104 Volume 11 • 2015 11 • Volume - - Volume 11 Guardians Guardians This article will introduce and take a look at a specific subset ofThis thearticle will introduce as vids, namely those that deal videos known remix fan created with feminist based critique of media. Through examples, it will show how fans construct and present their critique, and finally broach the topic of the critical vid as a possible spreadable call for better media products. Keywords #fandom; #vids; #fan studies; #feminism Introduction The fanworks known as vids are short remix videos made by fans. They distinguish themselves from other types of commercial and non-commercial music and remix videos by being made, like all not for any financial gain, but rather fanworks, as activity, a leisure as part of the sharing and gift economy of are fandom lines the (Chin, genres, all 2014). with as though distinct; are they Stylistically, of intent fannish the remains criteria surest However, best. at blurry by characterised are Vids ascertained. be can such any if creator, the an editing style that follows the music track in several possible Abstract of the Galaxy. is M.A. in musicology. His research focuses on fan studies, focuses on fan studies, His research is M.A. in musicology. use in visual media. gender and masculinities, and music on the portrayal of the super presented he has Most recently masculinity in fan videos, and on the ret Man’s Iron hero in the soundtrack to and nostalgia ro-futurism
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Critical ViddersCritical , I will focus on ’ Volume 11 Sebastian F. K. Svegaard F. Sebastian critical vids critical ’ sub-genres, from celebrating a canon/ a celebrating from sub-genres, or That fans are passionate is probably no surprise; fans In recent years, fan studies have moved from a focus mainly on mainly focus a from moved have studies fan years, recent In zombiesque consumer is the popular public image of fans, and was and fans, of image public popular the is consumer zombiesque (Lewis well. as time long a for academia in image fan dominant the to where of example an is 1992, from Audience” Adoring ”The (ed.) find this view of fans.) That fans are passionate critics as well may come as a surprise, but criticism is an inherent part of fandom, not just in the form of etc., reviews but also in serious meta-textual cri tique informed by critical theory and feminist thinking in particu This lar. was already noted by Henry Jenkins (Jenkins, 1992, pp. of information from creators of media content to the consumers into of media content creators of information from a two-way street. Having a fandom dedicated to one’s creations generating them, about talking people be will there that guarantees con loyal of set basic a gives it and tie-ins), viral possible (and hype the not only sumers - loyal to a point, and not to a fault. Fans are also are they text/s, media a/several of consumers passionate most the staunchest critics. engagement with their fandoms has long been their defining char acteristic in both popular and academic writing outside the small, still emergent, field of fan studies. The adoring audience or the the ethnographic study of fan cultures to a wider examination of with positioned is article this and 2009), (Busse, texts as fanworks in this latter form of fan studies. Introducing Critical Fandom media Western fandom (Jenkins 1992), is the culture of fans dedi media landscape in all its di Western of the cated to the products no new phenomenon, it has While fandom is verse expressions. inter the of spread and rise the with visible more and more become devel recent with visibility gaining especially media, social and net one-way stream a has turned that opments in social communication, ways; editing to match the beat/rhythm or instrumental embellish instrumental or beat/rhythm the match to editing ways; ments, as well as editing to speak with and against the lyrics. Like other fanworks, vids have a longer history than many would pre 2008). (Coppa, VHS-editing and shows slide to back reaching sume, forms many in come Vids and critique, meta to telling, story creative over character, or source it is this sub-genre, which I refer to as in the present. quarter
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Critical ViddersCritical Volume Transformative fan Transformative 11 Sebastian F. K. Svegaard F. Sebastian with their fandoms, thefandoms, their with he alternate endings, the un the endings, alternate he separate art form. modes t; those are the kinds of things one s creative outlets subvert the normative media landscape, ’ that shows the non-triviality of fandom to fans and that shows the non-triviality of Yet, fans Yet, do not keep their critique to non-fiction; fans express Fans have been ahead of the media curve for ages, (re)claiming Fans and scholars alike speak of a division rough of fans into af under-represented in the mainstream; t in the mainstream; under-represented where universes alternate the and romances queer the heroics, sung dark skin, not pale, is the defaul can find in fandom. They exist alongside at least as many main fan in creation of power subversive the but works, affirming stream of transformative fansdom is part of what distinguishes the culture from the affirmative fan culture, as well asfrom more casual lovers of a media product. Fanfic is written with the express purpose of co-ownership of cultural products, thus predating the more wide wethe development of and in terms of today, culture remix spread in media, espe minority representation and see in social awareness From cially. the classic cases of letter writing campaigns and their waythe to 2014) Savage, ; 1992, (Jenkins, equivalents modern more fandom driv a and development of edge very the at are fans transformative voice. with a growing ing force well. as output creative through critique their or un- are that narratives of kind the supplying on focus often works firmative and transformative fans, where the former tend towards restating (affirming) authorial intent, text and status, and the latter tend towards reworking (transforming) a text or texts with less re gard to the intent and status of the creators (obsessive_inc, 2009). Though a lot of fans engage in both fans I speak of here are using their transformative fannishness in a way and fans, transformative of expressions are vids core, their At alike. fanfic visual between intersection an in sitting as understood be can a ultimately, video, but are, and remix 86-119), but has been a point of much work within fan studies since. studies fan within work much of point a been has but 86-119), repre queer large a with space female-dominated a is fandom That sentation (centrumlumina, 2014) is part probably of how this cul ture of critique has grown, and by now it is a self-sustaining and -promoting phenomenon that does not seem likely to stop or di minish. Fan driven social justice is one of the more visible faces of fandom, along with the growing mainstream awareness of fanfic creations. tion and other transformative fan quarter
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Critical ViddersCritical Volume 11 Sebastian F. K. Svegaard F. Sebastian thingswithwings, also The Price, . The vidder behind (2011), is, (2011), as is often the case, named for the song that In order to make her point, the vidder shows instances of trope provide provide motivation and characterisation for the male hero(es), as well as allowing them a moment of pure, manly pain where they can shed a single, masculine tear without tainting their heteronor mative masculinity. use, edited together to the strengthen message, and she utilises the music and its lyrics to this end. In the vid, thingswithwings has matched themes in the portrayal of manpain, giving us a feel of al makes up one of its parts. It is a multi-canon vid, which means it uses multiple sources, in this case around 30, mostly TV shows, the in productions style Hollywood mainstream from mainly tastic genres wrote a long analytical blogpost about the themes portrayed in the (thingswithwings, them on focus to chose she why and how and vid According to 2011). thingswithwings, the theme of the vid is man one if exactly what it portrays, even is that viewer to the pain, and amount large a demands so doing nuances; the all up pick not might of insight into all the and sources Johnson, used 2012). (Turk Man trauma, injury and death to that uses women’s pain is the trope strategies vidders employ in their creation of critical vids. These mes complex a having to due are, they but vids, of subset a be may sage, also stellar examples of how vidders use their tools and the various ways in which music and lyrics function as guidelines or structural skeletons for vids. I have chosen two examples where mainstream of critique influenced feminist a present vidder(s) the the will use these to further explore and western media products, thinking and theory. critical ways vidders use and present The Price Price The increasing increasing racial art diversity, made to counter body-shaming - the googling simple A endless. seemingly are creativity and possibilities at (325,000 myriad a up turns fanfic” ”racebending as terms such for This example. one mention to just results, of 2015) January of end the creative critique is also present in the perhaps less widely known of vids. genre Critical Vids the of some show will I vids, critical few a of examples the Through quarter
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Critical ViddersCritical a montage of crying of montage a Volume 11 Sebastian F. K. Svegaard F. Sebastian ; the ”I” here is of course We see, for instance, the doomedinstance, the see, for We s paid the price like I have paid the The scenes are eerily similar, often similar, eerily The scenes are ’ during a musical outro of quiet guitar and voice. Each voice. and guitar quiet of outro musical a during ve paid the price thrice/twice” ’ Another moment that illustrates the humour and ingenuity of The song is extremely fitting for the message of the vid. Yet, even Yet, vid. the of message the for fitting extremely is song The the vid comes towards the very end of it, when the vid comes towards men appears is in a privileged position on our the eyes screen, todrawn directly precious those us showing are they and alone, are one but all them, manly tears, heroically struggling against them, but the horror of Thoseoverwhelming them. is women) (to transpired has whatever pure tears escape - and few, thingswithwings uses a visual effect, causing the tears sparkle like precious diamonds. This leads into plays around with it. Instead of using every lyric literally, the lyricsthe literally, lyric every using of Instead it. with around plays a show to images the complement and mood overall the set instead this effect; great to irony uses cleverly also vid The trend. pervasive to tools the of one is humour message; serious a with vid funny a is proving its point. That the song itself is ironically funny is used to for unusual, or odd somewhat are lyrics as well as music effect; full instance as the lyrics speak of hearing Bryan Adams’ voice on the phone as something horrific, matchedreal visually hor to the very rors happening to women on screen, giving us a juxtaposition and of an overall mood of sarcasm. conveying an impression we are shown the horrors actually happening shown to the women, horrors we matchingare the repeated lyrics of ”nobody price, I price, the men have payed. simply the men, not women - they are vids, many of characteristics defining the of one is as also, are There literalisms in the matching of lyrics to image, here for instance the word ”burst” to a cup being dropped and breaking. The editing reveal only rewatches multiple and sharp is throughout pacing and attention to detail. more when something is almost on the nose perfect, thingswithwings most deja-vu like glimpses that are emphasised by hitting the gui tar-enhanced beat of the verse. shots. of the down to composition embrace of a loved one who will soon be dead; the carrying of the dead or dying woman; the desperate clutching of a dead body; the are we song, the of parts slow soft, During gravesite. the at kneeling in cry us make would that moments emotional the with presented emotionalof kind the as functions music the here and cinema, the chorus, energetic more the During music. film from know we hook quarter
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Critical ViddersCritical (2007), vidded by vidded (2007), Volume 11 Women’s Work Women’s Sebastian F. K. Svegaard F. Sebastian , Hole Women’s Work Work Women’s uses dead women, and how often , and is not so much about the men who are Supernatural is a sarcastic and funny vid despite its serious cri and funny is a sarcastic Supernatural The Price (1995) by Courtney Love’s band When looking at the details of the vid, this becomes apparent. take everything, take everything, I want you to”, matched to vio lent, graphic murders, that is effective in its use of both lyrics and singular more a with vids in often more used technique a In music. point of the view, ”I” of the song at times becomes the ”I” of the tak the for ready lives, their ”everything” and clips, the in women ing. It is as if these characters shout their anger at us with their dying breaths, the equivalent of the movie character who, at gun point, tells their assailant to just shoot. The fast editing matching surface the music here might function more as in a traditional mu traditional a in as more function might here music the surface im the illustrate to there is music the so vid, a is this but video, sic ages, not the other way around. matched deliberately is no” say to how learn should ”you lyrics The through on/speaking commenting thus rape, a like look that clips to rise to seem threats The cases. rape in blaming victim of culture the and fall in intensity with the music. A lull in intensity shows a montage of women who have been stripped of and agency, the lack of power in the music matches the theme of the visuals. Like wise, it is especially the intense chorus with its shouts of ”Go on, paced and angry, pushing through several paced long and seasons angry, of TV to show us just how plot-devic disposable and trivial as lives women’s treats show the es. The song provides tone and editing pace foremost, though the lyrics are thematically a good match as well. Most of the vid sim ply shows us women being threatened and attacked, and on the Luminosity and Sisabet. This vid is Americanof and about the US TV show motivated by dead or maimed women as it is about the women themselves. The show perpetuates the horror trope of killing fe can woman a if danger; in women sexualising and characters male fight she is most likely a villain.Set to aggressive the song angry, Violet the notes/dedication at the end: ”vid by thingswithwings - song by song - thingswithwings by ”vid end: the at notes/dedication the - manpain by men”. wax mannequin Work Women’s Where tique of misogyny in mainstream visual media, there is nothing disturbing deeply the about funny quarter
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Critical ViddersCritical , the precious , the precious Volume 11 Women’s Work Women’s The Price Sebastian F. K. Svegaard F. Sebastian Sarah Fiona Winters has noted that vids can be misread when As seen in the above, Western media fandom of the 21st century is century 21st the of fandom media Western above, the in seen As The only departure from the barrage of dying women is when we when is women dying of barrage the from departure only The thingswithwings has presented throughout the vid; if the viewers in of the manpain trope of the prevalence aware not already were In on. catch we where is here media, Western is the constant punch of a point that the not as much a line as there vid seems intent on getting through to its viewers. But are those as intended? and received messages read they travel outside fandom; in her example, what is a constructed indeed a culture in which critical discourse thrives and is promoted, discourse thrives and is promoted, in which critical indeed a culture and that part of that discourse is works.creative through expressed By virtue of being a form of remix or transformation, fanworks are hatched from were they source the comment on a always already 2009); some fanworks, such ofas critical aware vids, are (e.g. Tryon, Francesca this Coppa and wrote perform that accordingly. ”a vid is a visual essay that stages an argument” and ”a form of collective is this vids, critical of case the in and 2008), (Coppa thinking” critical perhaps especially apparent. In the case of tears of the men punchline at of the the end argument of the vid are order to kick-start this week’s episode. order Critics Critics of Culture - Culture of Having watched these vids, especially back to back, it is very diffi problem a have not do media mainstream western that claim to cult edit their through are, these like Vids women. of portrayal its with ing and media savvy audio-visual language, making the systemic audi intended The dismiss. to hard and visible media in misogyny ences - other fans - grasp the message, as can be seen in the cul fandom’s com to pointing 2009), (Winters, vids the on sections ment of critique. ture the frenetic song seems to assault the viewer the way the women being brutalised. are on the screen down. In struck keep too, are see female villains at work, but they, ing with the show’s themes, they banished, are staked, exorcised, in direct very such as and unrelenting, is vid The of. disposed shot, its critique. ”I’m the one with no soul”, it cries in Love’s serrated blade voice, and assaults us with a myriad of women who had no no characterisation, who were agency, only a body to be killed in quarter
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kvarter akademisk ------s in ’ 111 Toward Toward one layerone
Not only doNot Critical ViddersCritical They present a They present . So what does this Volume 11 Sebastian F. K. Svegaard F. Sebastian and not understand the message s Work ’ . In a somewhat related thread of argumen of thread related somewhat a In . (2012). They focus most of their attention on the on attention their of most focus They (2012). Women has produced over its seasons, has and partproduced this is in large (Winters, 2009) (Winters, thus, according to Winters, the risk is that misunderstand that is risk the Winters, to according thus, Vids, by virtue of inscribing themselves in an audio-visual Vids, tradi of anger, of hurt, of and anger, experience the huge amount of dead women Supernatural due to the choice of song. Despite the risk thatof misinterpretation has been well described by other scholars, I consider this an exam ings when shown outside context is considerable is context outside shown when ings mean for the potential for vids to spread their message? While the difficult is it fandom, outside well translate not may vid a of details to watch a vid like and can be even read outside its intended ecology or audience, and with and to the music. editing how this is accomplished through tion that we in the west are very well versed in, are accessible to a lot of people, meaning that these vids are also a potential tool to become that readings basic the of some teach, such as not if spread, available when the one through lens reads of feminist critical theo unintended is also a risk of has shown, there as Winters Yet, ry. readings of a vid, both outside and inside of fandom. It should be audience not usually made with a non-fandom noted that vids are in mind, an Ecology of Vidding Vidding of Ecology an have.would insider fandom a that knowledge require that readings It is interesting that and Turk Johnson take their model of ecology vid of element an as music because both studies, composition from ding has not yet been explored very much, and because music and read. is vid a how of vital part a such is mood of use the crit applied of form a as act also they critique, a present vids critical fandom and understood across that is easily spread ical theory, side readings of vids, as and Turk Johnson shows. very good argument. I am, however, more interested in they are not engaging with: the ways in which a vid is understood reality, an alternate universe, that the deals with issue of painful reality, rape, has been misunderstood as being a work meant to convey pleasure or titillate its audience. Her argument is that one needs a ofpart the also but Trek, Star only not of understanding deep rather fandom that is dedicated to the romantic and/or sexual pairing of Kirk and Spock in order to fully understand the intended message of the vid and Joshua Johnson speak Turk tation, of Tisha the layers of under article their in vid a reading in encompassed is that standing quarter
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Critical ViddersCritical Orange is the New New is the Orange (summer 2015) to a Volume 11 accessed 2015-07-23 Sebastian F. K. Svegaard F. Sebastian is not as easily accessi are positioned to play a part positioned are Fant4stic The Price Convergence Culture Culture Convergence coupled with the visceral imag Violet Affirmational Fandom - Fanlore, (2014-?) in Marvel’s comic books. This trend, and the (2013), the media world was at least trying to harness the harness to trying least at was world media the (2013), Thor (2007)), maybe they already are. (2007)), maybe they already (2013-?) over the casting of an African-American Reed Rich , because they are easily spread and disseminated from their http://fanlore.org/wiki/Affirmational_fandom This then opens the next question: Can vids, through their crea Vogue Vogue References Cited literature and websites Anonymous, diversity in TV castings, female led TV shows and more heroes who heroes more and shows TV led female castings, TV in diversity not are straight white men due to fans’ intervention, is there a visi ble trend from the female-led, trans-inclusive Black in the new Fantastic Four movie ards female feedback loop from fandom to creators, is only getting stronger in Vids world. mediated increasingly our here homes in the streaming media platforms. critical With vids having gone viral and been part of museum exhibits (as was the case with tive use of music, spread a message such as feminist theory beyond theory feminist as such message a spread music, of use tive the boards of fandom? Can they play a part in the debate about more diverse and socially aware media world? While this remains some knowledge), my of best the (to researched even or seen, be to thing is certainly brewing. In his studies scholar Henry Jenkins called for TV to catch up with the internet of revolution fandom, and by the time he co-wrote able Media communica one-way previous the time, same the At fans. of power tion from creator(s) to fans has become more of an exchange (Zu bernis & Larsen, 2012). While there is no proof that we see more ple of a vid that could potentially reach a wider audience and retain audience and retain a wider potentially reach ple of a vid that could a song like With its legibility. miss. While to es, the point is hard ble, partly due to the less readily understood song, the visual side of the vid still presents a very clear argument; perhaps especially stand not do vids These point. the home drive tears sparkly the alone either; there are many more like them, presenting different points of feminist media critique. quarter
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(2014), ac Critical ViddersCritical http://fanlore. Volume edited by Mel Stan 11 , accessed 2015-07-23 Spreadable Media Spreadable Sebastian F. K. Svegaard F. Sebastian edited by Mel Stanfill and , and the early development 48 (4): 104–7., (2009) WebCite® WebCite® at http://www. Part of the larger census of
Transformative Works and Cultures Works Transformative ccessed: 2015-02-01 a http://centrumlumina.tumblr.com/ Star Trek, , accessed: 2015-07-08 http://fanlore. Fandom and/as Labor Transformative Works and Cultures, Works Transformative versus the Ratings: Savvy Fans and ‘Save versus the Ratings: Savvy In
Cinema Journal ” in (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.web at WebCite® by (Archived http://obsession-inc.dreamwidth.org/82589. (Archived (Archived by
The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Popular and Audience: Fan Culture Adoring The In Chuck’ Fandom and/as Labor . AO3 Survey - Fandom Demographics In http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2014.0513
In Focus: Fandom and Feminism: Gender and the PoliticsIn Focus: Fandom and Feminism: Gender Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Cul Poachers: Television Textual Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide Where Culture: Convergence Affirmational fandom vs. Transformational fandom Affirmational fandom vs. Sherlockology and Galactica.tv: Fan Sites as Gifts or Ex Sherlockology and Galactica.tv: Fan Vogue - Fanlore Vogue Woobie - Fanlore, - Fanlore, Woobie Transformational Fandom - Fanlore Fandom Transformational , (Archived (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation. (Routledge, 1992) http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/ (New York: Routledge, 1992) York: (New Media 2015-07-23 cessed: html. org/6aEXRipGU) Campaigns Our Show’ York: New York University Press, 2013) University Press, York New York: cessed post/94568954478/gender-and-sexuality-demogra 2015-02-01. phics-by-category. webcitation.org/6W1eFgsN1) Archive of Our tagged/ao3-census Own: http://centrumlumina.tumblr.com/ ploited Labor? Megan Condis, special issue, http://fanlore.org/wiki/Transformational_fandom org/wiki/Vogue org/wiki/Woobie citation.org/6W1Q3QEqq) Fan Production of of fannish vidding. 2008, article/view/44 ture 2006) University Press, York New York: (New no. 15., 2014, Anonymous, Kristina, Busse, obsessive_inc. Savage, Christina, ’ Coppa, Francesca, ”Women, Coppa, Francesca, ”Women, Henry, Jenkins, Henry, Jenkins, Sam and Ford Joshua Green, Jenkins, Henry, A. (ed.), Lewis, Lisa centrumlumina, Chin, Bertha Anonymous, Anonymous, quarter
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no. Fan/ 114 no. 9. In http:// l’ and at
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. Critical ViddersCritical , 2009) no. 9. no. http://thingswith Volume 11 Sebastian F. K. Svegaard F. Sebastian Transformative Works and Works Transformative Fandom At The Crossroads: Fandom At The Crossroads: , accessed August 13, 2015, 13, August accessed , Toward an Ecology of Vidding Toward , “Fandom and/as Labor” [editori , Transformative Works and Cultures, and Works Transformative , accessed August 13, 2015, Transformative Works and Cultures, Works Transformative Women’s Work Women’s http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2014.0497 Vidding and the Perversity of Critical Pleasure: of Critical Pleasure: and the Perversity Vidding , , edited by Francesca Coppa and Julie Levin , accessed January 29, 2015, The Price some thoughts on manpain. um. many thoughts on some thoughts on manpain. um. many Transformative Works and Cultures, Works Transformative , edited by Francesca Coppa and Julie Levin Russo, Reinventing Cinema: Movies in the Age of Media Conver Reinventing Cinema: Movies in the Age http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2014.0593 no. 15. 2014, Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press Piscataway, ( Russo, special issue, fill and Megan Condis, special issue, Cultures, al]. In “Fandom and/as edited Labor,” by Mel Stanfill and Me gan Condis, special issue, Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer Relationships Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer 2012) Cambridge Scholars Publishing, upon Tyne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13tv8PDAMc0 thingswithwings.dreamwidth.org/145368.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks2si4wE6jA gence Fan/Remix Video doi:10.3983/twc.2012.0326. and ‘On the Prow in ‘Closer’ and Voyeurism Sex, Violence, Remix Video special issue, nal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/292 15., 2014, manpain, actually wings.dreamwidth.org/145564.html Zubernis, Lynna and Katherine Larsen, Zubernis, Lynna Cited vids Sisabet, and Luminosity thingswithwings, Tryon, Chuck, Tryon, Tisha Turk, and Joshua Johnson Sarah Fiona Winters, Stanfill, Mel, and Megan Condis thingswithwings, quarter
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