excessively fond of this label. Told from the POV of the First Slayer, we get to see the history of the Slayers as a sisterhood separated by death, with the child-like, innocent symbol of the scarlet ribbons morphing from dreams and wish fulfillment to violence and pain to madness and isolation to shared power and communal strength. If the very last shot doesn't make you all teary-eyed, you gotta have a heart of stone.

Doctor Who:

Glorious by rhoboat: and we too could be glorious

This might be interesting to compare to such_heights's later vid to the same song: rhoboat focuses on 'only' three characters from the same fandom (i.e. New Who), but it gives equal attention and sympathy to Rose AND Martha AND Donna. While two of the three were more or less broken by the end of S4, this vid never lets us forget that they were all GLORIOUS indeed. Much, much love.

Pretty Woman by humansrsuperior: pretty woman / the kind I'd like to meet

Just a bit of light-hearted, fluffy, carefree Ten'n'Donna fun -- a wonderful tribute to the awesomeness that is Donna Noble.

Shut Up and Drive by laurashapiro: I'm a fine-tuned super-sonic speed machine

Martha may have an unrequited crush on the Tenth Doctor, but in this energetic, upbeat grrrlpower vid, she is also a confident action heroine who runs through BBC studio corridors and saves the world. A lot. Martha >>> you, indeed.

Comments

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

ohmigod so many vids to watch.

Scarlet Ribbons is one of the most beautiful vids I've ever seen, so I heartily second your rec. It's a good reminder that despite its faults, BtVS did have a fine message.

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Hope you'll enjoy the other videos too!

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the recs! I've marked the Buffy and Doctor Who ones to watch.

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Have fun watching them!

[nicole-anell.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to say thank you so, so much for the rec! Your write-up is one of the coolest things I've ever read about my own stuff. :)

(And gosh, maybe I'll finally get up the nerve to watch Obsessive's Gina/Cain vid, since you brought up everything that pisses me off about that storyline but still enjoyed it.)

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome for the recommendation! I have rewatched your vid a ridiculous number of times, so I simply had to share my affection for it.