New Vid: "Shock the Monkey" (Hawaii Five-0)

[giandujakiss]

AKA, how I spent my Sunday....

Song: Shock the Monkey by Peter Gabriel
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0

Summary: Full immunity and means.

Spoilers: Through 1x18

Sizes: 30 MB (540 x 360 .divx), 14 MB (420 x 280 .wmv)
Length: 2:14

Download from Sendspace: The .divx file is here and the .wmv file is here.

Notes: Honestly, this vid is more catharsis for me than anything else. I can't help 'shipping Steve and Danny, but I really resent the show for making it impossible for me to love them guilt-free, and for making me feel so ashamed about liking the parts that I like. So I felt like I had to at least register my objections in some way, however weak the effort may be, in between all the devouring of Steve/Danny first-time fic. IDEK.

Watch on Vimeo

Password: exigentcircumstances


Comments welcome.

(Crossposted to LJ)

Comments

[anotherslashfan]

Wow. This really packs a punch. This show really has police brutality issues. And torture ssues. And... wah. No wonder I didn't make it past the first alf of the first episode.

ETA: I forgot all the praise for this astonishingly well done vid. I may not like the show, but I think this vid really works.

[giandujakiss]

Yeah, the first episode - the first few, actually - are particularly bad. Happily, the last couple are a little better; though I don't know if that will be an ongoing improvement. I find the early episodes in particular very hard to watch.

Anyway, I'm very glad you thought the vid was effective - thank you!

[rhivolution]

Very clever look at the massive violence/brutality issues in the canon. Well done, and the music fits to a T.

[giandujakiss]

Thank you! I'm glad it worked for you.

[blueswan]

This is one of those fandoms where I enjoy the fic way more than the source material. I think you've illustrated why. Thanks for sharing your vid.

I bring a small gift in return, Don Ho's cover of Shock the Monkey. Something, I think everyone in H50 fandom should hear at least once. *g* Enjoy!

[giandujakiss]

Heh - I had no idea that Don Ho did a cover! That's so incredibly ironic; thanks for the link!

Anyway, I'm glad you liked the vid - thank you!

[silver_spotted]

wow. That is a very different look at H50 than I've seen elsewhere...I don't watch the show, but your vid really packs a punch

[giandujakiss]

I'm glad you found it effective - thank you!

[walkingshadow]

Amazing, amazing vid. I knew the brutality and civil rights violations were a huge problem, but it's quite stunning to see it all arrayed like that. I love that you made it a true ensemble piece, and really emphasized that they are agents of law enforcement with the full backing of the state. I'm totally with you on the cycle of glee and shame. :/

[giandujakiss]

Thank you so much! Yes, it's the fact that they're official that I find so grating - I can't pretend, even in escapist fiction, that it's okay for cops to abuse suspects and witnesses that way. And it just leaves such a sour note every time I watch the show, although there were fewer incidents in the later episodes - my fingers are crossed that it will continue to improve.

[glittertine]

Yup, right there with you. SO much. It's weird, in fanon, I don't have a hard time looking past it because it either doesn't happen or it's actually dealt with, but almost every single new ep I watch makes me flinch. At least Danny is written to be the voice of reason some times, but as your vid so excellently illustrates, it's actually not all on Steve. >_> Sigh.

Very powerful vid. I am ashamed to say that I didn't really get what you were trying to say first watch through, but that may be because half my mind's in work mode as I desperately try to forget current events and have a relaxed Saturday evening. After having read your notes, the message comes across crystal clear.

It's so easy to make a pretty shipping vid and block out the reality of what canon glosses over, but much harder to take it and point the camera right at it. So, thank you. Now when people don't get why I keep brining up the violence of canon H50, I can just point them here, and then maybe they'll understand what I mean.

[giandujakiss]

Thank you so much! Yes, I feel the same way about fanon vs canon - most fanon doesn't have the sort of egregious torture you see on the series, and I get so upset by the show, and the way the show lionizes them for it, as though it's something to be admired.

I'm very glad you liked the vid - thanks!

[talitha78]

Ack! Shocking is right. In this context, Steve and Danno seem so sinister--it's going to cause me severe cognitive dissonance to try to read fluffy slash about them now.

Great job, though!

[giandujakiss]

Steve and Danno seem so sinister--it's going to cause me severe cognitive dissonance to try to read fluffy slash

That's how I feel all the time!

Glad you liked the vid, thank you!

[tevere]

Wow. That's one powerful vid right there-- the juxtaposition of those terrible scenes of violence/torture with the glee (or maybe just self-satisfied smugness?) on the cops' faces. (Have never watched the show, though, so all I know of it is from this vid and fandom osmosis.)

[giandujakiss]

Somewhere between glee and smugness, yes, exactly. And I can't forgive the show for it even though I enjoy other aspects. I'm glad you found the vid powerful - thank you!

[anatsuno]

Yes, this, exactly. Very well done. Thank you.

[giandujakiss]

You're welcome - I'm glad you liked it :-).

[loligo]

Back when I was watching SGA, I used to roll my eyes so hard at the "John is a sociopath!" people, but now I have some sympathy for them, because honestly that's how I feel about Steve half the time. Danny gets more of a pass from me, because at least he *says* the right things, but this vid makes it uncomfortably clear that he participates in the violence more than I'd remembered.

Good song choice. When I was hoping that someone would make a vid like this, I was imagining various punk classics like The Clash's "Know Your Rights" or the Au Pairs' "Armagh" -- they have choruses that are obviously appropriate to the topic, but the verses don't really fit. I like the slight indirectness of this better.

[giandujakiss]

I'm glad you liked the song choice, thank you! And yeah, Danny doesn't get a pass from me - he participates quite a bit, and his protests are rather ineffectual.

When Danny drove the guy around on top of his car, Steve asked what Danny would have done if Steve tried something like this, and Danny said he would have arrested him. I am now absolutely longing to see that happen - so badly, I want Steve to go off on someone again - just in the ordinary way he does on the show - and for Danny to arrest him and throw him in a cell until he calms down. I can't stand how much I want to see that.

[kass]

This is awesome. I love the motion of it. And yes, this definitely highlights the problematic police violence in this show -- and also, I think, captures some of the teamwork and the eye-candy qualities which make the show so enjoyable despite its problematic qualities! Nice work.

[giandujakiss]

Thank you! I'm very glad you like how it came together!

[kalena]

WOW.

It's so easy for me to gloss over the violence in this show, couched as it is among the fond looks and banter, and forget the fact that Steve McGarrett has been/is willing to do anything to get what he wants, and of course Danny does benefit as well as participate.

Whereas I can't even watch Criminal Minds and Supernatural (!). I only made it through two eps of CM and half the first ep of Suernatural because they show so much violence -- but in a different, much more horrifying, way.

Awesome vid, btw. The line of criminals turning in time when McGarrett rode in on the motorcycle was perfect.

[giandujakiss]

Thank you so much! I'm really glad it affected you! I gave up on Criminal Minds too, by the way, because of the violence - but there it was just gore. In H50, it's the fact that it's so officially sanctioned that gets me.

Anyway, I'm really glad you liked the vid!

[amalnahurriyeh]

This vid is amazing. I share all of your ambivalence about the show--that it is so objectively wrong all the fucking time, and yet it's got these tremendously compelling characters. Often, I am angry at it for doing all these things wrong, and yet managing to hit exactly the story notes I need to feel comfortably enwrapped in story. (On my journal, my tag for the show is "why did a terrible show get a tag?" Because, lord, is this a terrible show. Often on both aesthetic and moral grounds, which is saying something.) At the same time, it is frequently the highlight of my TV-watching week.

And this vid is the condensation of it. It's slickly put together and very shiny, but at the same time, seeing all that police brutality lined up in a row? Yeah. I also like, as other people have said, how this foregrounds that Danny is not the good guy here. And all the shots of glee. Stacking all the shots of glee together is really effective.

[giandujakiss]

Often, I am angry at it for doing all these things wrong, and yet managing to hit exactly the story notes I need to feel comfortably enwrapped in story.

Yes, exactly - I actually stopped watching it for a while, then got sucked into the fic, and then got sucked back into the show against my will! (Although they didn't torture anyone in this latest episode, so that was ... good?). Anyway, I'm very glad you thought the vid was effective - thank you!

[arallara]

Heh, well, that was cathartic for me too, in that same way, so thank you! Really well done, *really* effective build-up to that last clip.

[arallara]

Oh, also, I really loved the reaction shots, the smirky fondness Steve and Danny show each other, as they each do reprehensible things. In the show, those moments and those looks work as slash subtext moments--we totally love when they look at each other like that, right? Using those reaction shots here is a nice way of acknowledging how much we eroticize that aspect of their dynamic in our own slashy fantasies because the show weaves the violence into their characters and their relationship in that way, textually.

It's like the show is saying, no, don't look over there at the police brutality, look over here at how cute Steve and Danny are being! And we go, okay, yes, WE LOVE STEVE AND DANNY! I have no idea if I'm making sense! But I liked it! Really, well done!!

(And also, I'm totally reading the hell out of H50 fic right now and mostly guilt-free loving the episodes as I watch them, going lalalalala about the things that don't make sense or that actually really suck. It's a happy place show for me! But I agree with and have thought myself about everything you've said in this post and this vid, so I figured I'd take my chance to continue the catharsis, heh. I have no judgment for anyone who watches this show without angsting about all this stuff, though! Have at it!)

[isagel]

This vid is painful to watch, in exactly the right way. I don't watch the show (and now I want to watch it even less than before), but your message was crystal clear, anyway, and absolutely chilling. A really important vid, I think, not just in the context of H50, but for shining a light on the sanctioning of breaking people's civil rights for the "right" reasons that we're seeing all around, in so many shows. Just, awesome. I'm very glad you made this.

[giandujakiss]

Oh, thank you! I'm really glad that the message was clear and that you found it effective. And yeah, it's definitely a problem on more than just H50, which is exactly why I can't just handwave it.

[busaikko]

I downloaded this the other day, and was just reccing it to a friend when *facepalm* realized I hadn't told you how great it is. When I watch the show, I have to imagine that it takes place in a dystopia where the governor's word is as good as law, and there are no penalties against police or military officers for using violence and torture. It freaks me out and scares me, and then I read the fic and... nothing but fluff and curtains. And that willful turning of a blind eye in order to put pretty people together scares me just as much. So I think I am going to be reccing this vid a lot; it does a fantastic job of presenting the problematic as an unrelenting assault that can't be tidied away or ignored. Which is wonderful!

[giandujakiss]

Thank you! Yeah, it's so problematic because you really can't ignore it - so much of Danny and Steve's flirting takes place while they're torturing suspects. I can't even fast forward past the torture to get to the fun stuff. It really just leaves such an unnecessarily sour note for me.

Although the last couple of episodes haven't been as bad, so I'm haoping maybe they're going to dial it back a bit now? Maybe.

Anyway, I'm very glad you liked the vid - thank you!

[reddwarfer]

Such a brilliant video. It really captures the essence of the show which has always made my belly squirm in a bad way. And it actually shows why Steve/Danny is not my otp. (Although, I do semi-ship and enjoy reading some of it) Because there's too much of this uncomfortable ends-justify-the-means aspect of Steve and Danny wasn't like that before meeting him, that I think he actually is a terribly negative influence.

[giandujakiss]

Yeah, I love the fic too - it's what sucked me back into the show after I'd given up on it. And yes, Danny is presented as the "good" one except he really isn't - I'd love to see Danny actually rein Steve in, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

I'm so glad you liked the video - thanks for commenting!

Wow

[(Anonymous)]

Hi I hope you don't mind annoynmous comments? I don't have a LJ account but am going to sort that out.

This vid really brought me up cold. I have to be honest the violence in the show didn't shock me. I tend to watch stuff like The Shield and The Sopranos so this is a cakewalk. But it has bothered me a lot that the cops on this show do what they like. In The Shield that is shown too but it is in a complex way that makes you think as a viewer.

In HFO it's more of a 'aren't these crazy guys cool'.

I have to say the show doesn't bug me as much as 24 did. Now that was full on horrendous but I had to watch because it was such an addictive story line.

I never thought HFO was that bad but this vid has made me re-evaluate it and you know that comment about how the 'hot' looks between the guys are linked to the violence. It makes me actually a bit disturbed about myself and what I like about it. And the fact that AOL's mucho pretty blinded me to what a psycho McGarett actually is.

Great, thought provoking video and comments.

Re: Wow

[giandujakiss]

Of course I don't mind anon comments - thank you! I'm really glad the vid made you look at the show a new way. Because yes, it's not the violence per se - it's the fact that it's shown in this "rah rah yay America" way, like we're supposed to cheer that this is being done by cops.

I couldn't watch 24, and partly it was for the same reason.

Anyway, I'm happy you found the vid thought-provoking - thanks for commenting!

[grey_bard]

I love the show, but I have so many problems with this aspect of it. I just. Why is that even there? You make a happy funtimes teamy copshow and you throw in police brutality as a running joke WHAT? I just. Gah. Don't do it next season, writers! You can improve!

Thank you so much for this vid. It makes me feel like reposting all of those "These are how your civil liberties work and if they violate them YOU CAN SUE THEM TO HELL" videos the show angered me enough to link.

[giandujakiss]

Thank you! Yes, I know it's so frustrating that it's not only a running joke, it's also this mechanism of flirtation for Steve and Danny so if you 'ship them there's no escaping it!

But I did notice they seemed to be dialing it back in the last couple of episodes so I am hopeful things will improve.

I'm very glad you liked the vid - thank you!

Wow!

[springwoof]

What a powerful and moving vid! I can't believe how perfectly you've depicted the things that bother me about H50! My initial reaction to the show was: I like the pretty, but OMG, violent! And later that turned into: Woah! That's a LOT of police brutality. More than the show should be able to get away with under the free pass of "action show". I love how your vid demonstrates how the show practically *marries* the brutality to the pretty and the banter, and yes, how it's not "just Steve" but Danny too, and--to a lesser extent--the whole team. And also, how often the torture violent interrogation is perpetrated not just against perpetrators of crimes, but against *anyone* they want to question (e.g. the weightlifting guy).....

I still love my show, but feel guilty watching the...cartoonish...brutality, which we'd never tolerate (I HOPE) from police forces in real life....

Thanks for a powerful and eye-opening vid. It's wonderfully done, too--music and clips welded powerfully and rhythmically together to tell a compelling story...

Re: Wow!

[giandujakiss]

against *anyone* they want to question (e.g. the weightlifting guy).....

I know, right? That guy hadn't really done anything, and that scene is so painful - he's absolutely terrified. And yes, exactly, the banter is completely tied to the violence - it's a huge part of the Danny/Steve relationship, so you can't just handwave past it.

I'm very glad you found the vid effective - thank you!

[malnpudl]

Wow. That really brings it home. What a great job of shining a light on so much of what I've found enormously disturbing, right from the first episode. Really effective.

It's been weird for me, watching this show, since I have three close friends who are retired cops, and I occasionally watch the show with one of them, and have discussed it with all three. They all LOVE it. They recognize that it's completely unrealistic, but they love it for the id vortex wish-fulfillment fix.

As they've put it (I'm paraphrasing, of course), cops are so often prevented from bringing about real justice by the many strict limits on what they are allowed to do. They recognize that this is necessary, as is the justice system and [at least most of] due process, but it's almost unbearably frustrating to watch so many bad guys get away with so much and be unable to do anything about it -- and that's compounded over many years of service, with ever escalating bitterness and cynicism.

I don't have any of that background, so the only way I've been able to watch and enjoy the show is to switch my critical brain all the way to OFF before turning it on. Zero relationship to reality. Fantasy world la la la ad infinitum. Look at the pretty slashy boys, oh my.

Anyway, yeah. Powerful vid, enormously effective. Awesome. I'm very glad that you made this and that fandom is talking about it.

[giandujakiss]

Thank you so much! And, heh, I guess I shouldn't find it surprising that cops enjoy it - there's actually a line in the show where they're talking about CHiPs (but on a meta level clearly referencing H50 itself) and calling it a "TV cop fantasy" :-). But I just find it disturbing because I think these kinds of shows feed into a myth in American culture that all of these rules are just technicalities that are manipulated by evil defense attorneys. And I think that's dangerous and it has real-world effects on our political dialogue.

Anyway, I'm really glad you enjoyed the vid - thank you!

[thady]

This vid really put the finger on what bothers me so much about Hawaii 5-O. Especially how the brutality and rights violations are so entwined with the banter and flirtations of Danny and Steve. If those are the good guys...

And there's something that bothers me even more: The lack of discussion in fandom. At least I didn't really have come across it. It can't really be all about the pretty, can it?

[giandujakiss]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked the vid! As for discussion in fandom, I have seen it mentioned - but it's not surprising to me that people who are fans of the show are mostly focused on the squee.

[tieleen]

Thank you for making this. I love a lot of things about H50, but their entire approach to police work is just... yeah.

In the first episode, or one of the first, Steve tells someone,
'We're the new kind of cops.' Because, of course, police brutality is a fresh and awesome idea, as opposed to something as old and unshiny as you can get. And I feel like that's something the writers really believe, or want us to believe. It's good to see that entire ball of ugh highlighted.

[giandujakiss]

We're the new kind of cops

Oh my god, yes, that line absolutely kills me - like it's new and revolutionary to torture suspects and witnesses, like we haven't been trying to root that out of police departments for over 100 years.

I'm glad you liked the vid - thanks for watching!

[sophia_sol]

Ooooh. *shudders* Yes. That. This is a really well-done vid encapsulating exactly the trouble I have with this show. I love it, and I love watching Steve and Danny interact, but the callousness with which they do things like that is just.... yeah. Thank you for doing this vid.

[giandujakiss]

Yes, exactly, I feel the same way - I love the Steve and Danny banter, but I hate the way half their banter seems to revolve around abusing suspects and witnesses. I'm very glad you liked the vid - thank you!

[false_alexis]

Thanks so much for putting so clearly into a what's been bothering me for so long, but I never could find the words for. I have a soft problematic shows in general, because I love thinking about the problems and trying to break them down, but H50 has been eluding me. Here it is, though: I can watch the police brutality but I can't condone it. Like you, I had a slightly easier time with the less brutal episodes later in the season.

Your choices here are all so spot on, particularly the song and the ending sequence. Thank you, really and truly, for this vid.

[giandujakiss]

I'm very glad you liked it! For me, it's not really that I enjoy breaking down the problems - more like I have to because I just can't enjoy the shows uncomplicatedly. And yes, I was glad they stopped turning the brutality in to such a punchline later in the season, although there were still moments that made me cringe :-(.