New vid! "The Greatest," multifandom SF/F/H characters of color extravaganza

[bironic]

A year ago January, resolute won a vid from me as part of the FandomTrumpsHate charity auction. Her most intriguing request:

a multi-fandom vid set to Sia's "The Greatest" reveling in the bad-ass wonderfulness of characters of color in SF/F/horror TV and movies of the last 3-5 years.

I don't watch a lot of TV shows, but the music and concept called to me, and I couldn't resist the challenge. Fifteen months, a ton of help and approximately 75 new or new-to-me sources later, I'm proud to present:


Title: The Greatest
Fandom: Multi
Music: by Sia feat. Kendrick Lamar (edited)
Length: 4:27
Content notes: character deaths (2:38, 3:14, 3:20-3:31), zombie beheading (:25-:26), characters being shot at (but not harmed), character briefly being choked, character played by the late Nelsan Ellis
Physical notes: lightning/electricity flickers (:46-:52), shaky cam
Spoilers: The 100, Agents of SHIELD, Doctor Strange, Gotham, The Magicians, People of Earth, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Sleepy Hollow, Star Trek: Discovery, Supernatural, Timeless, X-Men: First Class, Z Nation


AO3 | Tumblr | Twitter | Vimeo | YouTube | download at Mediafire (60 MB .rar) + subtitles (.srt) + character/source IDs (.srt)

"The Greatest" (Watch on Vimeo)

THANK YOU

To resolute for donating, originating the concept and song, and working with me to shape the final product.

To the FandomTrumpsHate auction team for providing the opportunity to vid for charity.

To wiscon_vidparty for granting an extension that allowed this to be finished in time for the con.

To the army of fan friends who honed the character list, advised on key episodes for dozens of the shows I hadn't seen, provided source, helped me think things through (and sometimes helped me stop thinking so much), recommended software, reviewed drafts, and more: anoel, arduinna, bonibaru, cathexys, cherry, cinco & R., deelaundry, disgruntled_owl, dolorosa_12, DrGlam, elipie, eruthros, ghost_lingering, happydork, kiki_miserychic, laurashapiro, llincathryn, longwhitecoats, lurrel, merisunshine36, metatxt, mific, monanotlisa, NicasioSilang, no_detective, par_avion, purple_fringe, rionaleonhart, sanguinity, scribe, sdwolfpup, seekingferret, SerenadeStrong, sholio, sisabet, sol_se, stultiloquentia, synn, thedeadparrot, thingswithwings, topaz_eyes, trelkez and violace. Other people I've inadvertently left out. Half of Twitter for support and encouragement. I couldn't have made this vid without all of you.


Sources

The 100, 3%, The 6th World, Advantageous, After Earth, Agents of SHIELD, Almost Human, Altered Carbon, American Gods, American Horror Story (Coven, Freak Show, Roanoke), Annihilation, Ash vs. the Evil Dead, Black Lightning, Black Mirror, Black Panther, BrainDead, Captain America: Civil War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Chronicles of Riddick, Cleverman, The Cloverfield Paradox, Continuum, Crazyhead, Crossbones, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, Dark Matter, The Dark Tower, Death Note (2017), The Defenders, Defiance (TV), Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Dirty Computer "emotion picture," Doctor Strange, Doctor Who, Emerald City, The Expanse, The Exorcist (TV), Extant, Falling Skies, Fear the Walking Dead, The Fits, The Flash, Game of Thrones, Get Out, Ghostbusters (2016), The Girl with all the Gifts, The Good Place, Gotham, Grimm, Humans, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Jessica Jones, Justice League, Killjoys, Krypton, Legends of Tomorrow, The Librarians, Life, Lucifer, Luke Cage, The Magicians, The Martian, The Originals, Orphan Black, Pacific Rim Uprising, People of Earth, Penny Dreadful, Power Rangers (2017), Powerless, Powers, Raising Dion (web), The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Runaways, Sense8, Shadowhunters, The Shannara Chronicles, Siren, Sleepy Hollow, Snowpiercer, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Trek (2009), Star Trek: Beyond, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Stranger Things, Suicide Squad, Supergirl, Supernatural, Thor: Ragnarok, Timeless, Travelers, True Blood, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, The Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead, Westworld (TV), A Wrinkle in Time, What We Do in the Shadows, Wonder Woman, The Worst Witch, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: First Class, Z for Zachariah, Z Nation


Who's that at [time]?

Good news! If you click the (CC) button on the Vimeo player and select "Interlingua," you'll get a subtitle file that identifies every clip in the vid. On YouTube, enable captions and then click the Settings gear icon to choose Interlingua.

Regular subtitles are also available in English. Lyrics can be found here, although the vid has extra verses because it's a combination of two versions of the song.


How did you decide who & what to include?

The inclusion criteria went something like:

- Characters of races and ethnicities that are underrepresented in the countries that produced the movie or show
- Countries = mostly U.S., also Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, a few scattered others
- Characters got struck from the list if they were played by someone the U.S. would generally consider white
- Live-action sources
- I wanted to see the performer's face. No green-face makeup or whatever (e.g. Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy), full-face masks (e.g. Klingons in Star Trek: Discovery) or CGI/motion capture characters (e.g. Maz Kanata in Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
- "Badass" does not mean "pointing and shooting guns"

Also, FWIW, inclusion in the vid does not always imply endorsement of the original source or how a character was treated in it, *cough* Slipknot *cough*.

Note

This vid began life as a way to raise support for at-risk groups in the United States and as an artistic act of resistance and celebration. If you are so moved (and able), perhaps you will consider extending the reach of FandomTrumpsHate, within the U.S. or beyond, by donating as well. If you're looking for ideas, here is the auction runners' current list of charitable organizations at the U.S. national level. ♥

Drop a line about your donation at https://goo.gl/forms/Pz5HLrxsvYWJFKaM2, anonymously if you like, and it will be added to the tally!

ETA: Fandom is amazing. ♥ Organizations who've received support include: American Civil Liberties Union, Border Angels, Canadian Women's Foundation, ConPRmetidos, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Flippable, Higher Heights for America, Life After Hate, National Immigrant Justice Center, Planned Parenthood, The Refugee Council (UK), Southern Poverty Law Center, Standing Rock Legal Fund, Trans Lifeline, The Trevor Project, We The Protesters/Campaign Zero, Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights

Comments

[laurashapiro]

Your vid opened the show, and I wish you could have been here to hear the love and excitement with which it was received.

Gorgeous vid. Made of power and passion, with a clear and coherent structure among so many dozens of sources and characters. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[sheafrotherdon]

I love this SO MUCH! I especially love the juxtaposition of scenes of heartache and difficulty right before the vid explodes into joy with every chorus. What a gorgeous celebratory vid! ♥

[serrico]

This is SO GOOD. Great structure and great clip choices throughout. The expressions from :52 through 1:00! The striding from 1:34 to 1:40! The dancing! And your construction of the death scenes -> exploding back to life (and SCREAMING :D) section is really powerful, and leads the vid into its strong, happy finish.

Really well done! I enjoyed it very much. :)

[drglam]

That is stunning. I'm going to have to watch it a few more times to see it without blinking back tears.

[ghost_lingering]

Oh man, this is even better than I imagined! What a wonderful vid!

[sanguinity]

Oh, I knew it was going to be gorgeous and moving and powerful, and it was, it was, it was, it is.

[gingicat]

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

[tassosss]

This is amazing!

[jjhunter]

This is just glorious - thank you for sharing the gift of it.

[aurumcalendula]

This is awesome!

[grammarwoman]

What a magnificent beast of a vid! Your array of sources is amazing, and the themes and sections are gripping: smiling, crying, hugging, and bad-ass striding. I especially appreciated the subtitle track of characters and sources. Huzzah for you!

[minoanmiss]

your vid is conquering Tumblr. :D

[purplefringe]

This is, as I knew it would be, astoundingly, staggeringly, breathtakingly beautiful. I've watched you post about your struggles making this on twitter for a while, so I *know* just how much work you put into this - but my god you've made it look seamless. It flows so confidently - HOW you managed to find all those moments of connection in all those fandoms you didn't know, how you even began to plot the structure I will never fully understand - and it's just so powerful. I know this is going to be a vid I'm going to come back to again and again, and notice more details and more parallels and more layers every time. This time around (have just watched it through three times) I love the sequence of people bursting back into life that begins with Daisy/Quake, and the unfurling wings, the BULLETPROOF SEQUENCE omg and that quiet joy at the end.

Thank you so much for persevering with this, you've created something amazing <3

(Oh and also? I got many, many little pings of delight every time I spotted a character I loved, but when the perfect and beautiful face of Mr Alexander Siddig unexpectedly showed up it was more like a little explosion in my soul)

[cathexys]

This was awesome and beautiful and so much more than I'd ever hoped it'd be. Like all multivids it has these simultaneous moments of recognition and new context, taking meaning from the original (and you sure did an amazing sweep. I was squeeing several places and you went down to the wire with the Solo and Dirty Computer) and then placing the scenes to create new meaning (the wings expanding, the caregiving, the power development...so many gorgeous scenes).

So many shows I love, so many characters I love; some who got a great storyline and more who deserved better.

The song's awesome, especially because it allowed you to switch tempo and mood, and your vidding is superb as always. I wish I could see this on the big screen (and I wish you'd been able to be there!!!)

[par_avion]

I finally had time to sit down and watch it.Yay! So many awesome characters I know and love, and others to learn more about.

You make it look easy, and I know a lot of thought and care and skill went into the creation of this. Thank you.

[seekingferret]

I'm con sleep deprived and should say more later but this is awesome.

[st_aurafina]

I am clutching myself and a little bit teary at how amazing this is. I didn't know all the fandoms but I knew a lot and seeing everyone appear gave me an extra bump of joy. Oh, man, this one I am going to watch and re-watch because it's brilliant.

Thank you.

[sasha_feather]

This gave me chills and made me tear up. Very moving! And it was so great watching it at the WisCon vid party with everyone cheering at the end.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh, this is glorious!

I didn't know all the fandoms, but it made me so happy to see the ones I did, particularly Cleverman, Humans, and What We Do In The Shadows.

[skygiants]

THIS IS SO GORGEOUS!!!!

[bironic]

Thank you - and thank you for sharing a bit of how it went over at WisCon - and thank you for listening and providing good perspective back in August at VVC on our walk back from the supermarket, which I have not forgotten.

[bironic]

Thank you. <3 Those transitions were some of the hardest parts of the vid to edit, so it's extra excellent that they're what stood out for you.

[bironic]

Hooray, thank you! Those "I am the greatest" expressions really are the greatest, aren't they? <3

[bironic]

Thank you so much. And thank you again for helping make it possible.

[bironic]

Hooray, thank you! I was thinking of you while searching through season one of Orphan Black for Art Bell and wondering when he would do something besides look angry. Which is why he's in the vid looking angry. :)