Jesus Walks

Vid
Title:	Jesus Walks
Creator:	mimesere
Date:	March 2006
Format:	Xvid .avi
Length:
Music:	"Jesus Walks" by Kanye West
Genre:
Fandom:	Angel
Footage:
URL:	vid announcement
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Jesus Walks is an Angel fanvid by mimesere. It is considered by many fans to be the "definitive" Charles Gunn character study and has frequently been used in convention panels and articles addressing the issues of race and racism in media culture. The vid was also recommended at the Buffy Verse Top 5 LJ community. It was first shown at the 2006 Escapade vid show and was later selected for Vividcon 2010's "Race and Representation in Vidding" vid show.

Vidder's summary: "'"The only thing that I pray is that my feet don't fail me now."

Reactions/Reviews

• "Wow. That is Charles Gunn, the essence and soul. Just... wow." ~ feedback at the vid announcement.
• "Fabulous vid! Great song choice, great selection of clips, and Gunn's character really shines through." ~feedback at the vid announcement.
• "US television notoriously underrepresents racial minorities, and those characters of color who appear are further underrepresented in vids. Vids like Mimesere's "Jesus Walks".... are still few and far between. " ~feedback at "Women's Art and "Women's Work" dated August 29, 2007.
• "So, I just wanted to tell you that I played this vid for my dad the other day, and he is only barely familiar with Angel canon and Gunn as a character, and he has listened to very little hip-hop music, and he totally got this vid. After seeing it once, he explained what he got from the images and the music and what story he thought you were trying to tell about this character, and he totally got it. More evidence for you that this vid kicks ass on many different levels." ~ feedback at the vid announcement.
• "It's still one of the ones that I show to non-fannish friends just to show off how shiny-cool fandom is. The combination of a really good editing in, not just the vid, but the audio track, and a story, a character you can really feel and sympathise for, combined to make a really awesome vid, that was accessible to people outside the fandom too (the gen rating helps)." ~ feedback at a fan's LJ.
• "I'm not a vid fan. Really don't do much for me. For a lot of reasons. But this? This *really* worked. This managed to avoid all those reasons that usually result in my non-malicious apathy toward vids. I'm not a huge Angel fan either. Missed the last two seasons at least. Possibly more. This rocked my socks off. And made me think I need to go rewatch the series. Way to go. Brilliant work." ~ feedback at the vid announcement.
• "This vid is just astonishing, such a perfect choice of song and clips. It's left me breathless every time I've watched it since the Escapade DVDs arrived. There are so few Gunn songvids and yet he's such as astonishing, complex, fascinating character. You've captured so much of the hurricane he was swept up into on 'Angel' and all he went through and endured trying to do the right thing. This is just a beautiful thing you've given to the Gunn fans and thank you a million times for it." ~ feedback at the vid announcement.
• "Gunn-centric. Though well-liked, Gunn hasn't gained as much attention as he deserves in fandom, and I haven't seen many vids with him. But I have to say that after seeing this one, I actually wonder if I need to. This vid sums up everything about Gunn, and gets him in a way the show itself didn't. A true piece of art." ~ feedback at a fan's blog.
• "I've always had a hard time with vids, but if I could only keep one, it would probably be Jesus Walks by mimesere, because that was the one that made me go, Okay, wow, now I get it." ~ feedback in a fan's blog discussing what is the one vid they'd try saving for history.