Derty Videos

In further controversial music video news, local "rapper" Derty Sesh has sparked outrage over his video Forever.

The video, which has today been taken down from youtube, depicts the Sesh-meister as a hulking, hoodie-clad killer, stalking and violently stabbing a female victim.

According to Rape Crisis and other women's groups, the video is "violent, misogynist pornography" and should be banned.

Two versions of the video exist, an edited version currently doing the rounds on TV and paid for with a NZ on Air grant and an extended version which features the more graphic version which is (or rather, was) only available online.

I watched the uncut version a couple of days ago and found it not shocking, but tedious. The producers seem to have gone to a lot of trouble to make it look like a horror film and defend the allegations of misogyny by likening the clip to shows like CSI and DEXTER.

The problem with the Forever clip, however, is that it does not reflect these shows, or horror movie conventions in any interesting way. I've been watching quite a bit of DEXTER lately (three-and-a-half seasons worth) and Derty Sesh's clip doesn’t harness any of the restraint or morbid humour of the show. It doesn’t even play with the tropes of horror cinema in general apart from some of the more obvious clichés.

Contrast this with some recent examples from the international film world that have also had the adjectives "violent", "misogynist" and "pornography" hurled at them by various commentators.

Von Trier's ANTICHRIST is one of the more obvious examples, but French film MARTYRS is just as good at illustrating the point. Both of these works are controversial because of the extreme violence, often inflicted upon women (MARTYRS set a benchmark for onscreen violence, being the first French film in it's native France to get 16+ censorship rating… a surprising feat given France's ultra-liberal stance on violence censorship) but both differ from the Sesh video for one big reason. They are both utterly, utterly compelling. Both ANTICHRIST and MARTYRS use their extreme violence as a means of exploring deep philosophical and even religious themes and are executed with breath-taking, jaw-dropping conviction. Even Wes Craven's notorious LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (banned in this country for about 30 years) has more substance in it's weaker moments, than the Forever clip.

Today it was revealed that the Department of Internal Affairs has referred the Forever video to the Office of Film and Literature Classification for the censors to classify. Good news for the clip's detractors, but ultimately I don’t think this action will have any kind of impact.

While the violence in the video is graphic by contemporary music video standards, it is not of a level that would deem it "objectionable" in my opinion. Recent mainstream films that have been banned in this country due to violence, HOSTEL PART II and IMPRINT had a sexual nature to the violence which is particular warning-bell for censors. There is little, if any, references to sex or sexual gratification in the Forever clip and it is for this reason that I believe the video will not be banned outright. It may be restricted (I'm putting my money on an R16 rating) but I don’t think anything in the clip warrants a full ban.

The other issue that this whole thing raises is one that is raised every time a questionable film or publication is scrutinized in public - it inevitably leads to a wider audience. However good the intentions of the Forever clip's detractors, if they hadn't have said anything there's a good chance that by this time next year, Derty Sesh would have faded into the lost-sock obscurity of NZ's music scene… and probably be hanging out with Dai Hamo.