To whom it may concern...

[anonymouse08]

Download link for "White America" - VVC Fuck You Challenge 2008: Click for the Sendspace link (updated 8/16/10).Sorry about the subject heading, couldn't resist. ;) I've seen a few people here and there wondering if this vid would be uploaded anywhere since the vidder chose to stay anonymous. Sure, why not

Comments

[morgandawn]

Yah! The vid is up. I think the best comment I heard about the vid during the vid review (at least the one that helped me make more sense of how the vid was structured) was: Spike, Veronica and Dean are all subversives (trouble makers, agents for change) in their White America. The question of how co-opted they've become remains to be seen.

And yeah, it must have been enlightening to have during vid review.

[tv_elf]

I'm likely wrong because I'm terrible at analysis, but I went away with it being a warning from M&M (sorry, had to) that while parents are fretting about gangbangers or thieves of color, they are missing the fact that their "perfect, white" kids are seriously messed up. White Americans can get away with a whole lot more than the Latino biker on non-undead people and no one seems interested in putting a stop to it.

[counteragent]

their "perfect, white" kids are seriously messed up.
That makes more sense, to me. If you subsitute "our shows" for "kids", then you kinda get my interpretation of the vid (below).

[counteragent]

My problem with this intrpretation is that Veronica is pretty consistently shown as a victim in her section. If her section had been all about her breaking the law, being a vigilante, or even fighting BACK against the forces against her, I'd say this is more plausible.

[counteragent]

The most cohesive interpretation of the vid that I heard during vid review* was that this was about all the things we (as fandom) may claim to not like about our sources (for example: violence, marginalization of CoC, and misogyny) but that we overlook anyway because we love our (white, pretty, sexy) shows so much.

By extension, that would mean that we as fandom don't actually WANT stories without violence. We don't mind plotlines that center around misogyny. And we don't REALLY care if there are more stories about CoC.

These are our deeply flawed shows, and we love them to distraction.

Which...ouch. If that's actually the meaning we are supposed to draw from the vid, then your vid is scathing criticism indeed.

*I'm paraphrasing someone smarter than I am and expanding on my interpretation of their view, so any mistakes in this interpretation are my own.

[mresundance]

YES. You beat me to it here! :D

[liviapenn]

These are our deeply flawed shows, and we love them to distraction.

Which...ouch. If that's actually the meaning we are supposed to draw from the vid, then your vid is scathing criticism indeed.Is it? I haven't seen the vid yet (still downloading) so maybe I won't actually think it's saying this, but if it *is* saying this-- well, it's *true*, isn't it? I mean, just in the sense that we're *still watching

[mresundance]

"you've noticed that nearly every line of dialogue that Wallace gets, that isn't pure exposition about the case, you could tag on 'BECAUSE I'M YOUR BLACK FRIEND YO' and it would make sense?" . . . Even *offscreen* lines of dialogue that Veronica only responds to, like when she calls Wallace to help her out of the trunk of a car. Ouch. So even if he's offscreen, "we have to make sure the audience knows he's the black dude". That's not tolkenizing nor problematic because of the assumption that "everyone is white unless otherwise noted", which is longhand for white = default

[mresundance]

I didn't get to attend Vividcon this year, but I had heard of this vid. I am immensely glad you posted it here

[liviapenn]

OK, now I've watched the vid :D

I think the first section comes through clearest, the second two are a little rougher, although that's probably because I don't get the context of all the VM and SPN clips-- I'm totally spoiled for what happened in the later seasons of those shows, but it would probably help if I'd actually watched them. That's probably why you're getting more of a focus on "white america" as a vid about racial politics-- well, that and the title. I mean, if you'd called it "One of your kids" maybe people wouldn't instantly be jumping to the conclusion that it was primarily about race. But who knows.

I'm probably going to have to watch it 10 more times to figure out what I think it's trying to say about Veronica and Dean. But I think it's amazing. I hope you make more vids like this, because I can tell it's saying *something* and it's trying to make me think. And I like that.

[counteragent]

I agree that titling the vid something different would have shifted the focus away from race. I don't think "race politics" works as a lens through which to view the whole vid, as it appears to only be part of what the vidder is trying to say.

[rae1013]

I'm a bit lost. This vid doesn't translate well without a summary enlightening me as to what path my mind should take. The possibilities are many. My initial take, based largely on lyric use as a guide for the scenes, is that minorities in Hollywood are merely a plot tool used to show what could happen if *white* kids don't listen or behave. The essential 'don't let this happen to you'. This plot tool is old and may have worked in the closed community of the 1950's but in today's global community no longer has an effect other then frustration. Also, it is evident to me that this vid points its finger to the overindulgence and privilege that *white* America takes for granted and how those privileges are bringing about the eventual downfall of *white* America. Essentially, our inherit racism is what is destroying what should be preserved, like equality, and freedom by allowing us to overlook the prevalent injustices found daily in fandom.

I have no idea if any of that was clear. Random thoughts after a long day. =)