Click here to view the embedded video.

Laura uses scenes of women who have been forcibly knocked up, had their ovaries harvested or otherwise reduced to their basic biological functions, ultimately becoming nothing but baby making machines.  And it’s not only forced pregnancies that Laura is critiquing but also women carrying natural, wanted fetuses whose wombs are being used as sites of torture.  She used clips from science fiction and fantasy television shows to explore what she sees as reproductive terrorism, “the way women’s reproductive capacity is used to colonize them and made to seem unnatural, spooky, disgusting, and horrifying.” Laura has created a stunning visual critique that exposes this sexist TV trope that can only be described as “creepy”.

To see her original post visit her Dreamwidth blog and watch her other vids at laurasha.com.  We have previously featured Laura’s “Wouldn’t it be Nice” vid.

Anita Sarkeesian is a feminist media literacy advocate, pop culture critic and fair use proponent.  She maintains an ongoing web series of video commentaries from a fangirl/feminist/anti-oppression perspective at her website www.FeministFrequency.com.

There Will Be Blood, a 2007 American film by Paul Thomas Anderson, was loosely based on the Upton Sinclair novel Oil! and follows a man on a ruthless quest for wealth during the oil boom. Saved by the Bell, on the other hand, was a 90′s high school sitcom that paved the way for teen shows dealing with social issues by introducing young target audiences to critical topics like drug use, drinking and driving, homelessness and environmental issues. But when remixed, the two delve into the institutional greed and environmental destruction no TV show or has yet dared to explore, despite the timeliness of the topic.

The Red Army sync version of Michael Jackson’s hit “Beat It” is definitely the most popular with well over 10 million views on ToDou.com alone. (If videos don’t load re-fresh the page).

Beat It – The Red Army Version

Although a handful of ripped copies of the Red Army’s Beat It have made their way onto western sites like YouTube in recent weeks, the vast majority live on the Chinese site Tudou (土豆网) (which translated literally means “Potato Net”). It’s without a doubt one of the largest video sharing sites in the world – claiming to be about five time bigger than YouTube.

A quick search on ToDou.com for “Red Army Edition” (红军版) returns hundreds of remixes including this extensive playlist. Beyond Michael Jackson hits you can also see the Red Army Choir doing their rendition of Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Usher as well as classic songs like American Idiot, We Will Rock You and Never Gonna Give You Up – all in varying remix quality. A few of our favorite “Red Army Versions” are posted below. (They may take some time to load but are worth it).

As for the deeper cultural meaning – perhaps these remixes serve as a commentary on Chinese government authoritarianism or on the virus-like nature of American corporate pop culture. Maybe they are just making fun of old Communist Party propaganda or perhaps it’s all of the above. Not being versed in Simplified Chinese, it’s hard to tell what the true intentions are, but the Red Army might very well be the most remixed video on the planet. Mao Zedong is undoubtedly spinning in his grave (perhaps even in sync to the music).

Poker Face (Lady Gaga)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Theme song)

Wavin’ Flag (Coca-Cola World Cup celebration mix)

Prague Square (布拉格廣場) by Taiwan stars Jay Chou & Jolin Tsai

Click here to view the embedded video.

Juzwiak’s work and the “frenemy” debate was also explored on an episode of This American Life. These remixes are examples of what have become known as video Supercuts, obsessive video montages constructed from popular tv shows or movies that repeat a certain theme. A classic example would be this montage compiled from every time anyone says the word “dude” in the film The Big Lebowski.

And also check out the 2009 edition that continues to track disturbing “I’m Not Here To Make Friends” trend.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A taboo topic previously avoided in conversation, the ‘issue’ of visible female menstruation came to a head in 1996 when Uta Pippig, the first woman to win the Boston Marathon, crossed the finish line with menstrual blood on her legs and thighs, having gotten her period mid-way through the race. The male TV and radio sports announcers struggled to explain what exactly was happening, relying on the phrases “physical problems” or “female problems”. Today the stigma associated with menstrual blood continues, most evident in the ridiculous advertisements for sanitary-products where blue tinted water is poured on a pad or tampon to illustrate it’s absorbency and reinforce it’s inconspicuous nature.

This remix is a chronological look at menstruation’s less-than-desirable portrayal in films but for more than half the population that have to experience it monthly, it also illustrates how culturally we’ve grown to fear, hate and avoid understanding our own bodies.

All the movies used for source footage:

Carrie (1976)
The Blue Lagoon (1980)
Puberty Blues (1981)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
The Legend of Billie Jean (1985)
Pretty in Pink (1986)
Immediate Family (1989)
My Girl (1991)
Showgirls (1995)
Female Perversions (1996)
Eve’s Bayou (1997)
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
A Walk on the Moon (1999)
Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
Tumbleweeds (1999)
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Happy Campers (2001)
The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Osama (2003)
Saved! (2004)
Dirty Love (2005)
She’s the Man (2006)
The Reaping (2007)
Superbad (2007)
Towelhead (2007)
The Runaways (2010)

The song is “The Sound of Wonder” (Dama Dam Mast Qalandar) sung by Ashraf, M. featuring Ahmed Rushdi. Here is the original song from the movie “Dekha Jaye Ga” circa 1970s Lollywood.

The first of several more honest re-cut versions of the now infamous “Message From Tony Hayward” PR propaganda commercial that BP is trying to infect the internet with by buying up all the search terms relating to the disaster. Listen carefully to the audio editing in the remix below which transforms Tony’s words into something perhaps a little closer to the truth.

-

Last week, BP CEO Tony Hayward went before Congress in round one of the oil company’s Congressional hearings. As if the 60 day oil geyser hemorrhaging into the Gulf and the lack of solutions for stopping it weren’t enough, Hayward adds insult to injury by simply re-using his own words that “A Message from Tony Hayward” ad as his opening statement to the House.

-

One more remix of “A Message from Tony Hayward” ad – this time with a new overdub of Hayward’s “last words” includes a call to action to revoke BP’s Corporate Charter which you can do here.

-

BP’s massive $200 million rebranding campaign handled by Ogilvy & Mather in July 2000 won the PRWeek’s 2001 “Campaign of the Year” award for re-imaging the brand’s identity  to communicate that “BP can be a friend — listening to consumers, speaking in a human voice“. Here, the BP campaign is accurately adjusted to illustrate a more fitting identity correction.

-

An emotion-filled anecdote created by editing Hayward quotes with the song, “End of the World” by Skeeter Davis for the organization NRDC.

-

News footage and photographs are combined with Disney’s animated feature The Little Mermaid to provide a new meaning to the hit song Under the Sea.

-

In “A Whole Day Of Tony Hayward’s Obfuscating In Four Minute”, Ben Craw of the Huffington Post, illustrates how Hayward refuses to answer question and gives intentionally ambiguous responses to House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Because it seems that’s the real role of a leader at BP.

-

Have you seen other BP remix videos online? If so please post links in the comments!

So I’m excited to announce that Buffy vs Edward has been nominated for a 2010 Webby Award in the Best Remix/Mashup category! Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is kinda like the Oscars for the internets.

The remix was created over a 6 month period by methodically re-editing and re-combining clips from the Twilight movie with scenes from 36 different television episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Below is the original video description:

In this re-imagined narrative, Edward Cullen from the Twilight Series meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s an example of transformative storytelling serving as a pro-feminist visual critique of Edward’s character and generally creepy behavior. Seen through Buffy’s eyes, some of the more sexist gender roles and patriarchal Hollywood themes embedded in the Twilight saga are exposed – in hilarious ways. Ultimately this remix is about more than a decisive showdown between the slayer and the sparkly vampire. It also doubles as a metaphor for the ongoing battle between two opposing visions of gender roles in the 21ist century.

I was recently featured on the front page of the Boston Globe in an article on activists using video as a voice (excerpt below). It focused on my Sex and the Remix series and how activists are using video to create instant political commentary and disseminate alternative messages to the main stream media.

QueerCarrie, Sex and the Remix Season 2

Click here to view the embedded video.

Two weeks later I received DMCA violations for my Queer Housewives of NYC remixes. The videos were reinstated on YouTube last week, without an acknowledgment of Fair Use.

While video is our voice as remixers, there’s no guarantee it will be heard or if it will be there tomorrow. The experience represents a shifting power dynamic in the entertainment industry: as the audience, our collective intelligence grants us more creative power than ever, yet copyright holders are desperately trying to hold on to their role as gatekeeper.

QueerHousewives of NYC Remix

Click here to view the embedded video.

When Elisa Kreisinger wanted to protest the newly diminished visibility of gay characters and story lines on television, she didn’t launch a petition drive or write an angry op-ed piece. Instead, like many other members of the YouTube generation for whom the visual language is a native tongue, she found a way to have her say with video rather than words.

Kreisinger remixed scenes from “Sex and the City’’ into a pair of pro-gay narratives, and uploaded the resulting videos to her blog, drawing 21,000 hits.

“I wouldn’t have done it if it was text-based,’’ said Kreisinger, a 23-year-old Simmons College grad from Cambridge. “Things are more easily communicated through video . . . And there can be more powerful statements.’’

A growing number of young activists are turning to video as a forum for instant political commentary or an eye-catching tool to mobilize on behalf of social change. They might create videos and spread them through social-networking sites such as Facebook. They might remix existing video clips into mashups-with-messages. They might borrow from the tropes of the most popular videos on YouTube, which turned five years old last month, marrying serious substance with lighthearted style. – The Boston Globe, 3/5/2010

Jonathan will be posting his experiences with Buffy Vs. Edward tomorrow and then it will be back to our regularly scheduled remix program!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Once paired with the misogynist lyrics, the games’ imagery of guns, swords and chainsaws become phallic representations of patriarchal power in a virtual world where few women exist. Especially lacking are female characters who are not hypersexualized and/or simply replicating the intense violence of male game heroes. Anita’s remix uses the lyrics to highlight two games in particular (both with women of color protagonists) that help counter the genre’s male dominance: Portal, a first person action puzzle game which utilizes non-violent problem solving strategies, and Mirror’s Edge, a less-violent adventure game involving the navigation of a dystopian city maze. You can also see a list of all the games used in this remix on FeministFrequency.com