The other reason I've not been posting is that I don't see the point in the whole posting links thing. It just seems so pointless, seeing something cool and then just posting a link with the words, "this is cool, watch/read it!" I started posting to this blog because I wanted to force myself to get into the whole habit of writing to improve my writing and because writing creates thought, working through ideas, putting them down, making them coherent, changes the nature of the initial thought.
The reason I say this will become obvious.
Perez has once again entered the fray on the subject of Avril. And, like so much else that Perez posts, his thoughts are pointless. I'm not sure why he posts on her.
There was this one. And then this:
A fan forum posts remarks from fans disliking a video?! This is news? This is Perez-worthy?
Avril Lavigne's most hardcore fans are HATING the singer and “songwriter”’s new video.
Click here to watch the vageinous clip for Hot.
Then click here to read what the kids over at Avril Band Aids are saying.
Here’s a sample!
Banana_Republic:
“I’ve only seen it once but I have to say I’m quite disappointed with it. There’s no concept and nothing but close up shots of Avril for 90% of the video. It’s annoying. I want something else to look; at a background of some kind with other people. And I have to admit seeing her in the corset get-up was a bit uncomfortable for me. When I first read the concept I didn’t think much of it but seeing her dressed like that actually bothered me. Yeah she looks hot and all but….I dunno it was pushing it a bit for me. There’s a fin like between being sexy and sleezy and this was pushing that line. I was hoping it would be a little more classy than it was.”
wertzui:
It gets ridiculious when you turn into the total opposite of what you used to stand for. And that’s what’s happening here. It’s like a virgin getting married, after 3 months divorcing her husband, and then becoming the biggest slut in town, banging the entire football team. Excuse my language, and I’m by no means calling Avril a slut, this is just a comparison to how extremley she has changed! And nobody can tell me that this was “her just growing up”…. if the “grown up” Avril likes to act slutty and be a “punk-rock” version of Britney Spears, then uuuhh, I surely dont wanna have anything to do with her anymore.
Phili:
The video lacks class and taste. At one point she’s wearing a corset and barely anything else. At another point she’s CARESSING A MIC POLE. This is an official video, Steph, and whether she is or not, she looks very serious about it. I love funny videos. I love witty videos. This video doesn’t look like it is supposed to be either.
I insist to you go to the forum mentioned and look at the posts, you'll see that, yeah, some of them (possibly the majority) are critical, some of them aren't. OMG! People have opinions. I hadn't realised.
I'll even post one, from DanieL: "I love it, best video ever". Huh.
Another site, an Avril fan blog, Avril Groupie, posted this Perez story without comment, okay so his intro was different but he "chose" the same comments. Recently this site had been commenting on the lack of Avril news recently, and to be fair there hasn't been a lot, but, as I suggest above, isn't posting nothing better than posting lazily? Why, when Perez is number one Avril hater take a story from his site and post it without comment? Especially if you're a fan site?
If you're a fan site why not post this story from the same forum?
I understand why Perez wouldn't post that. But...
Not that I think Avril Lavigne fans shouldn't criticise her, but taking "news" from Perez seems a little treacherous.
To the video itself:
I'm not sure why the Hot fuss.
It's not the greatest video, but then again, aren't all Avril videos a little substandard? And to single out this video for criticism seems a tad bizarre.
Certain things occurred to me when watching it:
Is it a continuation of themes which we saw in that Q interview? We see the red carpet, the fans, the photographers and Avril, immune in the middle of it all. Is it a comment on celebrity in ivory tower? Like in that interview I can see how this might be construed as a certain egotism, Avril walking through a door with a star on it for instance, but would it be any better if she pretended otherwise, pretended to be something she's not? Would that not have more of the smell of selling out? An accusation I saw bandied about on my brief trawl through the forum.
In contrast to the Britney video there is a dominating male presence - photographers, police, doormen, members of the crush of fans, members of the audience in the club. In light of a song that could be seen as anti-feminist, "Girlfriend", it is certainly interesting that she is placed in the centre of this male dominated world and dressed in a way that seems designed to recall Moulin Rouge ( i remember one of her earlier videos harking bark to 80's music videos, is this a purposeful strategy she has adopted?). Again I think we should see this as commenting on her new "sexy" role and reaction too it, reactions which we see on the forum, fanboys decrying her for showing them precisely what it is they want. Is it just too close?
The last thing is that in one of the sections of the video is filmed with a border which suggests an old style TV. That is to say, she is emphasised as performing to us, she is seen singing the song to us. In a way I reminded of the song "Thankyou" from the last Christina Aguilera album in which she serenades her fans. In the Avril version, of course, this whole idea is shown as faintly ridiculous.
2 comments:
Well, while I can appreciate your very long post about other people and laziness, I do have to ask if you believe that just because someone writes a fan site, they should ignore all non-fan related reportings? I really hate that about fans, I think it makes them seem ungenuine and close-minded.
What if I personally do not like the Hot video which, if I may be frank, IS LAZY! You can like someone and still hate something they've done. Not having an opinion and just mindlessly licking up everything someone does is lazy.
I have a friend who is a vegetarian but he fries the best bacon I've had in my life. Just because he hates meat doesn't mean he will never point out something important about it, even if I don't want to hear it. Perez Hilton hates Avril (but loves Canadians). His hatred does not mean that he can never make a valid point.
Maybe it is you who is lazy since you say that I reposted Perez's information without comment. Uhhh... I wrote an entire paragraph and, oddly enough, I called the video "lazy." The video is terrible, in my opinion (I am still allowed to have one without blame and shame, right?).
I found your blog post hurtful and unnecessary. I just thought I would let you know that.
First off, I would like to apologize if you found this post "hurtful", on rereading it maybe I was a little harsh.
However the main thrust of the post was meant to be a criticism of Perez:
"Perez has once again entered the fray on the subject of Avril. And, like so much else that Perez posts, his thoughts are pointless."
It was more this laziness that I was criticizing: How is some fans expressing their dislike of a video on a fan forum news? As I say in the original post, "OMG! People have opinions. I hadn't realized."
It would have been just as easy to write exactly the opposite story, taking a few of the positive remarks from the forum and writing "Fans Love New Avril video"
As I also say in the original post, I wasn't too keen on the "Hot" video myself: "It's not the greatest video, but then again, aren't all Avril videos a little substandard? And to single out this video for criticism seems a tad bizarre." It's not as if Avril videos are renowned for their artistry and innovation and this video bucked the trend. Given this was in the original post I find it strange that I'm accused of "just mindlessly licking up everything someone does", and also, given that I devoted 3 paragraphs to an analysis of the video, the accusation of laziness of thought also seems out of place.
And you did post Perez's information without comment. You commented on the video but not on Perez's criticism of it, which was my main bone of contention. Perez has an agenda when he writes that sort of thing, it's not like he's an impartial news service, and his agenda in writing something on Avril, on choosing the worst comments from a forum (rather than the also present positive comments) should be pointed out when passing it on. To take your analogy, it would be like a vegetarian cooking you bacon but all the time going on about how bad eating meat is, trying to get you to not enjoy your bacon, to put you off it, telling you all the things that go on before the meat reaches your table etc.
It's not a question of ignoring all non-fan related reportings, but of examining each report case by case. Fan-related reports are obviously going to be just as biased the other way and should be pointed out as such.
Anyway, I enjoy reading your site so sorry again if any undue offense was caused.
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