Tuesday 15 November 2011

-Music Videos on my Mind- The Vaccines’ “Wetsuit”


British white guys with guitars love playing at summer music festivals. British white youths love attending summer music festivals. British ethnic minority groups love making fun of white guys who play and frequent summer music festivals.

The Vaccines new music video for Wetsuit is a sun soaked paean to the very Caucasian and middle-class ritual of summer music festivalling.

It was put together by director Poppy de Villeneuve (shamefully middle-class name) who assembled lots of images of music loving kids, and people who are old enough to know better, attending various summer festivals at which The Vaccines were headlining.

Ever since Beyoncé headlined last summer's Glastonbury, minority kids have learnt that erecting tents is no longer the sole exclusivity of white guys. Nay, minority groups are more than capable of slumbering in sleeping bags, just as long as there's a reasonably priced motel within a 3 mile radius on standby in case it gets a bit too much for them.

Wetsuit is, if you like this kind of music, a nice song and video that feels akin to a much needed shot of vitamin D during these depressingly drawn-out winter nights.

The challenge I present is this: How many minority groups can you spy in this video?

(I count two: a fleeting shot of a black guy smiling and a disabled dude crowd surfing in his wheelchair. N.B. people covered in mud and babies don't count.)

7 comments:

  1. They remind me of Fleet Foxes. But a watered down version. I couldn't even watch most of the video. It seemed too smug.

    Have a good week, sir. That's an order.

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  2. I'm with Jennifer, I couldn't watch more than 20 seconds of the video...

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  3. I knew I was in trouble as soon as the slow blinking started.

    I didn't spot any black dudes.

    Although, I sorta kinda, ABSOLUTELY want that moustache cup...
    What is it with those things?

    And, to answer your question as to my dressing - I'm currently wearing smiley face fuzzy pants and super duper fluffy slippers. I might just have to post this "outfit" to give a visual response to your question (which is, "no").

    :D

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  4. I favor more stable visuals. I do like the song, though.

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  5. You have missed a major part here... Minority means Minority, As in less than the majority. Ergo the majority in the video should represent real life and be greater than the minority. I'm not a bigot, and I think you should rethink your definition of minority- it isn't just about ethnicity and physicality- I like dressing as a boy, yet i'm a girl. Does that put me in a minority? Yes. Was I at a festival this summer? Yes. One last point- could you please define for me the exact age at which someone too old to enjoy good live music in a friendly communal setting? Because I just can't work it out.

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  6. I agree with Kelly. You sure told him girl! What a ridiculous ageist statement to make, "people who are old enough to know better".

    Who the hell are you anyway? From the nature of your blogs, I'd guess you come from a 'minority' group yourself, probably Asian. You are obviously bitter towards 'Caucasians' as you call them, which would indicate that you've been screwed over in the past. Your bitterness towards the film industry would suggest your own failure in this sphere - a disillusioned film studies graduate who tried to 'break in' to the industry and failed - as they say, 'if you can't do - teach' and in your case, 'if you can't do it - write about it'.

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