Girl Panic (The Shortened Version) and Entertainment

By now, I’m sure many (most/all) of you have seen the shortened version of the Girl Panic video.  I have seen many people say that they prefer this version over the 9.5 minutes of the original.  I can’t say that I have seen many reasons why they prefer this version.  A few people have mentioned that they feel like it showcases the song more since the song is played all the way through and it is a more traditional version of the song.  I suppose we are more used to this format of having the regular song being played the whole time.  As I ponder the differences and my preferences, I thought back to another Duran video from another era with different lengths and that is New Moon on Monday.

As a kid, for a very long time, I only knew of two versions of New Moon on Monday.  I knew the “regular” clip that was shown on MTV.  This clip was the exact length of the song and had no dialogue despite the very obvious storyline.  I was not sure exactly who the main female character was but I knew that there was some sort of protest being planned and that Duran had to hide from the totalitarian government.  This female seemed to be working with them, Simon in particular, but decided to turn them in, even though at the end, she rejoined their efforts.  The other version I knew was the one from Dancing on the Valentine.  This one was longer and had Simon by a big moon (the opposite of a new moon, ironically enough) and showed shots of John playing bass and singing that were to die for!  These additional shots did not enhance the storyline but they did add plenty of squee moments (ha!).  Later, I discovered the movie version and I thought I died and gone to heaven!  This had the storyline that I thought was fascinating AND it had dialogue!  It was 17 minutes of pure Duran gold, in my opinion.  I thought Girl Panic was going to be similar in that I would like one version and LOVE the long version.  It is not similar.

I hate the short version.  Hate it.  If I wasn’t a big fan, I wouldn’t have a clue that the supermodels were supposed to be the members of the band until the very end when they are “playing”.  Before that, I would just assume that the video was about supermodels.  The storyline was totally taken away.  I might not even know if was Duran, if I was unfamiliar with this song and their style, as we don’t see a band member until we see John driving about one minute and twenty seconds into it.  To me, the storyline was not maintained like it was in the shortened version of NMOM.  On top of that and more importantly than that, it took away literally everything I found fabulous about the long version.

The shortened version did not contain any interviews from the band members.  It did not and would not make me question stereotypes and assumptions about rock stars or celebrities in general.  Instead of showing how over the top and over-indulgent these assumptions are, they reveled in them.  The video became the stereotype instead of questioning the stereotype.  Early in Duran’s career, they got a lot of grief in the press and with music critics because their videos seem to be promoting a lifestyle that the common person could not relate to, which was seen as an insult to common people (at least by these critics).  While I obviously don’t agree with those negative reviews, in this case, it would appear to be true, in my opinion.  The longer version, however, showed that this lifestyle isn’t real.  I saw an interview with John and Simon where Simon says that everything was based on some experience in their lives and John responded with, “We wish.”  Enough said. 

This leads me to wonder why my response was so different than other peoples.  Is it because they felt comforted in the shorter, more traditional format?  Maybe.  It seems to me that there are two camps of fans.  One camp of fans just want the entertainment, the fun.  I can understand that.  The other camp is where I live.  I want something that makes me think as well as makes me feel.  I want my entertainment to be something that I can analyze and look for deeper meaning.  Obviously, Rhonda feels the same way or else we wouldn’t be writing this blog or our book where we analyze what it means to be a fan and a Duran Duran fan, in particular.  Tomorrow, I will talk about one other video that showed this division within the fandom and contained models!  Can you guess what that video is?
It is one that is usually talked about in a negative way as it seems that most fans hated but one that I thought was brilliant.

-A