Visual essays of various kinds: What's your favorite celebratory vid?

[tishaturk]

One of the articles I'm working on right now is based on the presentation that I gave at the 2009 IP/Gender Symposium, in which I suggested some ways that narrative theory can help us think about vids as fair use of copyrighted material.

In the article, I mention Francesca Coppa's now well-known definition of a vid as "a visual essay that stages an argument." One of the advantages of this definition is that, to the extent that a given vid is an argument, it can be defended on the grounds of fair use—the same kind of fair use that allows me to quote from a novel when I write a review of it or an essay about it.

Now, I happen to think it's true that all vids are arguments, if only in the most basic sense. (For years, the textbook in my first-year composition class was Everything's An Argument.) But here's the thing: some vids are obviously arguments (vids like luminosity's "Vogue" and sisabet and luminosity's "Women's Work" come immediately to mind), and some vids are not so obvious. This is what Sarah Trombley's getting at in "Visions and Revisions" when she comments that "A fanvid which merely recapitulates the plot of a work or the development of a relationship between previously-existing characters is perhaps the least transformative use [of copyrighted material]" (665). And there are a lot of vids that seem to fall into this category of "mere recapitulation."

So one of the things I want to do in this article is talk about a couple of examples of vids that, although we might make a case for them as arguments, are not primarily or obviously argument-driven, and to talk about how those vids are nevertheless transformative works. The type of vid that immediately comes to mind for me is the celebratory vid, the vid that exists primarily to say "OMG MY SHOW" or "I LOVE THIS CHARACTER SO MUCH." (Celebratory vids tend to have a certain capslock quality to them.) The most recent example that comes to mind for me is fan_eunice's "Walking on Sunshine": I actually think that vid is making quite a few arguments about the new incarnation of the Doctor, the past and future direction of the show, etc. etc. etc., but when I watch it the overwhelming effect is, as fan_eunice puts it, "SQUEE in vid form."

I love celebratory vids—they make me happy, which is exactly what they're supposed to do—and so I have some possibilities in mind already. But I'm sure there are some I need to be reminded of, not to mention many that I've never seen in the first place, and I would love to expand my range of options! So please, tell me:

What are your favorite celebratory vids?

...or, really, your favorite vids that aren't primarily arguments—episodic vids, maybe, or a vid that, as Trombley says, "recapitulates the plot of a work or the development of a [canonical] relationship between previously-existing characters." Tell me about your own vids, other people's vids, whatever you want.

...now I want to watch "Walking on Sunshine" again.

Comments

[cereta]

One that comes to mind for me is "Start the Commotion" from 2009's Club Vivid. It's a Leverage Vid that can best be summed up as, "Hardison! Parker! Eliot! Hardison and Parker and Eliot and OMG HARDISON!"

[cereta]

And I just had to go watch it again ;).

[tishaturk]

It's a great example! And yes, that was *exactly* my reaction to mentioning "Walking on Sunshine"; I found myself humming it and wanting to go watch it again. :)

[kass]

There may be something about the Doctor which inspires this sort of thing, because the first vid that comes to mind for me is laurashapiro's They Don't Know. It's possible that my lack of DW knowledge means I'm missing the vid's central argument, but as a viewer who's largely uninvolved with the fandom, my takeaway was "Squee! Shiny! &hearts!"

It also occurs to me that my unfinished Eric/Tami vid fits this bill -- it is primarily about my unending love for that canonical relationship and the characters who inhabit it -- and that that may be part of why I've never finished the vid: because it doesn't feel to me like it says enough. (Well, that and I don't think I can add S4 footage without the color palette feeling all wrong...)

[laurashapiro]

There may be something about the Doctor which inspires this sort of thing

There is, oh, there is!

And I have to chime in that I think "Mothership" actually works better than TDK for argument-free DW squee.

[tishaturk]

Your contention is duly noted. (I love them both! You can't make me choose!)

[laurashapiro]

I won't make you do anything. (: I'm sure you don't need my help, anyway -- you have an embarrassment of riches here already!

[tishaturk]

It's possible that my lack of DW knowledge means I'm missing the vid's central argument, but as a viewer who's largely uninvolved with the fandom, my takeaway was "Squee! Shiny! &hearts!"

The subjectivity of argument is something that's come up several times in the comments to this post, which I think is instructive: we do have to know something about the source in order to measure the distance between the source and the vid, and that space is where argument happens. It is therefore especially important that we have definitions of vids and legal defenses of vids that don't rely solely on the presumption of argument: we need to be able to explain vids to non-fans, and there are many, many, many vids that a fans would see as arguments but that non-fans will not be able to perceive as such.

...that may be part of why I've never finished the vid: because it doesn't feel to me like it says enough.

And this is the other reason that it's important to me that our working definition of vids be broad enough to encompass vids that are not primarily about argument. I think it's one thing to be frustrated because you can't figure out how to get a vid to say everything you want to say, and it's another to feel that it's not saying enough. Some of the vids I most love are celebratory vids; they're vids that fill me with a sense of joy and community, and it would break my heart if vidders stopped making them because they didn't feel these vids were saying enough! They're saying something different, certainly, but to my mind they're saying exactly what that sort of vid is supposed to say. :)

[cofax7]

I think one of my most favorite celebratory vids is "One Girl Revolution", which okay it makes an argument, but it also just makes me HAPPY. Makes me want to run out and have an adventure.

[tishaturk]

You are so right. I think I need to go re-watch that vid right now, actually.

[giandujakiss]

I'd say O24's OMG!, about the Doctor Who companions, or her Freestyler, about Smallville's Green Arrow (although the latter, I firmly believe, is actually about penis insecurity, so maybe it doesn't belong on this list....) Also bananainpyjamas's Intergalactic Friends also Smallville, and which also has a point about the comic book relative to the show, but I'm not really into the comics (or the show, that much, for that matter), so mostly I just go - shiny!!

[tishaturk]

I will check those out!

I'm not really into the comics (or the show, that much, for that matter), so mostly I just go - shiny!!

As I said to kass upthread, the subjectivity of argument has come up several times in the comments to this post, which I think is interesting and makes a lot of sense; if we don't know enough about the source to identify an argument (or care about the argument), then any vid with a certain amount of visual panache can be appreciated purely on the level of SHINY.

[deathisyourart]

The first one that comes to mind are kiki_miserychic's I'm on a boat. That is pure SQUEE in a bottle right there!

There is also pipsqueaky's Steal My Sunshine, and halcyon_shift's Summer in the City. Both of which simply re-tell canon.

[tishaturk]

I haven't seen a couple of those; I'll check them out!

[klia]

I adore jarrow's Paul McCartney (Will & Grace) and Give it Up ('80s movies), and killa and tzikeh's Puttin' on the Ritz.

[tishaturk]

Ooh, yes—those are all perfect! And seeing all three of them mentioned together makes me think that I should just go look at the list of everything that's ever played at Club Vivid, since so many of those vids are upbeat and gorgeously edited, a joy to watch, and not particularly context-dependent.

It's been way too long since I last watched "Puttin' on the Ritz." I should go fix that.

[cathexys]

I tend to go to multi vids for my squee. For the longest time my go-to was always Laura's Wouldn't it be nice (which kinda clearly has an argument). For a while it was Hot Hot Hot (which we've seen getting analyzed extensively :). Jarrow's Give it Up is definitely a favorite right now as is counteragent's Ladies Night.

[tishaturk]

Oh, that's interesting! Very few of my personal go-to vids are multi, except "Give It Up" and (not surprisingly) counteragent's "Destiny Calling."

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" is a good reminder that squee and argument are not mutually exclusive, but I do tend to think of that one as being rather pointedly argument-driven. :)

[cathexys]

OMG, Destiny Calling. How could I forget that???

And yes, squee CAN be the argument. Several of my other fave squee multi vids were ones that were too clearly arguments: Us, I'm Your Man, One Night Fandoms, Uncommercial Song, ...

[par_avion]

Celebratory vids (not surprisingly) work best for me when I share the enthusiasm for the fandom. The first one that comes to mind is JS and AAR's Silence vid. It was made as a farewell to BtVS, and is an overview including eps from S1 leading up to (but not including) Chosen. I was madly in love with this vid when it came out and rewatched it constantly in the summer of 2003.

It doesn't seem to be online anymore -- their site was any-time-soon. I can try to find my copy or contact ascian and pukajen for more info.

The other BtVS overview that I really enjoy is river_boat's Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Abridged. (Apparently her vids are down again (i.e. at the new site), but you've probably seen it. If you want me to dig up a copy, let me know.)

Both of these vids are basically saying "Remember when this happened? And that? And wasn't it awesome?"

[tishaturk]

Celebratory vids (not surprisingly) work best for me when I share the enthusiasm for the fandom.

I'm the same way, so it's been interesting to see other people in this comment thread mentioning vids for shows that they don't know well. I suppose I've had a couple of those over the years, but for me the joy of celebratory vids is that they distill something I already love into a single pure hit of unadulterated happiness.

I dimly remember Silence, although I'm not sure I still have a copy. BtVS: Abridged I know I still have; it's one of my favorites too.

Both of these vids are basically saying "Remember when this happened? And that? And wasn't it awesome?"

You're making me think about the different ways that vids can be celebratory, or things that they can celebrate; "Walking On Sunshine" is all about the excitement of new directions, a new season starting, new possibilities, but like you I find that many of my favorites are partly about nostalgia—meaning not just that they make me nostalgic for the show (although that too!) but that they were always nostalgic: they're about celebrating the whole run of a show.

[stultiloquentia]

The Yuletide vid!! That's the one the leaps to mind right away; I'll go off and look through the rest of my bookmarks in a minute. But really, "One Night Fandoms" is perfect, because it is absolutely primarily celebratory, but also transformative in so many ways. It does make arguments. You could write essays about it (thingswithwings and eruthros did). And I think it's a great one for an article or presentation, because it has so many great visual puns.

[stultiloquentia]

dualbunny's I'll Be There for You (Black Books), mamoru22's "A Little Less Conversation" (Boston Legal), destina's To Touch the Face of God (space flight), Nibikko and dragonfly's I Love the World (Stargate). Huh, I could go on and on.

[tishaturk]

Thanks for the recs! I know a couple of them (although, not being a Yuletide person, I had entirely forgotten about the Yuletide vid) and will check out the rest.

[vonniek]

Big Red Boat!

... that seems to be my answer to most vid-related questions (unless the question is something like "which vids worked best to CRUSH YOUR SOUL" or something.)

Destina's "Did You" (SG-1), with its OMG TEAMness for SG fans of all persuasions.

Killa's "Magic Carpet Ride" (Firefly)

Charmax's Pushing Daisies vids, but especially "Modern Nature," a vid that recaps Ned/Chuck relationship in a fashion so perfectly in tune with the quirky sensibility of the show that it's a bit uncanny.

[tishaturk]

You know, I was just thinking about "Big Red Boat"! par_avion and I were talking upthread about how for us our favorite celebratory vids are those for fandoms we're deeply invested in, and I mentioned that I'd had a couple of exceptions over the years; "Big Red Boat" is one of those exceptions. I never knew more about the show than "there's this girl who talks to God," but the vid still delights me.

"Did You" is another interesting one for me; at the time that I saw it, I'd only ever seen 'ship vids for SG-1, and in that context a vid that said "Actually, they're all important" had a certain argumentative element. I don't know whether Destina intended it that way, but it was one of the things that I liked about the vid.

[charmax]

I never pass up the opportunity to rec "Macedonian Getaway" (Xena) everything that was awesome about Xena is distilled into a few minutes of pure celebration.

I also second the rec for "Here it goes back again" (Back to the future, Festivid).

[tishaturk]

I'd forgotten about "Macedonian Getaway"; thanks for the reminder! And I really do have to get around to watching the rest of the Festivids; I got behind when they were posted and just... never caught up. It was too much awesome to process!

[thuviaptarth]

cherryice's Tamacun, whose primary purpose seems to be to make the viewer want a six-legged flying bison of her very own.