Idolator’s Tribute-Video Treasury Gets It On With The Special Victims Unit

Ed. note: Once again, Idolator intern Kate Richardson scours the video sites, looking for the best fan-made music videos. In this installment, she looks at two clips that look at the ever-smoldering romance between two members of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit‘s squad (sadly, neither of the clips utilize the music of Ice-T):

In the criminal justice system, tribute video-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies…are totally getting it on! These are their stories. Just when I thought I was out of the slash fic game, they pulled me back in, this time with some of that red-hot detective-on-detective action. Think about the kind of gritty music that might accompany a story of twisted love between two sex crime investigators. Now totally forget about that sort of music and watch these two clips:

Song: “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls Concept:: Benson and Stabler as playful, flirtatious duo unsure of whether they want to sacrifice chill time with friends for a serious relationship. In the future, Internet scholars will use the text in the beginning of this video to summarize the YouTube-era zeitgeist: “I get bored ok?! And I resorted to Spice GIrls…Enjoy!” Those three phrases perfectly encapsulate the boredom/silly music/desire to entertain rhythm of YouTube. As for the real matter at hand, yes, this video does rock. First of all, you have to appreciate the combination of bouncy pop music and sex crimes investigation–I can’t think of a more inappropriate song for these clips. Second of all, even if you take the characters out of the the sex-crimes context, it’s still totally incongruous. These people are in their late thirties/early forties; one is married with kids, the other … I forget what her deal is, but somehow she’s hardened by life. And yet what this video aims to tell us is that Olivia was all, “Listen, Elliot, I want to hang out with you this summer, but that means you have to be cool with Munch and Tutuola. They’re really important to me and I can’t just start ignoring them because I’m with you.” Then Elliot just shrugged and was like, “Zigazig ha!” The only thing that disappoints a little bit here is the editing. It’s not terrible, but with such a high-energy song I’d have liked to have seen more crazy wipe transitions and a few quicker cuts. Best music-to-image sync-up moment: A little over a minute in, the Spice Girls sing “I won’t be hasty, I’ll give you a try. If you really bug me then I’ll say goodbye,” as Olivia looks annoyed and walks out on Elliot. Silliest music-to-image sync-up moment: At 1:33 there’s a clip of Stabler running frantically through a crowd to get to an injured Benson as a child kidnapper escapes. The severity of that situation in combination with “Wannabe” is just too much.

Song: “Jolene” by Dolly Parton Concept: Benson as heartless homewrecker. Let’s start with the title of this video: “A Desperate Plea from Kathy to Olivia.” For those of you not hip to the cast of SVU‘s (very) minor characters, Kathy is Detective Elliot Stabler’s wife, and she shows up every now and then when the writers come up short a few minutes on an episode. The obscurity of the concept is definitely what carries this video. That and the excellent Dolly Parton song. The general story of the song does match the plot of the show pretty well, but the portrayal of detective Benson as a husband-stealing harlot is a little off-base. Editing-wise, the slow fades match the pace of the song, but get a little boring, and I’m not digging the black and white color setting. The experience of watching this is pretty unmoving, but the concept is weird enough to compensate. Best music-to-image sync-up moment: At 1:10 there’s a clip of Benson wearing some sort of hooker getup and walking in slow motion, the closest she ever gets to actually looking like Jolene. Silliest music-to-image sync-up moment: At 1:41 Benson is making out with a dude who, if I remember correctly, ends up being a serial rapist, which is not all that silly, but it is kind of amusing that it’s matched with the lyric “You could have your choice of men.”

Verdict: I’m actually declaring a hung jury on this one. While I think the Spice Girls video is more entertaining to watch, I’m just really attached to the concept and title of the “Jolene” clip.