202: Hurt/Comfort, Vid Style

[thefourthvine]

I keep a list of vids I want to rec, divided into three main categories: Dark, Neutral, and Lighter. (There are also a lot of minor categories, like LOL Animation and OMG Pairings. This is why it takes me so long to rec things: I have to translate my notes into English. Anyway.) The idea behind this was to keep all the vids in a given set roughly the same level of cheerfulness.

And then I realized that that is totally stupid. After all, I don't watch them that way. When I watch an especially painful vid, I like to follow it up with something from the Lighter list. It's the vid version of hurt/comfort. So for this set, I'm doing hurt/comfort vid pairs. You can watch the hurty ones totally securely, knowing that your safety vid is the very next rec.

The One That Makes Me Wonder If There's a Rule on Supernatural That Everyone Has to Have That Black Eye Thing at Least Once. Rabbit-Hearted Girl (Raise It Up), by ancastar. Supernatural.

I have no idea who the first main character of this vid is. She could be basically anyone, since almost all the women of Supernatural that I've seen (in vids, naturally) have been skinny, blonde, and white; in fact, given that this is, you know, a supernatural story, with ghosts and the undead and so on, I wasn't 100% sure she wasn't Mary Winchester until I saw her making out with one of the guys. (I have to believe that if Supernatural had gone the undead intergenerational incest route, I would have seen some commentary on it from one of you. For the record: canonical undead intergenerational incest is something you should post about if you see it. It's a new fannish rule that I'm making.)

I don't know who the second main character is, either, but I am guessing she's the first one's mother. Which just makes the line about raising up the offering extra painful, and also extra appropriate.

But even though neither Best Beloved nor I could identify the women this vid is about, we cared about them; it turns out that three minutes is totally enough to get invested. (It probably didn't help that, given the blondeness and the badassness and the general atmosphere of, you know, supernatural stuff, I associated the younger one in my head with Buffy. This led to expectations that probably didn't help me deal all that well with the end of the vid.) We cared about them, we liked them, and we both ended the vid actually crying. That is a feat of vidding roughly equivalent to writing a complete story, including both a mystery and a romance, in 100 words - taking us from "who the hell is that?" to "OH MY GOD NOOOOOO" in one viewing of a single vid is impressive. And that's why I'm recommending it: it made me care. It made the life of these fictional women matter to me, even though I only knew them as two of the Anonymous Blondes of Supernatural.

The One That Proves That the Only Thing Kinkier Than Duct Tape Is a MythBuster. James Bondage, by thingswithwings. MythBusters.

I have a careful system of downloading vids that keeps me from associating any information about the vid with the filename. Also, just to increase the confusion, I don't watch things right after I download them. (I have some vids that have been waiting for years to be watched. This is the nature of The System, from which we do not deviate.) So I looked at the file name of this vid and thought, "She actually made a vid to James Bondage? This will be worth seeing." (Because I have long been amused by the song.)

And then I saw the intro, and I shrieked loudly enough to be heard in the kitchen, where Best Beloved was feeding the earthling. Apparently I made a lot of noise during the vid (mostly "OH MY GOD" and giggling, I suspect), because Best Beloved came into the computer room and said, "What are you watching?"

"You really need to see this," I told her. I sat her down in front of the computer and pushed play, and she made exactly the same noises. Even though she is the dignified one in this relationship. And I was not surprised.

See, we've actually watched several seasons of Mythbusters, which is not nearly as challenging for me as most TV - in fact, we loved them so much we brought them with us to labor and delivery, and I am terribly sad that season 6 and 7 are not on DVD yet - and one of the things we could not help but notice is that Adam and Jamie have a somewhat singular interaction style. Which is a management-speak way of saying that they don't just have subtext: they have kinky subtext. (We used to imagine the build team explaining things to new hires. "It's going to seem kind of kinky," we imagined Kari saying, "but don't worry. They only do it to each other." We figured Grant probably said, in response, "That's... good?" Tori probably said, "Dude, bummer. So who's going to hit me, then?") Even the announcer usually seems to be slashing Adam and Jamie.

But knowing that, all of that, did not prepare me for this vid - nothing could have. So I will say to you what I said to Best Beloved:

You really need to see this. (Even if you don't watch Mythbusters at all! Although you should try a few episodes. Experiments and explosions and bondage: it's like it was made for people like us.) This is all genuine footage, people! And somehow they still manage to show this on regular television.

The One Where, in Addition to All the Other Horrors, We See Someone Eat a Whole Maraschino Cherry. What? I Have Maraschino Cherry Issues. It Depends on What You Pay, by giandujakiss. Dollhouse.

Probably the subtitle of this one should be "You May Notice That Dollhouse Has Some Subtle Issues." Truly, this is one of the most horrifying vids I've ever seen that didn't involve either a serial killer or Key the Metal Idol. And unlike with the serial killers (and Key the Metal Idol), it isn't really the imagery that's horrifying; it's what's behind every scene. I don't think I'd even understand this vid if I didn't know a little bit about Dollhouse. But I do. Sort of. What I have gleaned through fannish osmosis is that Dollhouse is about people, mostly women, used as helpless puppets for many things, including sex, which for some reason is not considered rape.

So when I watch this vid, all I can think about is that probably none of these women are actually consenting, or even able to consent, to what's happening to them. (Okay, no. That's the main thing I think about. But I also spend some time wondering why Joss Whedon is so obsessed with sticking needles into women's heads, which is frankly something I didn't want to see in one canon, never mind two. Do men never need a needle to the brain? Or is that just a girl thing? And do girls really need them that often?) Because of that, the part of this that I find the absolute ookiest - the thing that makes me flinch and look away from the scene as though someone just pulled out a chainsaw while laughing maniacally - is near the end, when there's an unconscious woman, and a guy is moving her head around, sort of playing with her, making the whole puppet thing way too explicit. It makes my flesh try to crawl off my body and go hide under the bed.

And, hey, despite the whole Consent? What Consent? thing, this is also a gorgeous vid. And, for me, a really surprising one; I usually have a hard time with vids to music from musicals (um, there had to be a better way to phrase that), and I admit I kind of cringed when I saw the title page. (Three minutes later, it was entirely evident to me that I should have cringed, but not at all for the reason I did.) But this is a perfect song choice and a perfectly-done vid. The fact that it will make you want to go take a shower, possibly while still wearing all your clothes, is just a bonus.

The One That Will Leave Me Forever Wondering about Vampire Curling. Do They Sweep Faster Than Lightning? Kung Fu Fighting, by chamalla. Twilight.

I am not a Twilight fan. I've never read the books, I've never seen the movies, and my familiarity with the characters comes entirely from watching my twenty-month-old child stare soulfully at Edward posters. (True and embarrassing fact: I bought him some Twilight paper plates at Target last week. His whole face lit up when he saw them, so I let him hold them and hoped that maybe he'd forget about them by the time we got to the checkout and I could put them back, but he gripped them tightly all the way through the store; he wouldn't even let them go so the checker could scan them.) So maybe it is just because I live with the Littlest Robert Pattinson Fan, but this vid made me laugh my ass off.

I mean, okay, the song is - yeah. But I cannot think of a better song for what appears to be footage of vampire teenagers playing baseball using their secret vampire powers. (Said powers consisting, let me add, mostly of being attached to wires. I am surprised I couldn't see the wires in some of the leaping shots, really.) It's just - okay. When I think "epic vampire battle," I don't think in terms of baseball caps and those tight Capri-style pants. (Is there a name for those pants?) It just loses something when the worst possible result of a major vampire-on-vampire showdown is someone getting the third out.

But this vid. Oh, this vid loses nothing. Every time I watch it, I giggle harder and harder: vampire baseball! Wire-assisted leaps (spoiler: there are a lot of leaps)! Random floor explosions! The dramatic midair collisions! And, of course, the part where they break what appears to be every single window in Forks (it is Forks, right?), Washington.

I tell you what: there is nothing to provide comfort after some extremely hurty consent issues like vampire baseball.

(Also, important question I have after watching this vid: do Twilight vampires ever have, you know, expressions? Even I could tell that these people were somewhat flat of affect, and Best Beloved seemed actually disturbed by it.)

Comments

[torachan]

SPN didn't (yet) have canonical undead intergenerational incest, but it did have canonical demon-possessed intergenerational incest. In the episode where Dean goes back in time to when Mary and John are just getting together, Mary's dad gets possessed by a demon and makes out with her.

[thefourthvine]

Canonical demon-possessed intergenerational incest. WOW. Supernatural, you went there. I am - um. Educated AND horrified. Thank you!

[damned_colonial]

Baseball pants: I think they are technically knickerbockers.

[thefourthvine]

Ah! Like as in the New York Knicks, perhaps? I have learned something!

[rydra_wong]

For the record: canonical undead intergenerational incest is something you should post about if you see it. It's a new fannish rule that I'm making.

What about canonical deity intergenerational incest? Because I think I just read it.

(In N. K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which lives up to the advance billing so hard.)

[katarik]

STOP TAUNTING ME I NEED THAT BOOK AND IT IS NOT IN MY STORES YET.

(I was reccing fantasy to a customer and gave them that title before it was even *out*, on the strength of the first chapter and, well, it's Jemisin. MY TRUST IS HIGH.)

[copracat]

Wow. I see what you mean about Rabbit Hearted Girl. It's fantastic. With a side order of making me hate Sam and Dean with my whole heart and my whole stomach where before I just thought boring, boring, pretty and boring.

[marina]

Wow, that Supernatural video.

OMG at the point where the song goes this is a gift/it comes with a price and the mother and daughter look at each other, smiling through tears, I JUST CAN'T EVEN. OH MY GOD. /o\

I WANNA WATCH THAT SHOW. This is what I kind of hate about vids like this. They create an alternate reality with their slective reading of the source and I WANT THAT REALITY and then realize it doesn't exist. I want to see the story of these women unfold over like 5 seasons of demon hunting. I want the end to not be the end.

[marina]

Also: I don't watch supernatural, but I recognized the blond woman immediately as Israeli actress Alona Tal, which was all kinds of cool.

[reginagiraffe]

I haven't read this whole post yet but I just wanted to say that Canonical Undead Intergenerational Incest would make an *excellent* band name.

[queue]

Especially if they went by their acronym. And then they could be terrible, and some overeducated underintelligent asshat reviewing their album [...!] for Rolling Stone could headline the article "CUII Bono?"

...er, sorry. a little hungry over here.

[toft]

W00t James Bondage!

[thingswithwings]

:D :D :D thank you for the rec! I had to stop in and say, 1) yay mythbusters! 2) season six is so out on dvd (@ discovery.com - it's $50, but it's available), and 3) you have read toft's mythbusters fic, right? and especially Normal Working Relationship, which is like that vid in fic form? I'm sure you have, it's just I would feel bad if you hadn't, and don't want to take that risk.

[giandujakiss]

Oh, thank you so much for the rec!

What I have gleaned through fannish osmosis is that Dollhouse is about people, mostly women, used as helpless puppets for many things, including sex, which for some reason is not considered rape

Yeah, that's the gist. I'm glad you found the vid ... well, I'm glad you found it horrifying, actually :-).

[blushingflower]

So, the thing about Twilight vampires is that yes, they do play baseball, but only when there's a storm brewing, so the thunder can cover the sound of them hitting the ball (this is actual canon). As far as whether or not they have actual expressions: Edward tends to spend basically all of his time trying to resist the his (as far as I can tell nearly simultaneous) urges to bite and fuck Bella, while the rest of the vampires spend their time wishing a) that Edward would just get laid and stop being so emo and b) that they had more screen time, better dialogue and a more realized backstory. (When you get further into the books there is a bit of "how I became a vampire" for each of them, but Twilight is essentially the Bella/Edward show, even when it starts to drift to the Bella/Jacob show, and everyone else is a minor supporting character) And also they're (well, the Cullens) all "vegetarian" vampires, meaning they only drink animal blood, not human. I think this perhaps leads to slightly less in the way of facial expressions as they spend a lot of time resisting a lot of urges, much like Vulcans.


If, for some reason, you feel the need to brush up on Twilight canon, I recommend reading Cleolinda's recaps, because they are very true to the canon while also being hilarious, witty, and way better written.

[azurelunatic]

And who could resist Growing Up Cullen?

[meigui]

I don't know who the second main character is, either, but I am guessing she's the first one's mother. Which just makes the line about raising up the offering extra painful, and also extra appropriate.

Yes! I think the whole song dances around the theme of child sacrifice, particularly the refrain--the line "Who is the lamb and who is the knife?" recalls the bit in the Binding of Isaac biblical story where Isaac says to his father, who is about to sacrifice him as an offering to God, "Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And then the bit with "Midas is king and he holds me so tight / And turns me to gold in the sunlight" is what happens to Midas' daughter, which wasn't a literal, intentional sacrifice but still a consequence of the gift of a god. Which. Those last two lines took me an embarrassingly long time to interpret as anything other than sexual because usually things like that in songs are somehow sexual xD

[samvara]

Hi!

watersword wielded impeccable taste and recommended visiting and now I have vids to watch (I shall save Twilight for the appreciator in the household) and Top Gun (OMG) & Die Hard fic to read for which I appreciate you muchly!

I would cheerfully welcome a visit from Herne the Hunter, especially if he brought his owl but acknowledge the odds are low :(

[crimsonkitty88.livejournal.com]

(I have to believe that if Supernatural had gone the undead intergenerational incest route, I would have seen some commentary on it from one of you. For the record: canonical undead intergenerational incest is something you should post about if you see it. It's a new fannish rule that I'm making.)

*cough* well... actually... it does happen. Between said Mary Winchester and her father. Although technically he's a demon (the black eyed thing) at that point... but Papa Campbell is in fact physically dead.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Actually, it was the Yellow-Eyed Demon (the Big Bad of the first two seasons) who, while possessing Mary's father, made the bargain with Mary that laid the foundation for the entire series. Fortunately, sealing the deal only involved a kiss; in other episodes it's implied that more powerful demons will take things further.

[annakovsky.livejournal.com]

Okay, okay, Mythbusters, bondage! I am excited to watch this vid! Because, so, have you read Normal Working Relationship (http://archiveofourown.org/works/43466) by toft? Because it is Mythbusters bondage RPF and it is, like, possibly the best thing I've ever read (definitely in my top five favorite fics of ALL TIME, AND I HAVE READ A LOT OF FIC) and I was trying to get all my friends to read it, but hardly anyone would because, you know, it's Mythbusters bondage RPF and they're all PREJUDICED LOSERS OR SOMETHING, and I think I sound like a crazy person reccing it all around, BUT SERIOUSLY YOU SHOULD READ THE FIC IF YOU HAVEN'T OKAY. It's so beautifully written and so emotional but so UNFLASHY in its style it feels like a fic magic trick. I hadn't ever even seen an episode of the show when I read it! I started watching it afterwards and then fruitlessly searched for more RPF for the show! DAMMIT.

Um, so yeah, anyway. I'm not being normal about this, but I'm in fandom, I like things, I can't help it!

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

I was totally going to rec that fic, if you hadn't beaten me to it.

Who's that girl?

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

The young blond in the first vid is Jo Harvelle, a character introduced in the second season of Supernatural. Jo and her mother, Ellen (the older, auburn-haired woman), owned and ran Harvelle's Roadhouse, a Hunter hang-out. Jo's father was a Hunter who had died years earlier working with John Winchester. Jo wanted to follow in his footsteps, over her mother's strong objections. The Roadhouse was destroyed at the end of season 2 and the Harvelles disappeared from the show for a while, only to resurface near the start of the current season.

Personally, I think it's a shame we didn't get to see more of them, but their final episode (assuming they don't return as ghosts or something) was one of the show's high points in terms of writing and acting.

Re: Who's that girl?

[kres.livejournal.com]

Which episode was their final episode?

And you mean final as in the coffin kind of final?

[kres.livejournal.com]

Most excellent Dollhouse vid.

And thank you for the Vampire Baseball. That sort of made my week :P

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

Yay! Vampire baseball would make anyone's week, I think. (Vampire curling or vampire caber-tossing, of course, would make anyone's YEAR.)

So, the *real* question is

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the White Collar vid Let's Misbehave (http://greensilver.livejournal.com/552171.html)?

Re: So, the *real* question is

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

TZIKEH. THERE IS A SYSTEM THAT DETERMINES WHAT VIDS I WATCH. DO NOT TEMPT ME TO DEVIATE FROM IT.

...I am extremely vulnerable to temptation.

*staaaaares at vids waiting to be watched*

[out-there.livejournal.com]

I mean, okay, the song is - yeah. But I cannot think of a better song for what appears to be footage of vampire teenagers playing baseball using their secret vampire powers.

Hmmm. You know, I have to say that the background music in canon -- which I can't remember, but I remember trying not to snicker as the entire baseball scene played as one extended vid -- is pretty good too. (Where pretty good = likely to make me appreciate the editing to the music way more than the plot.)

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

I can just picture the editor of this movie, staring at his computer, thinking to himself, Years of education and experience have not prepared me for vampire baseball.

Now, of course, I am extremely curious about what the music they used was. I don't suppose any of these songs look familiar? (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1099212/soundtrack)

[flairfleur.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, vids. You got me started watching them, you know. Not that I understand most of them, of course - vampire baseball is about my level. Anyway, it is a steadfast rule of Twilight vampirism that FEATURES MUST REMAIN UNAFFECTED. They're kind of like Benton Fraser with all the character scooped out.

PS. Vampire. Curling. I don't know if they'd be allowed to register in the Olympics though. Is vampirism an illegal advantage? They might have to be handicapped with, like, sunlamps or something.

Twilight trivia

[dzurlady.livejournal.com]

Just in case you did not realise: the reason they are playing baseball in the middle of a thunderstorm is because the noise of them hitting the ball is so loud it sounds like thunder, so they have to play during a storm so no-one is suspicious.

Also, yes, there are expressions: sometimes Edward looks chagrined.

Re: Twilight trivia

[epistrophia.livejournal.com]

sometimes Edward looks chagrined.

And a lot of the time he looks sulky. But that might just be his natural emo-vamp-in-tragic-lurve-with-emo-girly expression.

Mythbusters vid?!

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

THERE IS A MYTHBUSTERS VID?!

*broken*


...


...


do Twilight vampires ever have, you know, expressions?
*formulates Edward's non-expression* No.

Re: Mythbusters vid?!

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Dude, there are TWO Mythbusters vids (http://thingswithwings.dreamwidth.org/80753.html). There is also Mythbusters fic. Um, mostly by me. But not all. It is all at Myth Confirmed (http://myth-confirmed.dreamwidth.org/). And a lot of it is on AO3 from Yuletide.

[travels-in-time.livejournal.com]

canonical undead intergenerational incest

And in the non-Winchester entries, we have Benton Fraser's dead mother played by Paul Gross' real-life wife. The "incest" there involves some squinting and some real people/fic crossover, but in dS fandom reality is questionable anyway.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

I see your due South and raise you Doctor Who: David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor, is reportedly dating Georgia Moffett, who played his clone-daughter, Jenny, and is the real-life daughter of Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor. I can't decide if that's incest squared or really elaborate masturbation.

[ancastar.livejournal.com]

Thank you much for talking up my vid. I've had all kinds of lovely comments from folks who might not have found it otherwise. I really appreciate it.

[dine.livejournal.com]

synchronicity is grate and kinda amazing - I got a link to this vid with the following message from a friend today:

Check out this Mythbusters vid - unless you've already seen it - in which case why didn't you tell me?

I've now watched this 4 times, and keep wondering who else I can share it with, cause it's sheer genius. sadly, while my dad and bro are big fans, I'm pretty sure it's not quite up their alley

[sequinedfairy.livejournal.com]

Though I am skipping the sad vids (seriously, I cannot watch non happy vids. I click one, and I see a sad face/dark colors/slow, tragic music, and I have to click away. I don't know why. I have issues), but thank you so much for the others. Mythbuster bondage! Vampire kung fu baseball! WIN.

[sequinedfairy.livejournal.com]

PS - about Twilight vampire expressions: no, they really don't. I think this is to show their ~coldness~ and ~magic sparkly powers~ and ~perfection~, or it could be just crazy. Who knows! But, yeah, RPattz's constant lack of expression is a little concerning (though it may be due to some substance abuse on his part. RPattz is really not that squeaky clean), and maybe everyone was just taking their cues from him?