VID REC: Pirates of the Caribbean - Cheers, Darling

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Vidder: Steph
Musical artist: Damien Rice
Pairing: James Norrington/Elizabeth Swann
Vidder on LJ: anothersoapbox
Vidder's website:
Why this vid kicks ass:

When I saw Damien Rice in concert he framed "Cheers, Darling" as an overly melodramatic retelling of this one time he tried to pick up a girl in a bar who turned out to already have a boyfriend. While James' unrequited passion in Pirates of the Caribbean received rather more epic treatment, the end of the first film leaves James in a rather maudlin, bitter place - his angst both absurdly extreme and desperately sincere. This vid aches in exactly the same self-deprecating, painfully ironic way as Norrington in Dead Man's Chest, and offers a bitting look at the evolution of his feelings for Elizabeth as she turns away from him again and again and again. The final montage of Elizabeth with what seems like everyone but James as he watches on, heartbroken, is particularly well executed. (Watch also for the clever use of the lines "Here's to you and your lover boy/lover man")

This vid contains a ton of effects: black and white, blanked out sections, cuts that dramatize musical tones, subtitles, inter-textual references, freeze frames, and even more! What does it all mean? Artistic genius or distracting pyrotechnics? I'm fonder of some of these techniques than others, but if nothing else they add another layer of meaning to ponder on top of some very solid storytelling and evocative emotional moments.

Cheers, Darling

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Ooops - fixed!