Song Choice in Vidding (Slash Version)

[tinturtle]

I will probably be starting a new Professionals fanvid soon using the song Hammer to Fall by Queen. (Thanks to restorick for the suggestion.) Today, though, I've been considering whether I should make a fluffy, romantic vid first (or maybe at the same time), since so many people seem to like the one I made using the Turtles's You Baby. Yet I find that, in addition to the barriers to song choice I mentioned in my previous post, vids like that present the further problem that potential songs are often inconveniently gendered. If the singer mentions the beloved in the third person, it may be as "she", if the singer addresses the beloved, it may be as "girl", and so on. Take the song I'm a Believer by The Monkees, which I love. (Yes, I'm a goop, but in my defense, the lyrics are clever and it's got a rock organ.) There are parts that might lend themselves to a Doyle POV vid, but to use the song that way would require associating Bodie with feminine pronouns. I don't know whether that should disqualify it or not, really. My inclination is that it should, however. I'm pretty sure it would have for the Lads and their contemporaries; overlooking it would feel like too much of an anachronism.

Comments

[f-m-parkinson.livejournal.com]

Don't feel embarrassed about I'm a Believer by The Monkees — I love that song too. Re. songs that mention the beloved as 'she', that would really irritate me in a songvid if associated with Bodie or Doyle. To me it would feel completely 'off', and I probably wouldn't watch the songvid more than the once. I'm more or less the same generation as the Lads, and agree with you that ignoring the feminine pronoun just seems wrong for them in their 1970s/80s setting.

[tinturtle]

Re. songs that mention the beloved as 'she', that would really irritate me in a songvid if associated with Bodie or Doyle. To me it would feel completely 'off'

I've seen it done in slash vids and it is at least startling. From a certain perspective, though, it's strange that it is. Everyone knows that almost all of the songs used in slash vids were written as heterosexual love songs, probably more than half of them addressed to a female beloved. (You Baby, which I used in a well received vid, is an example.) Why is it so different for that to be made explicit? I can understand that it is, but it is a curious thing.

ETA: I'm glad you think it's okay to like I'm a Believer. *g* In truth, it's a bit of an extreme example, since the pronoun "her" is part of the rhyme scheme, making it more conspicuous than the feminine pronouns in many other songs. It's the song that was uppermost in my mind, though.

[tinturtle]

Now I'm wondering whether romantic songs by female singers, either non-gendered or addressing a male beloved, are good fits for B/D vids. What do you think?

I looked through my collection of favorite vids and found that there aren't so many romantic songs used there at all, but that among those, only one is sung by a woman. That's the song in ancasta's The Warrior.

(There's also The Prince Charming Tango, which was actually written as a homosexual love song, in a vid by Sally Fell / londonronnie.)

[f-m-parkinson.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether you'd call it romantic but Holding Out For A Hero sung by Bonnie Tyler would work for me as a B/D songvid (and may already have been created, for all I know). I think it depends on the song, both music and lyrics, not whether the singer is male or female.

[tinturtle]

angelfish45 used that song for a Doyle-centered vid. I agree that it could work in a B/D vid, too. I'm never sure what the etiquette is regarding songs already used in the same fandom by other vidders. My feeling is that, if the song is well known, and you take your vid in a different direction, it should be okay to reuse the song. (If it's the obvious song for the fandom, it's probably okay even if the direction isn't very different. There are at least four Man from U.N.C.L.E. fanvids that use the 1960s hit Secret Agent Man.)

[tinturtle]

There are also four Pros vids that use the song Behind Blue Eyes, actually: three Bodie-focused ones (by boothros, ci5mates, and bistoprofi) that use Limp Bizkit's cover, and mine, which uses the recording by The Who and brings in Cowley and Doyle, too. (Mine is here, and links to the others can be found in its description.)

Mary Van Deusen and kat-byrd / LilyK / sc_fossil have both made vids using It's Not My Time by 3 Doors Down, as well. (MVD's dedicates about half the time to each Lad, while kat-byrd's is Doyle-focused.)