Buffy vs Edward (Twilight Remixed)

Over 2.5 million views since 06/19/09 & subtitled into 30 languages!

Read why I made the remix on Women In Media and News -  See my FAQ post

Description:
In this remixed narrative Edward Cullen from the Twilight Series meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer at Sunnydale High. It’s an example of transformative storytelling serving as a pro-feminist visual critique of Edward’s character and generally creepy behavior. Seen through Buffy’s eyes, some of the more sexist gender roles and patriarchal Hollywood themes embedded in the Twilight saga are exposed in hilarious ways. Ultimately this remix is about more than a decisive showdown between the slayer and the sparkly vampire. It also doubles as a metaphor for the ongoing battle between two opposing visions of gender roles in the 21ist century.

Press:
• NPR Radio – When Fair Use Isn’t Fair
• LA Times – Meet the man who staked ‘Twilight’s’ leading vamp
• Jezebel – Buffy Shuts Down Edward Cullen In The Best Clip Ever
• Entertainment Weekly – Twilight and Buffy: Together at last!
• Perez Hilton – Edward Cullen meets Buffy Summers
• After Ellen – Buffy vs Edward: Place your bets now
• Washington City Paper – Buffy Vs. Edward Cullen: A Feminist Mash-Up
• Slate – Jung, Buffy, Twilight, Virginia Woolf—and Happiness
• Change.org – Buffy vs Edward Cullen
• Vanity Fair – Buffy Could Kick Edward Cullen’s Precious Sparkly Ass
• New York Post – Edward Cullen, Dusted by Buffy
• Technology Review Magazine – Open Video in Practice

In Depth:
• Bitch Magazine – What Would Buffy Do? Notes on Dusting Edward Cullen
• Compare the original stalking scenes from Buffy and Twilight on Critical Commons
• Check out my answers to frequently asked questions about the remix

Other Video Formats: (right click and save)
• large full res version 188mb
• iphone/ipod version 40mb
• 3gp cell phone version 5mb
• web streaming on blip.tv

Subtitles & Translations:
• Closed caption option available on the youtube version for those that find it useful
• Link to the full english transcript from “Buffy vs Edward”
• Subtitled in – Czech, Russian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Swedish, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Slovak, Lithuanian, Chinese, Malay, Dutch, Danish, Romanian, Tagalog, Slovenian, Arabic, Japanese, Turkish, German, Italian, French, Hungarian, Portuguese (Brazil & Portugal), Indonesian, Finnish & Spanish via DotSub.com
• You can help by adding, editing or fixing the translations here

Fair-use Notice & License:
This is a transformative work and constitutes a fair-use of any copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US copyright law. “Buffy vs Edward (Twilight Remixed)” by Jonathan McIntosh is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-3.0 License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Find out more about fair use at the Center for Social Media and more about fan based transformative works at the Organization for Transformative Works.

Discussion & Reviews:
A quick list of some of my favorite reactions and debates on the remix: jezebel.com, pandagon.net, smartbitchestrashybooks.com, pixiepalace.com, whedonesque.com and this Twilight fan blog. I’m sure there are many more out there – feel free to comment with links.

“It’s really good, I liked the girl power it showed. I’ve watched it like 10 times and showed it to my friends. It’s the best thing I have ever seen on the internet!”
— Dawi Zarni, age 10 Twilight fan on Buffy vs Edward

Special Thanks:
Thanks to Ryanne Hodson for all her help with the video encoding. Also to Anita Sarkeesian for consulting throughout the project, as well as to Francesca Coppa and Martin Leduc for help beta testing the narrative. Although this work is not a “vid“, it was influenced by vidding and vidders like Laura Shaprio. Thanks to bell hooks for her inspirational writing on pop culture, feminism, racism and love. And lastly, of course, to Joss Whedon for writing Buffy as a strong complex female character on television.

“..it’s true that Edward hasn’t come up against a kick-ass woman like Buffy. I’m really glad that she didn’t end up doing the smoochies with him.”
— Marti Noxon, executive producer of Buffy on the remix

What Would Buffy Do? Notes on Dusting Edward Cullen

I was honored to have been invited to write this guest post on Women In Media & News. It was first published there on July 1st 2009. When linking please use the WIMN post URL.

I usually try to stay away from forces of darkness, but last week I killed a famous vampire – and let me tell you, it was fun! Actually, I didn’t stake him myself — I used new media tools to allow one of the strongest female television characters of our generation to do it. OK, let me back up a minute. Last week, at the Open Video Conference at NYU Law School, I debuted my feminist mash-up video, Buffy v. Edward. It’s an example of transformative storytelling which reinterprets the movie Twilight by re-cutting and combining it with the TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Five months in the making, Buffy vs Edward is essentially an answer to the question “What Would Buffy Do?” My re-imagined story was specifically constructed as a response to Edward, and what his behavior represents in our larger social context for both men and women. More than just a showdown between The Slayer and the Sparkly Vampire, it’s also a humorous visualization of the metaphorical battle between two opposing visions of gender roles in the 21ist century.

Continue reading »

Speaking at the Open Video Conference

I’m excited to be participating in the Open Video Conference at NYU later this month (June 19th and 20th). During the event I will be giving a short presentation detailing my creative and technical process in hacking pop culture. Basically it will be a quick tour highlighting some of the tricks and tools I use to transform mass media and create political remix videos.  I will also be moderating a panel called “Who Owns Popular Culture? Remix and Fair-Use in the Age of Corporate Mass Media” which promises to be a fascinating discussion.

A little more about the event: “Open Video is more than just open codecs. It’s the growing movement for transparency, interoperability, and further decentralization in online video. These qualities provide more fertile ground for independent producers, bottom-up innovation, and greater protection for free speech online. The conference will showcase awesome cultural works, inspiring talks, and cool tech demos from around the world.”

Photographs on Bill Moyers Journal

Update: The episode aired on PBS Friday May 1st.
Watch it on the Moyers site or as a stand alone M4V file.

I just got news that a few of my photos will be featured on the PBS show Bill Moyers Journal. The images will accompany a story about the Boston organization City Life/Urbana Vida focusing on the eviction blockades they have been using to keep people in their homes after foreclose often due to predatory loan practices by large banks. For those of you in the US the episode will air on your local PBS station at 9pm (check local listings). Also see this months Progressive magazine for more on people fighting evictions in the Boston area.

24/7 DIY Video Summit Site Relaunched

Last February I curated and presented a show of political remix videos as part of the 24/7 DIY Video Summit at USC. Now they have relaunched the 24/7 website with extensive documentation of the conference panels and presentations including mine. Below is the new summit overview video with interviews and comments from the curators, presenters and panelists.

The new site also has downloadable high-res versions of the main screening and selected genre programs, curator’s comments and interviews. Including the entire political remix video genre screening with my comments at the beginning.

Continue reading »

The Open Video Alliance

In October 2008 I was invited to participate in the first meeting of the Open Video Alliance at Yale Law School. The event which brought together artists, organizations, media outlets and policymakers from around the world that have a stake in promoting, advocating and developing strategies for a new open video ecosystem online. This collection of brief video interviews with Alliance member (including myself) was put together by Ryanne Hodson and Jay Dedman of Ryanishungry.com to answer the question: “What’s Open Video?”.

I will also be presenting the Open Video Conference this June in nyc and am helping to organize a few panels on remix and fair use. I’ll post more info about that event as it becomes availible.

Screening and Panel at the Drake Underground

I just got word that my remix So You Think You Can Be President? will be shown before an advanced screening of my friend Brett Gaylor’s new film RiP: A Remix Manifesto. I will also be part of a Q&A panel discussion on remix afterward. The event is taking place at 7pm on Tuesday March 10th at the Drake Hotel Underground in Downtown Toronto. Check out www.firstweekendclub.ca for tickets and details.

Photos in The Progressive Magazine

Last year I did a series of photo essays documenting homeowners, activists and organizations like City Life/Vida Urbana in their struggle to stop sub-prime foreclosures in Boston. These evictions are still putting families on the street in record numbers across Massachusetts and across the country.  A few of my images are now appearing the March 2009 issue of The Progressive magazine. They accompany a featured article called Fighting Foreclosures by Colin Asher which talks about those efforts to stop forced evictions resulting from predatory lending by brokers and banks.

Street Art for the Capitol Climate Action

One of the things I love about digital image sharing sites is you never know where your photos are going to show up. In the spring of 2007 a few friends and I planned a Boston protest against big banks which were funding new dirty coal power plants. As part of that demonstration I made a few caution signs that said “Dirty Power Kills Communities” and we had participants dress in hazmat suits complete with masks and goggles. I took a set of photos at that action and put them on flickr and smugmug (at the time one even ended up on the Washington Post blog). This week, two years later, another of those images has shown painted on a wall in DC. as part of a street art campaign for another protest against coal power plants.

It a mass civil disobedience planned for March 2nd called the Capitol Climate Action. On that day thousands of people will descend on the Capitol Power Plant (which powers Congress with dirty energy) to demand a new clean energy economy based on solar and wind power. I have no idea who did this street art but I’m glad one of my photos is playing a small part in this action – plus its cool to see it painted larger than life on the side of a building.

Relaunched Political Remix Video Blog

I have just finished redesigning and reconfiguring my Political Remix Video collection blog. We have a new URL at politicalremixvideo.com as well as some new features including the expanded use of post tags for remix topics, a remix video submission form and a page of critical media literacy resources. Plus remix artist Elisa Kreisinger has joined the site as another blog editor. Special thanks to my brother Justin McIntosh for the redesigned graphics.