Race and Representation in Vidding

[talitha78]

For the Vividcon vidding convention in August, deepad and I are putting together a combined vidshow/panel called "Race and Representation in Vidding".

The blurb is as follows:

Visual markers of racial, ethnic and cultural identity are inscribed on the bodies vidders use to tell their stories. What are the political and social implications of the choices that vidders make? What narratives of resistance and subversion can be told, and what stereotypes and oppressions get perpetuated? How do the racial and cultural dynamics within fandom affect vidding and its creators? How can we analyse vids through anti-racist, anti-orientalist, post-colonial, and subaltern studies lenses?

From a vidder's technical standpoint, what are the editorial and creative issues you need to take into consideration when vidding characters of color? What implication does music and song choice have? Is there a different approach when you're vidding a character not of your own cultural/ethnic background, and what guidelines or mental reminders have proven useful to you?

We have some ideas of vids that we'd like to show, but we are also looking for suggestions. Do you know of any vids that fit this theme? Also, are there any points that you want to make sure that we touch upon in the panel? All ideas welcome.

Comments

[talitha78]

But I can't help but feel that sometimes our song choices re-enforce stereotypes about both musical genres and about specific subsets of characters.

Like you say, I think this is sometimes the case. I freely admit I use a lot of hip-hop songs. What I try to think about when it comes to song choice is being true to the character. By this I don't mean, "would this character listen to hip-hop?" but rather: "Is there a specific reason that I'm using this particular hip-hop song for this character? Is there is a mood or a theme or a lyric that speaks to this character?" If I can answer positively to those questions, then I feel like I can proceed with confidence. Also, I happen to listen to a lot of pop-infused hip-hop, so those tend to be the songs on my mind at any given moment. And let's face it, those ear worms can be pretty darn irresistible.

sometimes we might make a vid that deals with race well on an individual level for that character, but that fits into a larger vidding trend that might not be so positive, or that might mislead someone who doesn't know the context--fannishly, cannonically, musically, or within the vidding community--of the vid.

Hmmm. Not sure I understand what you mean here.

I think that talking about the language of the character and the associated vidsong might be an interesting topic to cover too, because it's something that I've thought about when making song choices

Oh, yes. Absolutely. *makes a note*

I'm going to rely soley on con reports

I will make a point to type up our panel notes--it seems only fair after you've given me so many good talking points. :)