Ha ha, Loz.
By the way, speaking of/to Loz, I agree with pretty much all the points made here about Live Forever, although my natural tendency towards nostalgia and my fascination with this period mean that I'm willing to defend it as worth watching, just because it's at least "having a go" at scratching beneath the surface of Britpop. I'm also aware that much as I'd like to see it happen, a five-part in-depth documentary about a relatively short-lived and parochical piece of recent pop history is unlikely to be made any time soon. The fascinating nexus of issues involving class, gender, national identity, and the relationship between the mainstream and the underground that is Britpop will not get the close analysis it deserves until I finish writing (I Fought In) The Britpop Wars (For The Likes OF You) - current estimated date of completion = Spring 2027.
But you're completely wrong about the 'Crazy In Love' video - I worry that you may be turning into one of your more aged and puritanical relatives. Exploding car = consumed by fire = metaphor for sexual desire going back to aaaaaaancient times. (Another possible reading would take in Beyonce's "Christian girl" side and see Jay-Z as the devil - she emerges from the flames reborn, Phoenix-like, but as the bad girl in a boa, corrupted rather than purified.) It's also bizarre to say that Jay-Z dominates the video, as he's in it momentarily at the beginning and then for the duration of his guest verse - a quarter of the whole thing, maybe? It all comes back to my feeling that while it's valid and even necessary to apply feminist (and other radical) critiques to pop, it's vital to avoid either failing to recognise that a pop song's primary purpose is often to represent an emotional state (so in this case, 'Crazy In Love' means exactly that - falling so hard for someone that it doesn't occur to you to worry about how this looks politically), or setting oneself up as the judge (particularly the male one) of how a female artist should dress and perform.
By the way, speaking of/to Loz, I agree with pretty much all the points made here about Live Forever, although my natural tendency towards nostalgia and my fascination with this period mean that I'm willing to defend it as worth watching, just because it's at least "having a go" at scratching beneath the surface of Britpop. I'm also aware that much as I'd like to see it happen, a five-part in-depth documentary about a relatively short-lived and parochical piece of recent pop history is unlikely to be made any time soon. The fascinating nexus of issues involving class, gender, national identity, and the relationship between the mainstream and the underground that is Britpop will not get the close analysis it deserves until I finish writing (I Fought In) The Britpop Wars (For The Likes OF You) - current estimated date of completion = Spring 2027.
But you're completely wrong about the 'Crazy In Love' video - I worry that you may be turning into one of your more aged and puritanical relatives. Exploding car = consumed by fire = metaphor for sexual desire going back to aaaaaaancient times. (Another possible reading would take in Beyonce's "Christian girl" side and see Jay-Z as the devil - she emerges from the flames reborn, Phoenix-like, but as the bad girl in a boa, corrupted rather than purified.) It's also bizarre to say that Jay-Z dominates the video, as he's in it momentarily at the beginning and then for the duration of his guest verse - a quarter of the whole thing, maybe? It all comes back to my feeling that while it's valid and even necessary to apply feminist (and other radical) critiques to pop, it's vital to avoid either failing to recognise that a pop song's primary purpose is often to represent an emotional state (so in this case, 'Crazy In Love' means exactly that - falling so hard for someone that it doesn't occur to you to worry about how this looks politically), or setting oneself up as the judge (particularly the male one) of how a female artist should dress and perform.
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