Media Erotometrics (or: Look, Ma, I made a thing!)

Mar 22, 2011 02:56

Kinda wary about how to post this, because I want people to see it but I'm hesitant about connecting this journal to my real name (not that I do a very good job of keeping the two separate otherwise . . .). Ah well.

Remember that twenty-minute video installation project I was working on for the Ethnographic Appetites/Feeding the Senses conference/exhibition at York University? Well, I finished it, on time for the March 12th conference, only it's three times as long as I said it would be (one hour and fourteen seconds). Oops (what can I say, I kept falling in love with dialogue scenes, and those eat up time like time-eating locusts). This was the first video-editing project that I've completed all on my own, and a wildly ambitious one at that, so the learning curve was steep. I can see a lot of things that I'd do differently if I did it again, clumsy cuts I'd like to finesse and material I'd like to integrate (so many clips I just didn't have time to collect), but given the givens I'm pretty satisfied with what I was able to accomplish. My humble thanks to everyone who pointed me at or gave me access to sources, and deepest, wettest gratitude to the creators of
kink_bingo,
eruthros and
thingswithwings, for providing such invaluable resources as the
kink_wiki and the Ridiculous Giant Kink Bingo Playlist, without which this project could never have been completed.

Media Erotometrics

This video installation project provokes viewers to consider portrayals of 'kinky' and 'vanilla' sexual practices and relationships in popular culture, and also to consider their own affective responses to these scenes and the expectations they bring to and take away from their viewing. This project examines ways in which (sexual) acts and identities characterized as 'normal' or 'abnormal' are treated in popular media production and received by viewers, exploring ways in which the practices and expectations of 'kinky' and 'mainstream' (or 'vanilla') audiences shape and are shaped by accessible representations of alternative sexualities. I hope to inspire, through this work, a resonant exploration or interrogation of 'common sense' concerning sex and power, and the role of popular media in the construction and dissemination of normative sexual hierarchies, but leave it open to those who experience the video to move with and be moved by their perceptions as they are able.

The installation consist of a seamlessly looping cycle of about an hour of video clips taken from film, television, and commercial advertising edited together into fourteen broadly themed segments, interspersed with title cards inviting viewers to evaluate their responses to the montage.


This is a transformative fanwork and an imaginative exploration. All music and video footage used in this project remains the intellectual property of its respective creators and no claim to legal ownership is implied by this reterritorialization.

This video installation contains scenes of nudity, coarse language, & potentially triggering subject matter including violence, torture, and non-consensual confinement and humiliation. Viewer discretion is advised.
If there's anything particular you'd like to avoid, let me know somehow and I'll (eventually) go through and timestamp parts you might want to skip.


Password is "questions"


Media Erotometrics from The Leaves Want on Vimeo.

Download the file: part one, part two (.wmv, 286MB, split into two parts--can convert and re-upload in a different format if desired, this is just what Movie Maker output the project as; I can also upload individual segments on request)

Sources (by segment, in order of first appearance)
I've tried to be thorough; please let me know if you spot any errors or omissions.

“Accoutrements”
Video sources:
Shortbus (2006)
The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)
Secretary (2002)
Walk All Over Me (2007)
Batman Returns (1992)
From Dusk 'til Dawn (1996)
Deadwood, episode “Deadwood” (2004)
Quills (2000)
Preaching to the Perverted (1997)
Sin City (2005)
Hustle, episode “Whittaker Our Way Out” (2006)
Kids in the Hall, episode “5.3” (1994)
Castle, episode “The Mistress Always Spanks Twice” (2010)
House, episode “Love Hurts” (2005)
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)
CSI: New York, episode “Hush” (2005)
Cruising (1980)
Leverage, episode “The Two Live Crew Job” (2009)
Secret Diary of a Call Girl, episode “1.4” (2007)

Additional music: “Venus in Furs” performed by DeVotchKa (2006)

“Evil”
Video sources:
American Psycho (2000)
Lost Girl, episode “Faetal Justice” (2010)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, episode “Doppelgangland” (1999)
From Dusk 'til Dawn (1996)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Lair of the White Worm (1989)
Farscape, episode “Liars, Guns and Money: With Friends Like These” (2001)
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Sin City (2005)
CSI: New York, episode “Hush” (2005)
Slings and Arrows, episode “Playing the Swan” (2003)
Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (2005)

Additional music: “Bad Romance” performed by Lady Gaga (2009)

“Laughter, Part One”
Video sources:
Ikea advertisement “Neighbors” (2006)
Deadwood, episode “Bullock Returns to the Camp” (2004)
Death Proof (2007)
Coupling, episode “The Freckle, the Key, and the Couple Who Weren't” (2002)
The L Word, episode “Labyrinth” (2005)
Walk All Over Me (2007)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Due South, episode “Chicago Holiday Part One” (1995)
Coupling, episode “Jane and the Truth Snake” (2001)
The Addams Family (1991)

Additional music: “Leather Jacket Lovers” performed by Sandy Beech (n.d.)

“Tender”
Video sources:
Whip It (2009)
Xena: Warrior Princess, episode “Adventures in the Sin Trade Part Two” (1998)
Prey for Rock & Roll (2003)
Swingtown, episode “Running on Empty” (2008)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Weeds, episode “Yes I Can” (2008)
Better than Chocolate (1999)
Crash (1996)
The L Word, episode “Labyrinth” (2005)
Angel: The Series, episode “I Will Remember You” (1999)
Secretary (2002)

Additional music: “Bruises” performed by Chairlift (2008)

“Costumes”
Video sources:
Mythbusters, episode “Ice Bullet, Exploding Toilet, Who Gets Wetter?” (2003)
Batman & Robin (1997)
The Avengers, advertisement “The Strange Case of the Missing Corpse” (1966)
Farscape, episode “Nerve” (2000)
The Kids in the Hall, episode “3.2” (1991)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Batman Returns (1992)
Cruising (1980)
Secret Diary of a Call Girl, episode “1.4” (2007)
Castle, episode “The Mistress Always Spanks Twice” (2010)
Farscape, episode “Liars, Guns and Money: With Friends Like These” (2001)
Watchmen (2009)
Dollhouse, episode “A Spy in the House of Love” (2009)
Legend of the Seeker, episode “Marked” (2009)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, episode “Doppelgangland” (1999)

Additional music: “Leather Jacket Weather” performed by Coyote Shivers (1996)

“Jeopardy”
Video sources:
Hard Candy (2005)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Prison Break, episode “Five the Hard Way” (2008)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Goldfinger (1964)
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Battlestar Galactica, episode “A Measure of Salvation” (2006)
Quills (2000)
Prey for Rock & Roll (2003)
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Star Trek, episode “Patterns of Force” (1968)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Lost, episode “Solitary” (2004)
Casino Royale (2006)
Heroes, episode “Chapter Eighteen: Parasite” (2007)
Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
Farscape, episode “Nerve” (2000)
Walk All Over Me (2007)
Torchwood, episode “Fragments” (2008)
Red (2010)

Additional music: “Rid of Me” performed by PJ Harvey (1993)

“Laughter, Part Two”
Video sources:
Dollhouse, episode “A Spy in the House of Love” (2009)
Leverage, episode “The Mile High Job” (2009)
Kids in the Hall, episode “5.3” (1994)
Sex and the City, episode “La Douleur Exquise!” (1999)
Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
Foot Locker advertisement “Spank” (2010)
The L Word, episode “Lost Weekend” (2006)
Fight Club (1999)
Crash (1996)
Ikea advertisement “Horny Parents” (2006)
'Allo 'Allo!, episode “The British Are Coming” (1982)
Dollhouse, episode “Vows” (2009)
Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (2005)
Due South, episode “Chicago Holiday Part Two” (1995)
Supernatural, episode “Criss Angel Is a Douchebag” (2009)

Additional music: “Freakin' at the Freakers Ball” performed by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (1972)

“Authority”
Video sources:
Blade Runner (1982)
'Allo 'Allo!, episode “The British Are Coming” (1982)
Due South, episode “Chicago Holiday Part One” (1995)
Six Feet Under, episode “Can I Come Up Now?” (2004)
John Woo's Once a Thief, episode “The Big Bang Theory” (1997)
Secretary (2002)
Fight Club (1999)
Psych, episode “You Can't Handle This Episode” (2010)
Legend of the Seeker, episode “Marked” (2009)
The X Files, episode “Tunguska” (1996)

Additional music: “He Is the Boss of Me” performed by Hidden Cameras (2001)

“Ooh, How Edgy!”
Video sources:
CSI: New York, episode “Hush” (2005)
Sin City (2005)
Preaching to the Perverted (1997)
Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, episode “Lady Heather's Box” (2003)
Rent (2005)
Xena: Warrior Princess, episode “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” (1996)
Walk All Over Me (2007)
Crash (1996)

Additional music: “This Is the New Shit” performed by Marilyn Manson (2003)

“Complicated”
Video sources:
Shortbus (2006)
Six Feet Under, episode “Parallel Play” (2004)
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)
House, episode “Love Hurts” (2005)
Suspicious River (2000)
Fight Club (1999)
Secret Diary of a Call Girl, episode “1.4” (2007)
The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)
Castle, episode “The Mistress Always Spanks Twice” (2010)
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, episode “Slaves of Las Vegas” (2001)
Kinsey (2004)
Farscape, episode “Won't Get Fooled Again” (2000)
Willow (1988)

Additional music: none

“Slapstick”
Video sources:
Fight Club (1999)
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
Star Trek, episode “The Enemy Within” (1966)
The Boondock Saints (1999)
Jerks of All Trades (1949)
I Love Lucy, episode unknown
Stargate: Atlantis, episode “Reunion” (2007)
The X Files, episode “Tunguska” (1996)
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, episode “The Bone Yard” (2004)
The Tick, episode “The Big Leagues” (2001)
Red (2010)
Cruising (1980)
Weeds, episode “Yes I Can” (2008)
John Woo's Once a Thief, episode “The Big Bang Theory” (1997)
Psych, episode “Meat Is Murder, but Murder Is also Murder” (2007)
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Additional music: “Hit 'n Run” performed by HorrorPops (2005)

“Kiss Me, Kill Me”
Video sources:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, episode “Smashed” (2001)
Gangs of New York (2002)
Oz, episode “Family Bizness” (1998)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, episode “Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places” (1996)
The X Files, episode “Anasazi” (1995)
Star Trek (2009)
Willow (1988)
Deadwood, episode “Deadwood” (2004)
The Losers (2010)
Leverage, episode “The Two Live Crew Job” (2009)
Farscape, episode “Crackers Don't Matter” (2000)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, episode “Innocence” (1998)
Fight Club (1999)

Additional music: “Kiss with a Fist” performed by Florence and the Machine (2008)

“Bondage”
Video sources:
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)
Year of the Carnivore (2009)
Doctor Who, episode “Dalek” (2005)
Lost Girl, episode “Faetal Justice” (2010)
Supernatural, episode “Jus in Bello” (2008)
Bronson (2008)
Smallville, episode “Zero” (2002)
Pitch Black (2000)
Quills (2000)
Willow (1988)
Hard Candy (2005)
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Oz, episode “Cruel and Unusual Punishments” (1999)
Batman, episode “Nora Clavicle and the Ladies' Crime Club” (1968)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
Walk All Over Me (2007)
Jekyll, episode “1.1” (2007)
Stargate: Atlantis, episode “The Seed” (2008)
White Collar, episode “Vital Signs” (2010)
Red (2010)
A Life Less Ordinary (1997)
Leverage, episode “The Two Live Crew Job” (2009)

Additional music: “Chains” performed by the Beatles (1963)

“Glorious”
Video sources:
Shortbus (2006)
Whip It (2009)
Muppet Treasure Island (1996)
The Addams Family (1991)
Coupling, episode “The Freckle, the Key, and the Couple Who Weren't” (2002)
Laurel Canyon (2002)
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)
Lost Girl, episode “Faetal Attraction” (2010)
From Dusk 'til Dawn (1996)
The L Word, episode “Late, Later, Latent” (2005)
House, episode “The Softer Side” (2009)
Secret Diary of a Call Girl, episode “1.1” (2007)
The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)
Sugar Rush, episode “2.5” (2006)
Secret Diary of a Call Girl, episode “1.4” (2007)
Walk All Over Me (2007)
Sugar Rush, episode “2.3” (2006)
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, episode “Lady Heather's Box” (2003)
Secretary (2002)

Additional music: “Master and Servant” performed by Nouvelle Vague featuring Martin Gore (2009)

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anthropology, fandom, vidding, music, school, film/tv, kink

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