Vidding and the perversity of critical pleasure: Sex, violence, and voyeurism in "Closer" and "On the Prowl"
Analysis of two fan vids ("Closer" by Killa and T. Jonesy, and "On the Prowl" by Sisabet and Sweetestdrain) in the context of theories of vidding reveals that vids have a unique ability to combine analytic detachment and pleasurable investment. I analyze these two vids through Ro...
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Organization for Transformative Works
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doaj-2a868d4d7de64c99b37d06137404aef32021-07-02T11:17:33ZengOrganization for Transformative WorksTransformative Works and Cultures1941-22581941-22582012-03-01910.3983/twc.2012.0292Vidding and the perversity of critical pleasure: Sex, violence, and voyeurism in "Closer" and "On the Prowl"Sarah Fiona Winters0Nipissing University, North Bay, Ontario, CanadaAnalysis of two fan vids ("Closer" by Killa and T. Jonesy, and "On the Prowl" by Sisabet and Sweetestdrain) in the context of theories of vidding reveals that vids have a unique ability to combine analytic detachment and pleasurable investment. I analyze these two vids through Roland Barthes's provocative suggestion that reading criticism demands from the reader a perverse voyeurism of the critic's pleasure in the text to argue that they are examples of the ways in which many vids function as pleasurable criticism that invites viewers of such vids to enter voyeuristically into that pleasure. Both vids use tropes of sexual violence to characterize not only the mass media they respond to, but also the nature of fandom and of transformative fan readings. "On the Prowl" criticizes and celebrates the fan through constructing different audiences for a series of self-portraits; "Closer" does the same thing by constructing Spock as a portrait of the fan. The narratives of sadism and rape constructed by the vids both disturb and seduce the viewer, thus forming perverse texts that that problematize pleasure while simultaneously reinscribing it.http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/292/297Fan vidRoland Barthes |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Sarah Fiona Winters |
spellingShingle |
Sarah Fiona Winters Vidding and the perversity of critical pleasure: Sex, violence, and voyeurism in "Closer" and "On the Prowl" Transformative Works and Cultures Fan vid Roland Barthes |
author_facet |
Sarah Fiona Winters |
author_sort |
Sarah Fiona Winters |
title |
Vidding and the perversity of critical pleasure: Sex, violence, and voyeurism in "Closer" and "On the Prowl" |
title_short |
Vidding and the perversity of critical pleasure: Sex, violence, and voyeurism in "Closer" and "On the Prowl" |
title_full |
Vidding and the perversity of critical pleasure: Sex, violence, and voyeurism in "Closer" and "On the Prowl" |
title_fullStr |
Vidding and the perversity of critical pleasure: Sex, violence, and voyeurism in "Closer" and "On the Prowl" |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vidding and the perversity of critical pleasure: Sex, violence, and voyeurism in "Closer" and "On the Prowl" |
title_sort |
vidding and the perversity of critical pleasure: sex, violence, and voyeurism in "closer" and "on the prowl" |
publisher |
Organization for Transformative Works |
series |
Transformative Works and Cultures |
issn |
1941-2258 1941-2258 |
publishDate |
2012-03-01 |
description |
Analysis of two fan vids ("Closer" by Killa and T. Jonesy, and "On the Prowl" by Sisabet and Sweetestdrain) in the context of theories of vidding reveals that vids have a unique ability to combine analytic detachment and pleasurable investment. I analyze these two vids through Roland Barthes's provocative suggestion that reading criticism demands from the reader a perverse voyeurism of the critic's pleasure in the text to argue that they are examples of the ways in which many vids function as pleasurable criticism that invites viewers of such vids to enter voyeuristically into that pleasure. Both vids use tropes of sexual violence to characterize not only the mass media they respond to, but also the nature of fandom and of transformative fan readings. "On the Prowl" criticizes and celebrates the fan through constructing different audiences for a series of self-portraits; "Closer" does the same thing by constructing Spock as a portrait of the fan. The narratives of sadism and rape constructed by the vids both disturb and seduce the viewer, thus forming perverse texts that that problematize pleasure while simultaneously reinscribing it. |
topic |
Fan vid Roland Barthes |
url |
http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/292/297 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT sarahfionawinters viddingandtheperversityofcriticalpleasuresexviolenceandvoyeurismincloserandontheprowl |
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