Re: another (?) Tori rip-off of KaTe?

[chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (chris williams)]

In article <CMy71n.Cnt@freenet.carleton.ca> Tippi Chai writes:
>
>I don't remember  seeing it mentioned, but while watching the Tori video for
>"Winter" I noticed that when she dances with a bunch of kids, 
>the way she moves her arms in a circle above her head is exactly the
>same way that Kate dances in "The Senaul World."

   The _Little Earthquakes_ videos/photos have a number of similarities
with early Kate videos. These may be coincidences, but I doubt it.
I don't think Tori is imitating Kate. I think Tori's video director/
photographer has a pretty good Kate video collection. The most obvious
direct lift is in the "Crucify" video, Tori and her doppleganger's
side-to-side hip shift an obvious homage to the "Strange Phenomena"
video from the _Die Eftling_ (sp?) videos. That and their mutual
early fondness for footwear verging on fetish items.

   This is fairly common. The "image-appearing-inside-a-wide-white-
border" motif at the end of "Silent All These Years" may refer
to to the cover of _Hounds Of Love_. But then Kate swiped it from
early Windham Hill record covers. A fan working at A&M (Windham
Hill's distributor) sent Kate a complete Windham Hill catalog in
1984. It's likely that Kate saw the look and borrowed it. 

   You can't copyright a style.

>I have a friend who saw some of my old Kate footage.  His comment
>was "if Kate is so talented why does she wear those flimsy, sexy
>numbers?"  It was the Razzmatazz segment that prompted this observation.
>(The children's show where Kate appeared in a very low-cut top.)

   "Spagetti String" tops were very popular for a while. It was
considered a "golden age" for papparattzi. Kate probably didn't
wear one after the "Prince's Trust" concert.

>Looking at Tori's old videos, I felt the same way about her, and what's worse
>Tori does all those pouting and alluring looks which intensifies the
>feeling that she is presenting herself as a flirt.  Luckily the
>new video "Cornflake Girl" has no extreme closeups of that pout!

  Tori, like Kate, has a built-in pout. It's not her fault that "your
eyes focus on her funny lip shape."

  Anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting Tori will probably agree
that she is the same person off-stage as on. She has a confidence
that includes her sexuality, but I don't believe she is using it in
a cheap, flirty way. 

 
                          Chris Williams of
                             Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
                               chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (his)
                                 vickie@njin.rutgers.edu      (hers)