Re: Love and Anger

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

Fiona writes:
>Well, I am willing to accept that Kate is Our Lady of the Oblique
>Reference (that is *such* a great phrase), but really, I have a hard time
>believing that she would put specific references in a video that would
>be intended to send a message to record company executives. 
>(I thought my newsreader had screwed up and I was reading
>alt.conspiracy.jfk for a minute :) )

   All of Kate's videos (with the possible exception of _Wuthering
Heights_ and the definite exception of the US _Rubberband Girl_) have
a storyline. Nothing in the video to _Love and Anger_ is based on the
storyline, or even the atmosphere of the song.

>I would argue that she put those images in because she has a great 
>visual eye and because they looked nice. And maybe the band part is
>cheesy-looking, but it certainly has a wonderful energy to it and she sure
>looks happy participating in it.

   Yes, she did put the images in, but if she can load the visuals in
any way she can, she will. "Happy?" She looks downright _manic_.

   If you have an alternative explaination that would account for the
differences between this video and all of her others, we'd like to hear
it. As it is, our explaination is at least *self*-consistant. I really
cannot imagine her holding an orb and septer in any of her other videos.
Can you point out any other place in any of her videos where the props
appear to be random and unrelated? 

   Kate is, if nothing else, one of the most *deliberate* artists
around. We have seen ideas enter her head and re-emerge years later
(see the unedited MTV interview and the genesis of the _The Sensual
World_ video.) I cannot see her making a mish-mash of random images
and having two completely different visual styles in one video unless
she was trying to make a point.

>Plus, lay off Heart as an example of guitar wanking. 15 minutes of MTV
>(well, in the 15 minutes/week they seem to devote to videos now) will give
>a plethora of examples of bands that are much worse. Heart did (does) a
>lot to get women musicians accepted as something less than novelties; I
>would sooner see them given some credit for their accomplishments rather
>than cast aside as wankers.

    Check out how old the original posting was. At that time, Heart was
in the depths of pandering to a fairly sexist lowest commom denominator.
Decent songs like _These Dreams_ (title?) were ruined by really stupid
videos. It was the first to come to mind precisely _because_ they were
more talented than their videos indicated, and it was a damn shame that
the amount of attention that eMpTyVee gives them is directly related to
their weight, rather than the quality of a given album. No particular
offense intended to the current incarnation of Heart.


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