Theres not really any way to be sensitive about this: Rammstein's German Pussy video is pretty much just hardcore porn. Watch it here!
My main point with this is that it shows the path that music videos are starting to take, and will very likely follow. Society is slowly being de-sensitised to porn, and although the video is currently 18+ rated, it is only the start of music videos that are taking a step further from the usual Britney Spears smut.
The Internet age has radically affected viewing habits, and it shows. 10 years ago music videos were much slower paced; now audiences are faced with images flashing so fast it borders on an epilepsy hazard. The content of videos has also changed. As with trashy TV shows (the BBC is currently under pressure for the now famous Nick Griffin interview which is often cited as sensationalist tabloid trash), where the most controversial stunts are what attracts the largest audience, for example Big Brother, which has been a massive influence in pushing back the borders in what is now "safe viewing" for audiences. In music videos, this evolution, starting with videos of live perfomances, before changing into an art form, a new way to present short films, which is now mainly dominated by pop songs where female artists show as much skin as possible in order to demoralize women everywhere. Its ok though, as videos such as German Pussy are preaching to youngters worldwide the message "You've got a pussy, I have a dick, So what's the problem? Let's do it quick." A valuable lesson for todays teens.
The fact is, much as it still seems a little weird, it makes complete sense for the media to slowly turn to more deviant ideas, given Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which shows that sex is one of the most important human needs, and one of the few that the media can cater for. I feel that as the media continues to develop, it will not be long until new or interactive media begins to cater for the other needs, as we have begun to already, with games such as Love Plus, a slightly weirder Nintendogs for a lonelier audience.
Either way, if robo-prostitutes aren't around in five years, don't be surprised if music videos are a brain-destroying mix of porn and epilepsy.
I think it has long since past the point where an official body can jump in and start creating rules and laws for Internet use, which currently is in an early stage of a media revolution. There is already too much content to regulate just Youtube, which is estimated to have 200,000 uploads per day, and bear in mind that this is only a small corner of an ever-growing online world. There is no hope of regulating it, as the fool who wrote the Guardian article suggests. "This doesn't mean regulation is easy.", he reminds us, but I don't think he realises the full scale of the problem. I don't think anyone does. Online, a person can watch real violence, child pornography, even death, any yet only one of these seems to be tracked by a government - which is a terrifying thought. There is no chance of our government taking a greater hold on the Internet now as there are too many restrictions: country borders, human rights, mass-protest; I can see the riot that would emerge if Youtube was banned. So if this means that soon even more power will be stripped from regulation bodies, who will govern the new media world? Will it be possible? Since the birth of the technology, people have been fighting over online power or creating a ruling body, but in a place with so much, where beauty is in the eye of the beholder, this could never come to anything. The system continues to spiral out of control, soon we will not need ISPs to connect us to our online fix, and what then? The last tie to the real, governed world will break, and the world will continue to grow even faster. This inevitable truth will eventually have a resolve, but it will not be anything which currently exists. The Internet has led to the slow demise of many major companies of old, and brought around new ones, which are needed for the new age, and this will repeat to form a way to effectively govern the Internet - governing bodies such as OFCOM are dead. Conventional broadcasted media is withering in a world where anyone and everyone can create their own, and it seems that OFCOM are incredulously short sighted "It is great to be able to download programmes from the Internet but there is clearly a very serious gap in the regulatory framework which must be closed if such programmes are currently outside the oversight of Ofcom." says a spokesperson, who apparently does not realise that traditional media is dying - I watched several professional films and animations yesterday which never will see the light of day in OFCOMs office. There is too much to be done, and not enough time, people, or power to do it.
ReplyDeleteIt is my opinion that the government should have stepped in and made their mark at the beginning, not now, when there is too much unsanctioned material already existing. With that, there is no way for anyone to effectively predict what will happen, but the system has stayed together this far, and I'm sure will last much longer without rules set in stone the traditional way.
I'm not sure about those terms, I was away that day, but if it refers to educating the masses what is wrong or right, so that we can govern ourselves, then yes, I believe that this is one of the most effective solutions that exist.
There is so much to say on this topic, and so much to know and theorise.