interesting music video
Dear MaxwellJournal,
I'd like you to take a moment and watch the music video for Maxwell's song, "Pretty Wings," which comes out on his new album sometime this summer.
Just watch the video. It's an interesting song.. not particularly incredible or anything.. but it's kind of catchy/sticky. It's so mellow, it's easy to just get stuck in it.
But that's not why I want you to watch the video. Watch the video and we'll talk about it after the video and cut-tag.
Ok, so, now that you've seen the video...
What is up with all of that seriously intense heterosexual, gender-normative weirdness?
Watch the video again. This dude is so invested in his singing that he can't control his body. He's contorting, twisting, shaking. Meanwhile, there are all these women who are just sleeping on camera.
But it's not just that they're sleeping. They're in this super vulnerable state. They're idolized as pure, virginal, sweet, precious creatures. How many times must a woman kick and paw ever-so-gently (gasp, how cute she is!) at the random balled-up sheets on the bed? None of them even look like people do when they sleep. They're not covered up at all, and there aren't any real blankets on the beds. Granted, they're beautiful women, but it's just so intensely staged.
I think the cinematography is really beautiful. The camera angles and lighting and textures are all really well done. Cinematically very nice.
But the movie then gets super weird when this one guy cozies up to each one of the women while they're sleeping. It's the same guy. With like four or five different women. And they're, nearly every single one of them, softly, gently kicking around the smooooth satin sheets at the bottom of the bed.
Ok, so it's this one guy who's magically popping in and out of these women's beds, caressing them gently, but it seems that he's not actually there. The idea is that they're dreaming he's there. All of these women are dreaming about this one man whose mere envisaging sends them into sweet little fits while sleeping. And he comes to them in their dreams and they roll over and grasp the pillow as if he actually *was* there.
Oh, my, where did he go? It was so real! It must have been a d r e a m!
And then, the women all lift up off of their beds and float in the air.
My questions are:
-Why don't you see these pretty wings that are being sung about? Isn't that what it's all about? Even cinematically, it just looks like these women are being lifted up, which brings me to question:
-Why aren't these women waking up and flying their own damn selves in the air? It doesn't seem like they're intentionally flying/hovering, so it seems that they're being lifted up without their consent. If you want to honor a woman and recognize how great she is, let her fly with her own damn "pretty wings."
All the while, this dude's all spazzy and singing. Still.
The other thing that skeeves me out is that I initially thought there was an orgasm metaphor in this when, just before the first woman lifts up off the bed, the man's hand slides in between her legs. I kind of thought, "sweet! I'm in favor of promoting women's orgasms in a nice, mainstream way!"
But it seems he just undid the tethers that were holding these women in bed. He set them free!
Then, you see a shot where he's actually lying down below one of these floating women. What about that?
Anyway, I've taken this dissection further than I was planning. Add comments, thoughts, questions, etc. I'm interested in hearing what you think. But watch the video a good two or three times to pick up on some subtleties. They're there, for sure.
Good night!
Love,
-Bo
I'd like you to take a moment and watch the music video for Maxwell's song, "Pretty Wings," which comes out on his new album sometime this summer.
Just watch the video. It's an interesting song.. not particularly incredible or anything.. but it's kind of catchy/sticky. It's so mellow, it's easy to just get stuck in it.
But that's not why I want you to watch the video. Watch the video and we'll talk about it after the video and cut-tag.
Click to viewOk, so, now that you've seen the video...
What is up with all of that seriously intense heterosexual, gender-normative weirdness?
Watch the video again. This dude is so invested in his singing that he can't control his body. He's contorting, twisting, shaking. Meanwhile, there are all these women who are just sleeping on camera.
But it's not just that they're sleeping. They're in this super vulnerable state. They're idolized as pure, virginal, sweet, precious creatures. How many times must a woman kick and paw ever-so-gently (gasp, how cute she is!) at the random balled-up sheets on the bed? None of them even look like people do when they sleep. They're not covered up at all, and there aren't any real blankets on the beds. Granted, they're beautiful women, but it's just so intensely staged.
I think the cinematography is really beautiful. The camera angles and lighting and textures are all really well done. Cinematically very nice.
But the movie then gets super weird when this one guy cozies up to each one of the women while they're sleeping. It's the same guy. With like four or five different women. And they're, nearly every single one of them, softly, gently kicking around the smooooth satin sheets at the bottom of the bed.
Ok, so it's this one guy who's magically popping in and out of these women's beds, caressing them gently, but it seems that he's not actually there. The idea is that they're dreaming he's there. All of these women are dreaming about this one man whose mere envisaging sends them into sweet little fits while sleeping. And he comes to them in their dreams and they roll over and grasp the pillow as if he actually *was* there.
Oh, my, where did he go? It was so real! It must have been a d r e a m!
And then, the women all lift up off of their beds and float in the air.
My questions are:
-Why don't you see these pretty wings that are being sung about? Isn't that what it's all about? Even cinematically, it just looks like these women are being lifted up, which brings me to question:
-Why aren't these women waking up and flying their own damn selves in the air? It doesn't seem like they're intentionally flying/hovering, so it seems that they're being lifted up without their consent. If you want to honor a woman and recognize how great she is, let her fly with her own damn "pretty wings."
All the while, this dude's all spazzy and singing. Still.
The other thing that skeeves me out is that I initially thought there was an orgasm metaphor in this when, just before the first woman lifts up off the bed, the man's hand slides in between her legs. I kind of thought, "sweet! I'm in favor of promoting women's orgasms in a nice, mainstream way!"
But it seems he just undid the tethers that were holding these women in bed. He set them free!
Then, you see a shot where he's actually lying down below one of these floating women. What about that?
Anyway, I've taken this dissection further than I was planning. Add comments, thoughts, questions, etc. I'm interested in hearing what you think. But watch the video a good two or three times to pick up on some subtleties. They're there, for sure.
Good night!
Love,
-Bo