Around the Bend
Around the Bend is a multi-fandom fanvid edited by danegen that premiered at Vividcon 2010. The theme of the vid is deceptively simple: it shows a series of women driving cars, riding motorcycles, and piloting planes and space ships dating back to the turn of the 20th century. It blends media footage (TV shows, movies etc.), TV ads, and other external source with historical photos of women pilots, astronauts and race car drivers.
Vidder's summary: "Taking the wheel."
During Vividcon's Vid Review, several viewers said that that this vid is about women fans and women vidders, not just women drivers, bikers, aviators and pilots but all women with machines, all women who take that wheel and write and edit and transform media source.
Another fan felt the vid was "a gorgeous, upbeat tribute to women who drive fast cars and fly fast ships. I loved it for the fannish context, and also because the vidder interspersed pictures of women of many generations and eras with the source. They were there before us. Just wonderful."[1]
Reactions-Reviews
- "This vid is so *perfect*. We NEEDED this vid. It's kickass from start to finish, never lets up, never gets boring, and just continues to become more awesome with every clip. I sat there bouncing in my seat wondering how we've never had this vid before now..."[2]
- "I loved, loved, loved this vid, for so many reasons. Mostly because it speaks to my heart, as a woman who loves fast cars and airplanes and independence, and as someone finds the history of women to be vastly under-represented in vids and media in general. When Jackie Cochran appeared on the screen, I started to cry. Which is hilarious, considering how happy I was. Happy tears! Possibly I was the only person in the audience other than you who recognized her. I'd like to believe I wasn't. *g* I loved this. Thank you so much. " [3]
- "It's like her vid took every single summertime drive with my best friends with the windows down and the music up singing along to the same song at the top of your lungs and distilled it into vid form." [4]
- "In which modern and historical ladies from numerous sources ride or die. (Hint: there's no actual dying.)"[5]
- "I particularly like the hard-acceleration turn-jolt transitions around 1:20-1:24 and the slowing-down transitions around 3:26 (boots!). Also everything with Starbuck flying..."[6]
- "Sometimes it's "women in cars are awesome" and sometimes it's "women in space are awesome" and sometimes it's just women in general, being awesome,... but [this type of vid is] definitely a genre.....But I sort of wonder at why and how this genre exists. Don't get me wrong, I adore these vids, I adore this genre, and I watch a lot of the ones I've listed above all the damn time .... But why do we make so many of them, and why do I never get tired of them, and what is it about the existence of this genre that . . . bizarrely bothers me? Not "bothers me" in a "they shouldn't exist" way, just - worries me. Worries at me..... I guess my worry comes in when, watching these vids, I begin to feel like, YAY REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN ON TV ARE AWESOME! and I start to forget or downplay Scully's abductions and Teyla's marginalization and Delenn's diminishing..... Maybe for me it's just about erasing the anti-feminist elements of representation to make a flawless and gorgeous surface of women characters as we wish they were, rather than as they are?"[7]
Gallery
Historical photograph of two women driving
Izzy driving in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes
Historical photo of Motor Maids—a group of women motorcycle enthusiasts
Lara Croft on a motorcycle
Photo of Helene Dutrieu, an early aviator
Photo of Sally Murphy, a female fighter pilot
Starbuck flying her ship in Battlestar Galactica
Queen Latifah in the movie Set It Off
Woman driving on the TV show Freaks & Geeks
References
- ^ [1].
- ^ comments in the original vid announcement
- ^ comments in the original vid announcement
- ^ comments in the original vid announcement
- ^ [2].
- ^ [3].
- ^ [4].