What is Vidding & When do Fan Edits Become Legitimate Pieces of Pop Culture?
Look up 'Lana del Rey music videos' on YouTube and chances are that you will come across not only the singer’s official channel, but also Leandro’s (leandroxcx). With 226k+ subscribers and millions of views, it is a great example of what can happen when a superfan, self-taught editor and film buff decides to deliver painstakingly well-crafted fan made videos (vids).
His most viewed vid (35M+ views) is symptomatic of how deeply fan culture has contributed to shaping pop culture as a whole, by meshing together two defining moments of the 2000s and 2010s: Lana singing “my pussy tastes like Pepsi Cola” and Megan Fox devouring young men while wearing the most iconic pair of heart-shaped earrings. The (un)holy union between two unhinged staples of pop culture, an act of disruption and celebration. Which is what vidding is all about, I think.
“How did you come up with the idea for the Cola x Jennifer’s Body vid?” I ask Leandro, eager to find out how one of my favourite vids came to be.
“I never thought it would be that popular! One day I decided to rewatch the movie, and I knew I had to make a vid. Then I went on Spotify looking for songs, and Cola was just the perfect match.” He enthuses, “I think there’s something about her songs, those feelings of nostalgia, melancholia, that make her music so relatable and loved by many. For me, personally, it’s about nostalgia.”
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The vid has now reached over 35M views. Considering that Jennifer’s Body suffered from terrible marketing back in the day, Leandro has definitely contributed to its rediscovery and ascension to cult classic status. A fact he thanks every viewer for: “It’s such a great feeling to see your hobby recognised by so many people. And it’s given visibility to my other videos, which is amazing. I really appreciate it.”
When I ask him to tell me what it's like to be a vidder today, navigating the complex yet fascinating media fandom ecosystem, his enthusiasm breaks through the initial walls of shyness, reaching me through the screen. This is what he loves doing – no doubts about it.
“I’ve always been a huge fan of cinema, Lana Del Rey, and other indie artists,” he tells me. “So I thought it would be a good idea to combine film with music. When I first started, however, a few other channels were doing what I was doing, and I wanted to make sure that I was not copying anyone else’s ideas. So I started coming up with ideas by looking at the movies that I liked and that could match the songs I was obsessed with at the time – it took me a while to learn how to use the editing software, but then when I started combining the songs with the films I realised they went so well together!”
According to Francesca Coppa, two of the creators who first realised that movies and music could go well together were Kendra Hunter and Diana Barbour with Starsky and Hutch (1980), which was probably the first vid to be released publicly. With the insurgence of VCRs and other technological wonders, many creatives began to look at all the content that they were consuming in a different light: not only as tasty morsels of media, but also as malleable dough that could be reshaped by them, following their own recipes. While paving the way for future generations of vidders like Leandro.
But that’s where it gets a bit complicated. Alexis Lothian, for instance, delves deeply into the intricacies of vidding: the ambiguous and often contradictory relationship between creators, digital ownership, and capitalism; media producers capitalising on fan-made content, stealing the labour of those who have ‘stolen’ from them.
“It’s a comforting thought, knowing that there are other people out there, older or younger, but just as obsessed over the same tunes and/or films, unashamedly willing to allow themselves to indulge in some wonderfully cheesy daydreaming.”
“I’m very careful now, I never make videos using unreleased songs.” Leandro tells me, “Those can get you in trouble and get your channel taken down, and I really don’t want to have my channel taken down! I love vidding. I almost went to film school, but then I ended up doing other things and I decided to keep it as a hobby, because I didn’t want to get sick of editing. It's so much fun for me. The best part is seeing the final product and then uploading it to the world. It’s such a nice feeling.”
Despite its inner contradictions, in fact, vidding has been a liberating practice for many people for a long time, granting them the anonymity and digital tools to explore their innermost desires, even addressing social taboos. Considered (and often dismissed) as a feminine practice by many, the idea of ‘fan made’ has also often carried a negative connotation – something existing outside of our culture, rather than embedded in it.
Thanks to him, subscribers are also discovering many songs and films that they might have otherwise never come across, which Leandro confirms as a favourite aspect of putting his vids out into the world. “I always receive comments from people saying that they’ve discovered a song or a film thanks to one of my videos. It happens often and it’s so nice to see other people get obsessed with the same songs and movies that I also love.” He explains. “I have also been contacted by many different artists, who are not very well-known yet. I have collaborated with them and helped them gain more visibility, which is great.”
Consuming fan made content is mostly a light-hearted, often nostalgic form of fun, and (re)discovery. However, particularly after reading the comments under the vids, it has also helped me feel more comfortable in my own skin. And skin has a memory of its own – it might be losing elasticity as the years go by, but it is also quick to remember what it used to feel like to stack a bunch of mismatched beaded bracelets, getting goosebumps while listening to a song, thinking about someone: the one you have crush on, and the one who is you. The self you want to become, the self you’re currently learning to accept, and understand.
It’s a comforting thought, knowing that there are other people out there, older or younger, but just as obsessed over the same tunes and/or films, unashamedly willing to allow themselves to indulge in some wonderfully cheesy daydreaming. Thankfully, creators like Leandro make it all a bit easier, guiding us through the corridors of our own imagination.
Words: Benedetta Mancusi
