#The YouTube analysis the repetitive memes

[skinnypaleangryperson]

It's cool that being a passionate fanfic writer is like talking to a literal void while the actual culture of the piece of media it's based on is both destroyed, rejuvenated, crashed, disregarded, and built back up again with every single piece of analysis or media or trend or meme that people make up related to it while any fan fiction that is ever written is basically either not acknowledged or only vaguely made fun of, much less read or paid attention to

[gryhmz]

They Were Always Allowed: A Personal Theory of TV Girl’s Hit "Not Allowed"

Hello internet, it's grim.

I just wanted to quickly thank everyone that went a read my last long post! My last post is probably the most popular piece of literary and analytical content that I have ever written, so I am happy that my writing is being seen by those in the community. As I start to write more over this year, I want a place to share my content beyond Tumblr, so if you're interested, I have opened up an Instagram account focused on advertising my blog here.

For this post, I plan to talk about another major interest of mine: Music and lyrical analysis. It's not something that I am totally great at yet, so please bare with me. Thank you.

Who Really Cares: The Inescapable Album of 2023

One of my favorite hobbies over the past few years has been rating albums and songs that I come across. It was something that I had picked up on when I was in 8th grade, and it helped me handle my emotions and stresses during a time of abuse. Now, as a college student, I rate albums as a past time, and I have come to enjoy it. In fact, a few of my college essays have revolved around music artists and the impact their music had on the world and myself.

Here are a few of the albums that I have rated over the past 5-6 months on AOTY.

Now for most albums, the rating process is fairly boring. I go through an album, pick out what songs I enjoyed and hated, and give my rating. Nothing out of the ordinary. But every once in a while, an album comes around that, for whatever reason, people on the internet flip the hell out over (regardless of whether the album is "good" or "bad").

90% of the time, I tend to wipe these albums off my list of albums to rate, typically because these albums tend to be overrated in some way, shape, or form. But in 2023, I could simply not get away from TV Girl's 2016 album, Who Really Cares. Despite the album turning 8 years old as of this year, I have still seen this album appear numerous times on YouTube shorts, Instagram stories, Instagram Reels, Twitter memes, and Spotify playlists. In fact, the reason why I even know of TV Girl is due to the fact that an ex of mine dedicated their hit song "Not Allowed" to me after our breakup. So I gave the album a 78/100 and moved on with my life (and my AOTY rating can be found here).

Fun fact: The source image for Who Really Cares originates from George M. Hester's The Classic Nude (Reddit). Arguably one of my favorite album covers of all time.

Most of the songs on the album aren't bad, and the unique sampling is extremely entrancing, but the album sounds the same throughout, with most songs lacking individual uniqueness. There were many instances in which I would attempt to write a short take on individual songs just to realize that I would be pointing out the exact same lyrics between two songs. For instance, "Not Allowed" and "For You" both use the "never intend to do what you say at all" line, which I found funny. While this could've been TV Girl using the line as a thematic or symbolic purpose throughout their album, it just felt lazy, especially since this doesn't occur in other albums that they've produced. Albums such as Summer's Over and Lonely Women were much better in terms of order, structure, and thematic principles than Who Really Cares, and neither of them have the repetition issue either.

"Not Allowed" and Misogyny : The Anthem of "Male Manipulators"

After rating and criticizing Who Really Cares back in mid-December, I didn't think too much else about it. Most of the traction around TV Girl started to die down, I started hearing their Tiktok-styled songs less, and many people started to drop the album as social media algorithms led the masses to other albums. Personally, I just liked a couple of songs and downloaded the album cover, and moved on.

A few weeks go by since I listened to the album and I decide that I want to change my profile picture on Steam. Not thinking anything of it, I changed my profile picture from Fleetwood Mac's Then Play On to a close-up of the man on the cover for Who Really Cares. Nothing too crazy, but this does go somewhere.

I hop into a good ol' game of CS2 with a few of my friends. We rage and get our asses kicked as per usual, but we eventually get paired up with another team that is more on our playing level. At the beginning of the game, everything was going well. Both teams were at about 3 or 4 points, so there was a chance of us winning. However, during the middle of the game, one of the teammates on the other team makes a comment about my profile picture being TV Girl, and claims that I was a listener of "male manipulator music." What?

I was so confused by what their teammate was talking about. What the hell is a "male manipulator?" Is it a man that manipulates people? Who is he manipulating? What does he get out of manipulating the subject in question? Or is it a woman that manipulates naive men? What does she get out of it? These questions wrapped around my brain that I had to team kill like three of my teammates to get off of CS2 to go do some research about this term.

Now from what I researched, there does not seem to be an official definition for the term "Male manipulator music." So I did what every other being on the internet does: I looked it up on Urban Dictionary.

Worst discovery ever. I listen to The Smiths, Deftones, and TV Girl so this is like my own personal 9/11.

In short, "male manipulator music" is a subgenre of artists and bands that have a fanbase of men that tend to manipulate women. Their unique yet depressing taste in music is sometimes used to reel in emotionally damaged and/or naive women into harmful relationship dynamics, hurting both the artist and their fanbase. It would be fair to argue that these men are almost like parasites to fanbases rather than part of a fanbase.

But this led me down a much larger rabbit hole regarding TV Girl that I had no run into back in December. Why is TV Girl thrown into this category of "male manipulator music?" So I went digging, and boy did I find some stuff:

(btw all the images are linked to my sources if you are interested in reading further)

Let's just say there are accusations galore about TV Girl and being misogynistic. From the lyric writing to the sampling sources, numerous cases and analyses have been written on TV Girl being misogynistic. Now, most of these are regarding different songs from TV Girl, so most of these might not apply to "Not Allowed," but then I kept running into more posts claiming that the entire point of TV Girl was to simply be misogynistic. That their aesthetic, mindset, and point of view was meant to put down women in a negative light as if men are superior, non-flawed beings. And the more I dug, the larger the accusations became.

Pack it up boys, we aren't allowed to listen to TV Girl anymore...

I was completely shocked. A song that I had picked up from an ex that helped me get through a rough spot in my life was now the target of a much larger campaign of women online claiming such music was meant to put them down? I wouldn't even care too much about the whole phenomenon, but it gets brought ALL THE TIME. And TV Girl has been making music for over 10 years.

With this rabbit hole successfully uncovered, I decided to write down the overall points that many critics point out regarding TV Girl's music.

TV Girl is misogynistic because:

Lyrics describe women in a humiliating and/or degrading manner

Songs are associated with or attract the previously mentioned "male manipulators"

TV Girl sympathizes with the male psyche post-heartbreak

Now that I had a list of reasons why people argue that TV Girl's discography is misogynistic, I am going to try my best to not only debunk these, but give my own personal interpretation of "Not Allowed," which I believe has been heavily misinterpreted and improperly characterized as an anthem for possessive, manipulative men.

Whack-A-Theory and Debunking Misogyny Claims

But before we can talk about the reasons why TV Girl's "Not Allowed" is misogynistic, we must first figure out just what "Not Allowed" is about.

According to the general consensus (aka the Internet), "Not Allowed" is a song about:

The feelings of a man who is rejected by a woman who is in love with someone else.

A man who fears to speak his thoughts on a love interest due to a fear of being socially criticized for speaking about sex.

Slut-shaming a woman who has rejected the singer.

Now, these are all very different theories, and even though they might sound similar since they revolve around a relationship dynamic filled with blurred lines, the implications of these theories vastly differ.

If any of these were MOST LIKELY to be true, it would be theory one. Let me explain:

First of all, "Not Allowed" DOES talk about sex. I'm not entirely sure why the second theory is thrown around so often in the TV Girl community, but it simply does not make any sense regarding the song. Furthermore, any basic research into the intro sample of "Not Allowed" would lead you to the feminist rap group Yeastie Girlz, which were known for their raunchy yet pro-women stance on sexual openness. In fact, the "song" that the sample is from is called "You Suck," which is a recording of the Yeastie Girlz talking about female oral sex in their album titled, Ovary Action:

For TV Girl to use such a raunchy sample in a song that is NOT supposed to talk about sex seems a bit ironic. While it could be argued that these underlying variables are meant to poke fun at the stigma of sexual talk, it wouldn't make sense for TV Girl to use those same elements as a way to insult the girl's partner either.

Take for example:

"But now he's playing with your head But did he ever make you cum?" Personally it doesn't make sense to me why TV Girl would take a jab at the sex stigma by using sexual acts to describe his bitter attitude. Furthermore, TV Girl pokes at the girl's sexual partner (or partners), singing:

"But how quickly they [the sonnets] turn sour So be careful who you screw."

Again, TV Girl's excessive use of raunchy samples and the jabs that the singer takes at sex itself doesn't add up to this theory. No one here is benefits from the negative usage of sex in the song, making this theory seem false.

While the second theory seems like complete bogus, the third theory could hold some weight. However, I think that there is more to this theory than what is presented online. While I will argue that the singer is shaming sexual actions within the song, I would say that the singer is taking more jabs at himself and the girl's current partner rather than the girl herself. Going back to the "messing with your head" lyric, TV Girl doesn't seem to take a jab at the girl having sexual intercourse with her current partner, but they seem to take a jab at the partner and how bad they might be doing at satisfying the girl's sexual needs. While one could argue that a jab at the girl's partner throws her in as collateral, the singer makes it very clear that his feelings towards himself are not great either, stating:

"I guess it's different 'cause you love him But I've got an interactive Sick and twisted imagination And that's gotta count for something" While the singer does not degrade himself to the same level that the girl's partner is subjected to, it is important to note that the girl is the one person in this entire song that is degraded THE LEAST. Not only does this disprove theory three, but it also disproves theories one and three of why "Not Allowed" is misogynistic. If "Not Allowed" was meant to take jabs at women, it would focus way more on the girl's actions rather than the singer and the girl's partner. Furthermore, the second theory on why TV Girl is misogynistic is just a lazy attempt to play the guilty by association fallacy. The only reason I would defend this argument was if "Not Allowed" was truly ripping on the girl the entire time throughout this song, which does not happen. Also, why would TV Girl use Yeastie Girlz as a sample if they wanted to push an anti-woman anthem? None of the reasons posted on TikTok make sense, and the fact that people pushed these theories regarding TV Girl's "Not Allowed" seems silly and lazy.

We Were Once Allowed, But TikTok Thinks We're Strangers

Now we are down to just one theory. I purposely held off the first theory because my theory and the first theory are pretty similar. While I do believe that the song revolves around the feelings of a man who is rejected by a woman who is in love with someone else, I believe we are hearing the perspective of a jealous ex rather than a stranger.

Let me explain:

When I first heard this song, it was after I had broken up with my ex. I'll spare you the details, but I've always seen this song as an ex that felt like he was pushed out of the way for another guy that was waiting for the girl to leave.

"Now you suck We wanna talk about sex but we're not allowed Well, you may not like it but you better learn how 'cause it's your turn now You're wasting your tongue with lame excuses and lies" This part is the singer talking about the girl, saying that she sucks. He goes onto say that they wanna talk about the sexual aspects of their relationship but they are no longer allowed to. I would argue that the singer is making the assumption that his ex is truly not over him and just hopped into a relationship for a rebound. The singer says it's the girl's turn now to hear what he has to say and that she should shut up and listen to what's in store. It could be implied that she has also gone around and spread a false narrative against the singer.

"So how should I begin this? I guess it started when you were with him. And how he never even took you out to dance But did he fuck with any rhythm?" Here we see that the singer is collecting his thoughts on when he was first made uncomfortable with the girl's new partner. He explains that the girl's partner never took her out to dance, implying that he might've during their relationship. The "fuck with any rhythm" could be taken as either him liking any music or rhythmic sexual intercourse. "But now he's playing with your head But did he ever make you cum? Did he ever make you cry?"

Moving on from the dance, the singer now leaves us with a dilemma. He claims that the girl's partner is playing with her head, which can be seen as the singer altering the truth to make the girl seem dumb, or he realizes that the girl is being taken advantage of for her partner's own sexual gratification. Personally, I'm choosing the latter. The singer then asks if her partner makes her cum or cry. Since this is in the past tense, it could be argued that this fling soon dies out or this is the current partner asking if the singer ever made the girl cum or cry, and the singer is just repeating the thoughts of the current partner.

"Do the wires in your mind get sewn together Rubbed and severed by the heat You don't know how long I could stare into your picture And wish that it was me" The singer now asks if there is a personal bond built between the girl and her partner. Based on the previous assumptions, we could argue "Yes" or "No." I would argue "yes" because the next line shows that the girl has taken pictures with the other person in question, making the singer wish that it was him. Again, this could also be seen as him feeling as if he is incapable of controlling ex or he's just jealous that she's with someone else after all that she's supposedly done.

"I guess it's different 'cause you love him But I've got an interactive Sick and twisted imagination And that's gotta count for something" Based on this, I feel like the ex might've complained about the singer's sexual habits. It might be implied here that the ex was disgusted by the singer's sexual interest towards her, but now it's different because it's someone else. The singer then gives himself the positive, claiming that his graphic imagination must be worth something.

Skipping the chorus becuase it's the same as the intro and I don't feel like repeating myself

"I dreamt I was standing in your doorstep Licking sweat off of your forehead With your finger in my mouth And the sound when leather jackets hit the ground" This could be the singer reminiscing on a past scenario in which he and the girl in question are being sensual. Nothing more to analyze. "You should hear when you're not around When it's just us horny poets Who can't wait to write it down And swear we were only being honest." I believe this excerpt is the singer rubbing the past into the face of the girl's partner. Almost like a "yeah we used to have sex too y'know" moment. It could also be the singer implying that him and his ex have made small talk since they've broken up, attempting to come to closure. Nonetheless, it's clear that this was aimed at the girl's partner rather than the girl.

"Do you like these little sonnets 'Cause I wrote them just for you But how quickly they turn sour So be careful who you screw And never call. And I'm starting to suspect You don't intend to do anything you say at all."

After taking his shot at the girl's partner, the singer seems to take aim at the girl. This time, he's offering a set of sonnets he's written about her, but they all have a bad ending. He claims that the sonnets are written this way because she had sex with him and then (possibly) ghosted him afterwards. He then finishes up the excerpt by assuming that his ex was a liar. This could be seen as the singer uncovering an abusive relationship between him and his ex.

"All by yourself, sittin' alone I hope we're still friends, yeah, I hope you don't mind." This is the part that led me to making this entire post. How could the singer and the girl "still be friends" if there was nothing else to begin with? You can't be friends with someone you never knew. This stupid verse led me to travel down a whole rabbit hole and a half just to give my own interpretation of the song, and I have no regrets. The singer is simply mocking the girl breaking up with the singer, claiming that they could still be friends and that she hope he doesn't mind, which is a common tactic that abusers might use after a relationship to hold some sort of control over their victim. This could be seen as an innocent ending to a falling out, or the ex looking for an avenue to hold onto the singer while he struggles with his own thoughts.

Conclusion

Regardless of whatever theory I or anyone on the internet come up with, I believe this song acts as a great litmus test as one's attitudes towards relationships. When I was scrolling through theories and the misogyny rabbit hole, I noticed that many people who wrote about "Not Allowed" focused on inputting their own experiences into the song, writing their theory as if the song was about their relationship. I would even argue that I did the same, and that's completely okay. I made this with the intent of simply debunking what has already been said about the song. While I think that anyone can have an opinion on what this song is supposed to represent, I didn't think any theory prior to mine was "the" meaning (as in what people should take the song as at face value). To put simply, I do not think that this song was about a male manipulator waiting to prey on his next victim, but the girl in question doesn't love him. If it was, then it wouldn't fit into Who Really Cares at all, for the album is about Brad's (the lead singer) troubled relationships with women. I think that's what people ran to because a majority of TV Girl's fanbase is women who have had shitty relationships, regardless of whether it was their fault or not. This has then led to TV Girl's reputation being about male manipulators because all the women in their fanbase simultaneously fear abusive men (and rightfully so). TV Girl simply reinforces that it could be either side's fault depending on how you look at both sides' cruel and immature behavior towards the fallout. I also found inspiration for this song analysis from NEOPUNK (it's a good listen check it out):

If you've read through the entirety of this damn blog post without knowing about the song I've been rambling about, give it a listen. It's pretty good:

And with that, I'm tired. Good night. ~grimaider.

[bearmustard]

My experience of larries based on the platforms they use

Twitter: highly enthusiastic. Think 21 is an old fan. Young and Beautiful is everyone's favourite fic, even those who've never read it. Think H & L have been together since 2010 but also will block anyone who questions babygate (this is apparently bluegreening and is not to be borne). Will say they're unlarrying for the cred/hit tweet. Very excited for Liam's wedding where Freddie and Bear will meet and H & L will be each others dates. Just as likely to be a zarry depending on the day tbh. Always looking for larrie "moots".

TiK Tok: The funny corner of the larry fandom. Almost all post hiatus larries who are constantly "uncovering" shit that people have known about since 2010. Excellent dancers. Seriously lacking critical thinking skills but what do you expect from larries willing to download an app that has such severe security issues it makes facebook look responsible and safe.

Instagram: Extremely spanish? Lots of reposting of aesthetic manips. Cute cartoons of mermaid harry, and lots of rainbows. Will post the same 6 photos of H & L over and over. Super chill, just like looking at photos of their faves, and the comments are always blue green hearts and lovely compliments. Almost no facts or discourse, which is actually kind of lovely for a break but gets repetitive after a while.

Reddit: The absolute opposite of what you would expect from reddit. Tiny. The chillest. Mostly just upvoting tik tok videos and making cute larry spongebob memes. Lots of fanfic recs, but they all seem to be imagines from Wattpad. Always posting about how confused they are by everything (especially the stunts) because they believe in larry but also think every stunt is real.

Youtube: Lost since freddieismyqueen shut their account tbh. Monthly larry proof videos. Always talking about uncovering the dark side of one direction in 40 minute videos but it's mostly just zoomed in pics of H & L looking sad while the youtuber makes disclaimers of not really knowing anything. The best part are the youtubers who just make videos with titles like '8 minutes where one direction are just absolute disasters' or '20 minutes straight of harry and Louis looking at each other'. I miss Evan.

Tumblr: Old, tired, and done with your shit, but somehow still here. Welcoming of new larries but fucked if they're gonna hold your hand. 10 years of either intricately archived and tagged masterposts or have tagged random posts over the years with whatever joke was going around at the time so sometimes the most interesting information is tagged 'harry is the breadsticks and Louis is the handbag'. Know everything straight away and have a page long analysis about it circulating within 5 mins, despite the fact that no one ever seems to actually be online. Everyone claims that they don't talk stunts or discourse. Still plenty of stunt discussion and discourse. Intricate knowledge of every time H & L did anything, mostly because no one knows when any post on this site was made so constantly placing things in context.

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Sun 6 June ‘21

Charlie posted a super cool pic of Louis singing in the studio- from when they were seen together on Friday over by the studio judging by Louis’ shirt- captioned “mega tunes being put down, can’t wait for this.” Louis cropped and reposted it captioned simply, “studio”, and then Dave Gibson (songwriter, Walls the song) ALSO reposted the pic with eyeball and fire emoji, HELLO SIR. Louis also posted a pic of another vintage England jersey (show off) captioned Day 5 (of the Euros, I guess he’s counting from either when the England lineup was announced or the first pre-competition match) and retweeted a post cheering on Marcus Rashford, who captained the team for today’s game. Some people say he’s misreading his fandom, but that is blatant Football Index community erasure, for shame! (Even aside from the fact that he’s posting about something he’s into like... not everything has to be tailored to 1D fan taste, jeez. And ofc the brit rock fans he’s trying to court love football...) Anyway, the love affair between FI traders and the rest of their louie kin is still going strong and the FI guys, seeing their moment to shine with Louis’ fantasy football league, have stepped up to help out their comrades. “Mad that we traded financial stability for a lifelong friendship with the louies by using football index,” mused one, and another came through with a whole long thread explaining how Fantasy Football works and how to join for anyone wanting to join Louis’ league. Soccer Aid continue to use pics of Nouis to tease their coming lineup announcement; correct me if I’m wrong but I think they do this every year, I wouldn’t think it means anything. Still, Wouldn’t It Be Nice!

Zayn tweeted “Feels good to be understood, appreciate it bro” about youtuber Anthony Aiken Jr’s Yellow Metal reaction video series. The particular clip Zayn retweeted is the final part of the reaction thread covering the whole EP, and focuses on the end of the EP where the most explicit political content is, but I think Zayn is pointing at the whole analysis and just was on the last one when he was like YES, hit tweet. Aiken is wearing the patchwork Anderson cardigan in his icon, love it, and also his tweet after- “Am I dreaming? Nah, this can’t be.” Z liked a super cool YM fanart tweet too. Also him and Gigi were papped out in NYC (in a car) and the Daily Mail ran an article saying they were “reunited” after his much publicized near fight like… when were they disunited? Do they mean because they were in separate places for an evening?? Tabloids are bizarre.

My Policeman filmed; with Harry in the cop uniform every time lately it’s like when celebs wear the same outfit every day so pap pics will be boring and not worth the trouble, the set pics can be a little repetitive, but today’s are special because today Harry is a cop on beach flipping someone off in various languages- now that’s a meme for the ages! (This is between shots stuff I do not think his character will be fooling around flipping people off, alas.) Liam posted a tease of his upcoming animated NFT release (a drawing of his cute bug-like character looking sad) and tagged in his co creators, and Niall and Anne Marie were on the radio today. Niall posted a cute picture of them celebrating topping the UK Top 40 chart-- “Amazing!! So proud of this song. Thank you for this guys” he said.

[hhuta]

Do you have any favourite performances of mor? Or like a specific recording of a song from a specific date that's your favourite?? 👀👀 Like for me I'm obsessed with the 9 January 2011 place je passe because Mozart is soo lively him spinning around while holding his jacket..... <3

I DONT KNOW HOW TO ANSWER THIS

every performance is so unique,,, and i always find a micro expression to obsess over....... and my memory is shit so whenever i watch a video i think "THIS is my favourite one !!!!" then cut to me 2 seconds later watching another one and thinking the same.

ok enough whining. its easier for me to remember the salieri related ones so ill just talk about them:

this is the best video on youtube dot com, aka the best filmed repetitions and lbqfm. u can see salieris reactions to traurigkeit ward mir zum lose!!! the thing i care the most about!!!! i even analysed this one a little !!

but this might be my favourite le bien qui fait mal

probably the gayest victime de ma victoire

and when it comes to l'assasymphonie............ it is kNOWN that i like the 2009 version the most (stage, performance, even voice) and its underrated so ill focus on that !!!!

i love the feral energy in this one, its so early that he doesnt growl yet

and this one has the same energy but its even better because he sings the bridge with a mocking tone and its absolutely perfect... i cant stress it enough,,,, "pleurent les violons de ma vie" sarcastically !?!?!? its sO GOOD !!! to me, salieri saying that in a ":(((( poor me uwu :((" way doesnt fit the mood as well as this version does bc he knows this whole mess is his all his fault. he literally invented the tiny violin meme with this.

honourable mention to this one where he messes up the lyrics twice and because of that its absolutely perfect, it fits the moment so well. i wish the video was complete

ill shut up and move on before this becomes just about LAS. this is best lacrimosa and vivre a en crever.. obviously... its their last performance from the original production. one day ill post my analysis

bonus: i have a draft called "fave performances" and i listed the day 09.07.2011 dont ask me why cuz i dont remember but i trust my past self. u can find the videos on this account

and i love the videos from 02.12.2010 you can find them here

also when i find a video and i have something To Say about it i now either post the whole thing or the screenshots and i tag it with the name of the song (or scene), without abbreviating it and without accents so if u wanna see more stuff .. 😔🤙 but a lot of it its still simply tagged as "mozart l'opera rock" and one day ill fix it and have a tags page in conclusion just go thru my whole blog till i get my shit together <3

[marsixm]

nobody asked but heres some random youtuber recs:

plumbella aka jesse mcnamara is 100% my fave sims youtuber, shes iconic in every way and her voice is constantly narrating things in my head with memes spoken in all her northern glory, i love how chaotic she is and shes also genuinely talented as a simmer but also entertaining enough that i’d watch her play games i have zero interest in. she also twitch streams a lot if youre into that

swell entertainment aka amanda gorka: shes recently become a youtube algorithm chosen channel which propelled her videos, mostly of reviews of internet-based products and events, into the spotlight after many years of lets say modest success. shes got good things to say and ive left her most recent videos discussing her successes with youtube and how they happened feeling extremely inspired- i also enjoy technical youtuber accounts and the insights they give

the financial diet but specifically chelsea fagan: tfd is a financial advice web brand and one of the co founders often posts conversational advice listicles that are helpful albeit repetitive if you watch enough of them over the years, but i think theyre the best content on the channel which does sometimes fall into an unrelatable yuppie trap. her rants are especially good and the one posted most recently is great. i sort of think of her as a sensible older sister lol

im also gonna give a partial rec to hannah smokey glow, a haul/makeup/drama channel because she does seem to have very sensible takes on things and she has also recently posted some advice videos for creators that i found very helpful but she does have a very large consumerist/materialism streak which im not a huge fan of but i dont usually watch those videos of hers, although sometimes ill listen to her discuss makeup just for background noise even though idk anything about makeup

also ill go ahead and rec jackie aina even though i havent been watching her as much because i also find her videos good background noise that do leave me remembering some makeup tips for whenever i want to do that, plus she seems to know skincare and i found her night routine video helpful with understanding skincare. if youre into makeup or specifically are black/dark skinned and into makeup/watch gurus you’ve probably already heard of her. again though as a makeup influencer shes probably a bit more consumerist than i prefer but its a consequence of the genre.

i should also probably mention “what ive learned” since i watched him so much last year, he posts extremely detailed researched pieces about nutrition and science that actually explains the research and understandings involved with things like food and fitness in a way that is both extremely complex but also makes a lot of issues easier to understand. though obviously since the channel discusses things like food, diets, fitness, weight, and may sometimes imply losing weight is inherently healthy (iirc) theres a content warning there.

and while im posting youtube recs even since i never do, shout out to danny gonzalez and drew gooden, the commentary boys you probably already know, notably danny for his music and drew for his actual analysis of media- also jarvis johnson does some good work and i enjoy his skits and the effort he puts in.

also special shout out to james turner aka the sim supply because i havent watched him in a while but hes an incredible sims builder and one of the first sims channels i watched, this is dan bell who makes really cool videos exploring abandoned buildings whom id like to watch more of again after a while of not, and jack saint who ive seen a couple of great video essays from that id like to watch more of some time... ALSO NAKEYJAKEY! i havent watched him in a Minute but i love his stuff... ALSO SIMPLY NAILOGICAL HOW COULD I FORGET

[homieswithhades]

BTS Analysis;

I don’t even know if I can call this an unpopular opinion bc I know some people agree with this, this is more of an in-depth analysis and personal experience I guess. It’s all about bts... and its lowkey a mess. I apologise in advance for any grammar/spelling errors, and times I may contradict myself a bit. This is something that REALLY bothers me. I just want to clarify that I love bts a lot, and that I was the HUGEST STAN for a good 5ish months. I still stan them but not as much due to the following reasons.

They just don’t make good music anymore.  They love yourself era was when everything turned to shit. The actual core love yourself concept is very good but,,,, it was executed really poorly.

Dna was my first comeback with them, even though I’ve been listening to them since august 2016. But when actually became a stan in April 2017, I was obsessed with them. I was so damn excited for their September 2017 cb that my standards were through the roof. During the summer they changed the logo and did the beyond the scene thing,,, that’s the first thing that kind of irked me,,, and then they did the highlight reels in the style of I need u and they were redeemed.

When love yourself her started promotions and teasers, the bar was higher than the person who edited the DNA mv. The concept pics were so unfitting??? And just lacked that aesthetic element. I dint like them at all,,,, and the album cover was,,, below standard and looked rushed and lazily designed. But when serendipity came out I loved it (and I still do) so that fuelled my expectations for the music, even though they weren’t really that damaged by the odd first impression of the album. But then DNA came out and???? I was so disappointed?????? The beat was so annoying,,, the mv was so ugly,, the outfits were ugly,,, the lyrics were weird. In other words DNA was just a straight up flop... I hoped the rest of the album would have been better but,,,, it really, REALLY wasn’t.

After love yourself her I lost a lot of interest in bts. I missed their old music so much, and I was genuinely upset over it. I didn’t follow them as closely as I used to. I started to joke about them with my friends who lost interest in bts before me, but I still missed the old bts so much. The whole Ellen show thing, all the western media like Buzzfeed and Billboard making vids and articles about bts, all the rigged award shows, it pissed me off bc they were getting famous in the US bc of their worst album that didn’t display their full potential at all!!!!

Imma just go out and say it, armys are one of the most toxic fandoms ever.

Sometimes they’re just plain disrespectful and starting arguments where they don’t belong. I wouldn’t be able to count how many times I got attacked on Twitter, Instagram and even in the YouTube comments for expressing a different opinion. I remember all the fan wars and scandals. All the mobs at airports, All the times k-fans and i-fans tried to ruin another groups reputation (I’m not saying other fans never did this, bc it was always a thing, but it was never this extreme.) and the fuckin credit card thing oh my god,,,, a huge shitstorm caused by one fandom that lasts for years on end.

When bts got really mainstream, and gained more young western fans, they really ruined bts even further for me. Not to mention all the cringey tweets and memes, they hurt to look at. I absolutely don’t mind the “you got no jams” meme or the “ExCuSE mE” one, bc theyre just pure goof from the members, but when armys took it and overused it, that’s when it started to get annoying.

Some armys genuinely think bts is the only kpop group and that the world revolves around them. They comment “annyeonghaseyo any armys here???!!!” in the most unexpected places, I deadass saw someone on my overwatch team playing quick play with the name “army.FOREVER.saranghae” yall do realise it costs 10$ to change ur blizzard username, right?

Some armys also don’t respect other kpop groups in older gens (or any other ones for that matter) and assume that bts broke through into the western world themselves, which is complete bullshit, without groups like bigbang, shinee, tvxq, shinhwa, h.o.t,  seo taiji boys etc etc (and other ones I don’t know of rip) kpop would have never gotten into the western world.

I never identified as an army bc I knew they were cringey bc of my friends who were HUGE armys back in 2016 and low-key koreaboos, and I knew what the bad stans looked like, so I never associated with them, and just called myself a bts stan. But the whole western situation just got so goddamn worse. I was sick of the Americans plaguing bts for me.

I also wanna say, I know not all armys are toxic and cringey. And I respect the level headed and chill Armys, yall are doing it right.

Moving on from Armys, I noticed a change in bts themselves. Namjoon changed his stage name, which absolutely sent me. I understand the meaning behind it but for some reason I felt that he did it to be fake deep? Or woke, and that he tried to completely cover-up his past self. The other members became cocky and were always draped in all that ugly Gucci and designer shit. I knew they were being forced to act the way they were acting, bc I know them well. I know how they really are. I know that they’re good people. I know they’re very humble deep down. They had that special connection with their fans before, that made u feel like u were good friends with them, and they absolutely ruined that. They’re being forced to put on this fake image to impress you filthy Americans.

I still stan bts atm. But I stan them for their old music and the people they truly are, not who they are portrayed to be. I can’t remember when euphoria came out, but I was kinda annoyed they tried to incorporate hyyh prologue into their shitty concept. And the song was also annoying and too edm-ish (like most of their new songs, idk why their style completely changed). Anyway, when tear came out, I was still kinda off the bandwagon, and I saw the concept pics and I was surprised at how nice they were. I saw the album cover, which was still ugly but better than the previous one. Then Singularity came out and!!!!! I loved it a lot. And then fake love happened. Oof is all I have to say. But some songs on the album, were actually good. Like the truth untold, paradise and OUTRO TEAR. Outro tear will remain the best song in the love yourself trilogy.

I also feel that I have to acknowledge that for all the love yourself albums only the intro and outro were genuinely up to standard (except outro answer).

Then came love yourself answer and idol. When I found out they were collabing with niki minaj I lost it. The concept pics were ugly once again, it was supposed to a controversial comeback???? And??? It wasn’t. I’m honestly glad it wasn’t promoted.

I noticed a repetitiveness with songs on answer. The beat was off with the singing. It was all just a mess. I also noticed the amount of godddamn auto tune in the songs (eg, mic drop, fake love, idol, airplane pt.2 and others I can’t remember atm) all of bts’s old songs all sound unique and different, and they all had this “emotional” element to them, to elaborate on that, compare dna, fake love or idol to save me, I need u or young forever. Notice how dna, fake love and idol convey absolutely no emotion through the lyrics or the actual beat of the song, unlike save me, I need u or young forever, that literally have more sentimental/emotional value in the few English lines that are in the song then all of the lyrics in their 3 new title tracks combined. I think this is my most difficult point to explain bc different songs make people feel different things, but it’s no doubt that you can tell the difference between a song that’s made to appeal to the masses with no unique properties to a song that coveys deep emotion (whatever the emotion may be) through the beat, the lyrics and the sound of the vocals/rapping alike. Listen to intro nevermind, and then listen to go go and just try to tell me that im wrong.

Alos, bts seem to have incorporated auto tune into songs, especially on their vocalists. bts don’t need the auto tune bc they’re good vocalists. Also, I have to mention, the vocal line isn’t the “best” per say. they’re good vocalists but it’s nothing special. Seokjin is the best vocalist period. Jungkook’s voice is generic, and in recent songs he has been straining it to reach the notes. Taehyungs voice isn’t even that special, it’s just deep, and it only really suits ballads and R&B songs like singularity or butterfly. Jimin has a very nice voice, but again, it’s nothing extraordinary. I feel that Jin has the most vocal potential, and he doesn’t get to show it, he has this really unique voice, idk what it is about it that just??? I really love it. But to clarify, I’m not hating on their voices or saying there untalented, because they’re very talented, but most of vocal line gets too much credit. As for rap line, I think they’re one of bts’s strongest points. Namjoons style is so smooth and just overall good? It amazes me that he rapped so well over the years with a breathing problem. Hoseok is a good rapper too, his sound is unique and his adlibs add to that uniqueness in older songs, as for Yoongi, I genuinely think he’s one of the best rappers in the industry, it’s not about the speed element, it’s about his flow, his power, his emotion, everything about his rap is just amazing.

Now I wanna talk about the member’s individual popularity. The maknae line has the most stans, and quite frankly, their stans are the worst. Treat all of the members with the same love and respect. Sure, it’s perfectly fine to have a bias but to disregard the other members is just plain wrong.

Bts are human beings, first and foremost, and then there musicians second. They’re being made into media puppets and clout bait, which they absolutely don’t deserve. They deserve recognition for their good stuff, which they have PLENTY of.

All in all, I’m sick of the American attention. It’s cringey, annoying and unnecessary. Sure, bts deserve recognition but not that much of it!!!!!!

And they were being recognised for the wrong thing for fucks sake!!!! I didn’t like ANY of the new songs on answer. I only liked epiphany. And then I found out it wasn’t written by any of the members. Rip. Fans will unfortunately blindly follow, stream and like whatever they put out like blind sheep because it’s accustomed to them, bighit KNOW that they’ll make more money in America. They know no matter what bts put out, no matter how shit it is, fans will like it and itll be revenue for the company. And all the mobile games and the bt21??? Was so unnecessary?? Capitalism amirite? Quantity over quality. It’s the sad truth.

Armys tend to mix up criticism and hate. Although there is a very thin line between the two, there is a difference. Criticism is the analysis and judgement of the merits and faults of something. Hate is blind and unjustified. Hate is disliking something for no reason, or for a very invalid reason. So for example, saying; “I don’t like this apple because its bitter and im not a huge fan of bitter things” is fine to say, unlike, “FUCK THIS APPLE BECAUSE ITS BITTER, FUCK ALL APPLES” you know? It’s okay to dislike a group. It’s NOT okay to hate on a group. No one’s is going to gain anything by hate.

So, all the youtubers are reacting to bts for clout, the fandom is a fucking mess, armys are attacking other fandoms for no reason, the members lost their TRUE humbleness and neglected their real personalities and they’ve put out 3 overall bad standard albums over the course of a whole ass year.

But I still have this spark of hope for them. Why? Because I love them, they have a special place in my heart. I know they have the potential to be amazing, unique and just overall good people with their own personalities, and truly special musical abilities.

After their tour I honestly, really hope the attention dies down and they put out another good, original, album like the hyyh albums, with nice concepts, good songs, and a pleasant to look at mv. It’s really all I ask for. The old bts. I know I’ll never get them back, and I absolutely cherish their old stuff, like the bulletproof logo, bangtan boys, rap monster, hyyh, young forever, no more dream, wings, them all goofing around together and not caring about their image, their wholesome interactions with fans, and all the songs and concepts and theories that never have, and never will be recognised.

On a final note, I realise I can’t blame bts themselves entirely for this. This stuff is only partially “their fault”. Its bighit’s fault, the army’s and haters fault and the media’s fault. But, America is to blame the most. That’s all for today.

[anyasmith]

week 3

in todays lecture we had a guest lecture talk to us about what a music video is, outline critical responses and acknowledge variety in production and reception

nameless, faceless- courtney barnett

colourful

animated

moving pictures

made the pictures into a collage

used old style magazines

scrapbook style

a lot going on so was hard to focus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZZSYDhx0FI

origins of music video analysis

took form through film studies approach

what they would entail: show relations; acting; auteurism; film genres ets

listening modes (chion, 1994)

casual listening: to locate information on the sound’s source

semantic listening: to understand what is communicated in the sound

reduced listening: to the traits of the sound itself

promotional function:

mtv (1981): central, organised viewing

online (especially youtube): official, DIY, fans

management of the star

recurring visual style (aligned with star image)

‘in [goodwin’s] reading, the visual element becomes secondary to the sonic, although he also argues that the two are entwined since songs always contain a visual core & listeners see images as they hear the sounds (gardner, 2015, 41)’

can a music video be wrong? metalica- whiskey in the jar

promotes drinking and drug use

influences a younger generations

music vid has nothing to do with video

over sexualised shots of women

discriminates women

stereotypes that music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boanuwUMNNQ

base theory: goodwin, 1992

issues of genre & intertextuality notions of looking: voyeurism, gaining sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or performing a sexual act

relationships: lyrics & image, music & image

record label demands on artist’s image, promotion, & identity

Goodwin’s (1992) 3 modes of music videos:

illustration: storytelling, performance, literal use of imagery, explains the lyrics & genre

amplification: enhances/multiplies meanings, repetition of imagery, conventions of performance: narrative, shot relations, symbolism

disjuncture: at odds with lyrics & mood, no meaningful connection between music & image, meaning comes through disjunction, tendency to abstraction

base theory: railton and watson, 2011

music videos carry cultural significance: gender, race, ethnicity, etc.

representations constrain & make possible ways of thinking about ourselves

four genres of music videos: pseudo- documentary, art, narrative, staged performance

‘music videos need to classified by visual genres rather than musical ones, for despite the integral relationship between music videos & the songs they promote, genres of music neither map onto genres of music video or... necessarily govern the look of any given video’ (railton & watson, 2011, 45)

pseudo- documentary:

portrays ‘working life’ of the band or artist

uses documentary techniques to present illusion of privileged access

legitimises them as skilled professionals

often relies on cinéma vérité trope

art:

appeals to notions of art & aesthetics

the video itself is a site of creative expression

the video may vie with the music for artistic consideration

narrative:

tells a story

can illustrate, complement, or extend lyrical content

can function independently of lyrics

staged performance:

performance explicitly staged for the production of the video

rendered artificial (looks to camera, dancers, alternative spaces)

openly embraces promotional function

further considerations:

1. new media technologies:

virals & memes are provoked by new media technologies

these generate new opportunities by blurring the amateur & professional, fan & artist

they encourage ‘a merging of different media such as documentary, radio, internet, games, into multi-media projects’ (blassnigg, 2005, 109)

2. the lyric video: (zemler, 2013)

youtube as primary music outlet: marketing and fan views

monetised by sales & youtube ad revenue

fan-led: from amateur to professional

3. fans and DIY:

professional, amateur, prosumer, user-produced, user-edited

industry vs. desire

vevo vs. fans

money vs. passion

economic capital vs. cultural capital

youtube proliferation means it’s hard to draw a

border between what is & isn’t a music video (vernallis, 2010, 236)

https://padlet.com/jcrouch10/Bookmarks

https://moodle.glos.ac.uk/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?id=857658

-10/02/21

[musiccosmosru]

FACT Singles Club features a panel of writers rating and slating the biggest new tracks of the last seven days.

Did Singles Club’s Cameron Cook summon Ciara out of marital and baby bliss after suggesting last week that Tinashe may have dethroned her as the current underrated queen of R&B pop innovation? Were the FACT editors unsurprised by the tie for the top spot on this week’s ballot came from two artists making very different music but refuse, in equal measure to compromise their personal vision? Is nu-jazz really the future? All that and more in this week’s Singles Club.

Ciara – ‘Level Up’

Cameron Cook: Last week we talked about Tinashe replacing Ciara as Top 40 R&B’s most underrated innovator. This week, Princess CiCi came flying out the gate to remind us that, nope, she and her abs of steel are still here and won’t be ignored. I have a hard time thinking of another pop star that is so consistently good yet consistently overlooked. ‘Level Up’ is as catchy, bombastic and clever as anything Ciara has released in her career. The only thing that would make it demonstratively better would be if she had used DJ Telly Tellz’s original “fuck it up” hook. But other than that, no complaints. (8)

Caroline Whitley: Ciara, the underrated R&B princess of the century, popped back into the music world with a Jersey Club-inspired bop that is bound to get stuck in my head. Yummy! (7)

Jesse Bernard: A lot of the magic that used to come with a Ciara hit earlier in her career seems to have eluded her most recent one. She’s worked with some heavy-hitting producers over the years but banking on viral success through a social media challenge. She could easily grab our attention with anthemic sultry cut like ‘Body Party’. (6)

Michelle Lhooq: Damn, really not mad at that Jersey Club-inspired beat, which kicks this song up from average radio fodder to excellent club banger. My headspace today was stuck in a cycle of silly insecurities until I heard this, the endorphins flooded in, and all I could think was: YAAAAAS! (7.5)

7

Sarah Davachi – ‘Evensong’

Jesse Bernard: Listening to this song feels as though I’m watching the tide drift in and out, while the moon’s reflection bounces off the water’s surface. The soundscape Davachi creates in just under ten minutes is one of mesmeric ambience. (8)

Michelle Lhooq: So many electronic producers are making ambient music these days to scattershot results, but Davachi  – who was never a trend-chaser to begin with – stands out with her meditative, mindful approach to tonal harmonics. Instead of drifting into meaningless nothingness, ‘Evensong’ grounds you into a trance-like, hypnotic state. Something tells me I need to hear this in a giant dome in the middle of Joshua Tree to grasp its true effect. (7.5)

Caroline Whitley: Bury me to this song. No seriously, Davachi created something hauntingly beautiful featuring even more analog sounds than her previous work. (8)

Cameron Cook: This sounds like the soundtrack to a movie where Saoirse Ronan plays a galactic fairy princess sent to Earth to swim around the ocean and transform all our plastic waste into gummy bears. This song didn’t really give me anything but that image. That alone was worth the listen. (6.5)

7.5

Amnesia Scanner – ‘AS A.W.O.L.’

Jesse Bernard: The drum pattern is the only thing that keeps me hooked to this track. It’s alluring enough to generate enough interest in the rest of the album, which I’m sure explores more of the abrasive electronic sound on ‘AS A.W.O.L.’ (5)

Michelle Lhooq: Amnesia Scanner is back, bitches! I couldn’t be more stoked that the Berlin duo is still packing the same disorienting punches as on their previous mind-blowing EPs, while the music video hints at an expanded visual world their upcoming debut album might herald. My friend Andrew Ryce put it best when he recently tweeted, “Amnesia Scanner is the greatest rock band of all time.” (8.5)

Caroline Whitley: I’m gonna come off super uncool for saying this, but I’m not getting anything out of this. Or as my friend said the other day “If I had no association [to PAN] I wouldn’t be listening to it.”(3)

Cameron Cook: First of all, this creepy-ass video is unnecessarily traumatic. I googled to see if Chris Cunningham directed it, which sent me down an Aphex Twin YouTube wormhole, and now I can’t sleep. As far as the song goes, I’m into it – that eerie xylophone really ties the melody in well. Even though we’ve been hearing a lot of down-pitched, distorted vocals in electronic music lately, it’s effectively unsettling and weird here. (7.5)

6

Chance the Rapper – ‘I Might Need Security’

Caroline Whitley: Only Chance could come through with an angry bop that still oozes sunshine and playfulness: the artwork is a deconstructed take on the Angry Arthur Fist meme, after all! (8)

Jesse Bernard: The collection of singles Chance released last Friday was very much a continuation of the exuberant energy displayed through Coloring Book. Personally, I think Acid Rap Chano was him at his lyrical best but this direction makes a lot of sense for someone who’s much happier with life now. (7)

Cameron Cook: Sampling a Jamie Foxx stand-up special from 2002 is one of the reasons Chance is one of the best artists around: he’s so good at constructing layers of pop culture analysis, social commentary, dope hooks and tight rhymes. This totally made me excited for more new Chance tracks in the near future. (8.5)

Michelle Lhooq: Per usual, Chance packs a lot into four minutes. There’s a bounty of politically-charged zingers to choose from here, but as a journalist, “I bought the Chicagoist just to run you racist bitches out of business” was the verse that got me screaming. The Jamie Foxx sample, on the other hand, loses its bite around the 100th repetition and just gets plain annoying. (6.5)

7.5

Brandon Coleman – ‘Giant Feelings’

Caroline Whitley: When I first put this on I thought it had a vaguely Thundercat/Flying Lotus/Kamasi Washington-esque nu-jazz element to it and, boom, turns out Brandon Coleman is Washington’s keyboardist. With its dramatic orchestration it could almost function as some sort of pacifist James Bond theme. (8)

Michelle Lhooq: There’s something sooo LA about this song and video, from the upbeat earnestness of its central message to the outdoor scenes seemingly filmed on hiking trail overlooking the city skyline. Look, I have nothing against open-hearted positivity in music. But there was a point – namely, when Coleman croons, “Sweet love it was designed for you and me / together we must live in harmony,” against giant swells of orchestra strings – where it all just felt like way too much cheese. (3)

Jesse Bernard: A perfectly apt name for this one. I enjoy the way the synths reverberate against Coleman’s distorted vocals and bandmate Kamasi Washington’s horns. Coleman’s debut release is one I’m looking forward to. (9)

Cameron Cook: Thank you for ending this week’s ballot with this slice of uplifting space funk, because I’m desperately in need of all the good vibes I can get right now, what with the Earth continuing to spin right off its axis on a daily basis. This track is heaven-sent. The angelic harmonies and squelchy keyboards sound like P-Funk if they spend a few weeks on a desert retreat, eating smoothie bowls and consuming the finest psychedelic mushrooms the West Coast has to offer. (7.5)

6.9

Final scores: Chance the Rapper – ‘I Might Need Security’ (7.5) Sarah Davachi – ‘Eversong’ (7.5) Ciara – ‘Level Up’ (7) Brandon Coleman – ‘Giant Feelings’ (6.9) Amnesia Scanner – ‘AS A.W.O.L’ (6)

Cameron Cook is an American culture journalist currently residing in Berlin, Germany. He would go to the ends of the Earth for Kate Bush. (@iamacameron)

Caroline Whiteley is freelance writer based in Berlin. (@carowhiteley)

Jesse Bernard is freelance music and culture journalist based in Brooklyn and London, still hotsteppin’ in a Nike Air sneaker. (@MarvinsCorridor)

Michelle Lhooq is an LA-based journalist writing about music and weed. (@MichelleLhooq)

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[fbuckleydocumentary2018]

My Statement

Key Ideas/Concept 

For my Documentary I wanted to look at the idea of distorting context and creating poor image. I wanted to see how easy it was to completely change the concept of work that already exists by adding my own visuals or audio to the piece. I also looked at how this relates to poor image as the idea of this concept is that a piece of work can deteriorate over time due to it’s mass consumption and oversharing. In the case of my video I used the audio of a makeup tutorial from the 1960′s and paired it with visuals of me putting on makeup in an exaggerated way and that of which could be seen as quite bad in order to conceptualize the idea of image deteriorating and becoming poor. 

While filming it, I wanted it to have a similar approach to the actual video which showed the woman doing her makeup both directly on her face or with the camera behind her while she looked in the mirror. I also added in a cut to a boy putting on the makeup in my place for a few seconds of the video before it cuts back to me. This again was supposed show how the context of the audio can be completely altered and how nowadays a man putting on makeup is not at all a phenomenon. With the second half of the video where I use other audio from a different video about a competition crowning “the perfect man”, I filmed my friend who would not be regarded as the perfect man due to his slimmer build compared to the men in the original video. This again is connected to the idea of changing the context of an old video in order to modernize it and in someway ruin the original image. 

In the end the whole idea of the video does show the passing of time since these videos were first released and how now they are regarded as poor images as they are at the disposal of people like me who are able to make films like this one. It is the idea of having the power where one can almost ruin the entire content of a previously existing video by adding visuals that seem destructive and almost insulting to the audio. 

Research 

My research began by watching many documentaries with simple concepts and visuals in order to understand what I, myself is capable to film. Some of these included films such as “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Sean Donnolly and the “Seven Up!” series by Michael Apted. I then began to focus on more Avant-Garde documentaries and especially those which specifically dealt with the audio as being an important part of the piece. These included “2 into 1″ by Gillian Wearing and “The Semiotics of the Kitchen” by Martha Rosler which both deal with the audio having the power to change the entire context of the video. The film by Rosler also helped me to think of the idea of finding a video similar to the makeup video which I used as it had the underlining feelings of anger towards the kitchen that my video may be perceived as having towards makeup. 

I then watched other videos such as Oreet Ashery’s “Passing Through Metal” which again mixes audio with almost unrelated visuals as it depicts a group of people knitting while there is a heavy metal band in the corner playing. I then began to connect all of this research to the idea of poor image. This came about from reading some of Hito Steyerl’s “In Defense of the Poor Image” where she discusses where the poor image comes from and how it is possible for a piece of art to get to that point. This then brought me to look at meme culture and how that has now impacted art similarly to stock images and stock videos and how that has also impacted the film world as now it is so easy to access readily available free material. 

I also looked at the work of the artist Yayoi Kusama who’s work revolves around polka dots and her obsession around them. Her work also reminded me of some of the basic ideas surrounding poor image and the fact that she used polka dots with such repetition means that she almost made them become that of poor image. 

Then for actual resources for my video I used a makeup tutorial from the 1960′s which is somewhat viral on YouTube and another video showing a men’s fitness competition from the YouTube channel British Pathe. 

Cultural Context 

I believe my film holds a great deal of cultural context as it shows the passing of time, how easy it is to change the context of a piece and the concept of the poor image. The idea of it showing the passing of time is evident in the fact that both videos that I used are videos which specifically seem quite dated and backward and pairing them with a woman doing her makeup in a crazy way and a man with a thin build being shown as the perfect man shows where the world is now compared to when the original films where made.

I also wanted to show how easy it is for people to alter the context and the meaning of an original video in order to generate almost false facts that the original creator of the piece did not intend for. This then is connected to the idea of a piece deteriorating into that of poor image. This is done so by an image being overshared to such an extent that the quality gets worse. I wanted to make a piece in which the audio was used to that of a piece that used to not necessarily be a poor image but has become one due to it’s over sharing on YouTube and pair it with a piece that was created from the start to be a poor image. 

The video can also be looked at as somewhat of a social commentary of subjects such as women and men’s beauty. This is due to the fact that it is showing someone putting on ludicrous makeup with their own freedom with a woman in the background ordering her to put it on in a far more rigid way that acquires far more rules. Then there is a video that is describing the perfect man as that of strongly built and very masculine to the visuals of a man of thinner build and more feminine. 

My Process 

My process began with me watching a number of documentaries that I could find that had simple concepts and low budgets. I then began to watch more however, this time documentaries which were more Avant-Garde. I then discovered the makeup tutorial which I found on YouTube that I used in the final video. This made me think of how it would be interesting to see someone remaking the video almost parodying the makeup tips given. This then sparked me to look up videos which have strange contrasts and juxtapositions between their audio and visuals. 

I then filmed the first draft of me just doing my makeup in a bizarre way directly to camera while the video played in the background. This made me want to stick to this idea and try to expand it. I then wanted to add more elements to the filming of the video like cut away shots of the makeup and varying angles of me actually putting on the makeup. 

After this I began to research more about poor image and how I wanted to connect my video to this. I also found another video on YouTube regarding a similar subject but instead it being a man. This inspired me to have the video in almost two parts and for the image to grow worse and worse until the second part starts and ends. I attempted to make the image worse by putting a filter and lowering the quality of a few seconds of the visuals and pairing it with the audio but the woman’s voice now being distorted. I wanted to film the second part of the video in an almost “campy” way as the original video was filmed with the men laughing and trying to look masculine and sexy. 

Analysis/ Evaluation of my Final Work

I like my idea and my thought process behind the work as I believe I thought of a concise and conceptual idea relating to the images I wanted to portray. However, I am not 100% happy with my final product as I believe events in my personal life stopped me from expanding my idea into something fully fledged and I believe by the end pf the process I was still quite confused with what I was really trying to say and want I wanted to show. 

I believe due to all of these facts my editing is a bit rushed even though I like some of the editing choices I made and while I was filming the video I believe I filmed many options for me to use in the final product. I still think the editing is somewhat choppy and shaky which is certainly something I need to really work on for future videos. 

I also believe that the filming is shaky as I did not put enough thought into camera placement and I had the wrong idea of thinking that it would look alright filming it handheld. This being said I don’t think that this necessarily ruins the video as it still could relate to the whole idea of poor image. 

I also could have thought more about different shots to use for the video in order to make it slightly more eventful and exciting and perhaps more abstract. However, this being said I do like my decision to add the extra clips that I managed to in the end product.