The Internet Killed the Video Star
Christopher sent me this link earlier today. He has long known that one of my guilty pleasures is the song “I Want It That Way” by The Backstreet Boys, even though he had to explain to me what exactly it was that the Boys wanted (”why do they not want to hear her say ‘I want it that way’? And why can’t they just say ‘I don’t want it that way’?”).
Anyway, I checked out the video when I got home. At first glance it appeared to merely consist of two Chinese boys, innocently impersonating a boy band. Hey, I’ve got incriminating videos of myself lip-syncing to Martika, so I know what it’s like to get in front of the camera and pretend to be a rock star.
But lest you judge me too hastily, I “starred” in my videos during the 80s, when there really was nothing better to do when your cousins came all the way from New York to visit. Eat, drink, and videotape lip-syncing: that was all the rage back in those days.
Apparently things haven’t changed that much. But after watching this video, I was struck by several things.
- What would possess two boys, presumably just home from a basketball practice, to decide to fire up the CD player and start lip-syncing? Were they bored? How did one propose it to the other without seeming “gay”?
- Why does one boy have a cast? Is it to allow a possibly obscene gesture to slip by the Chinese censors, or was he just playing air guitar?
- Why did they choose to have one Backstreet voice represented by both of them in certain parts of the song? Are they making an ironic comment about the duplicity of American celebrities?
- Why do they interpret love so violently? Did something happen in their childhoods?
- Are they singing to the same song I’m listening to?
- Most important, who’s the third boy in the background, and what game is he playing? He’s so fascinated by this game that it never occurs to him to turn around during the 3 minutes and 35 seconds of the song to see just what the hell his friends are doing behind him. I mean, it’s not like they’re being quiet–one guy’s head-thrashing so hard that his little sweatband falls off!
Posted by: ssjane | April 25, 2006 | 2:57 pm
Posted in: Entertainment/News