The Internet Mocked The Video Star

The Internet is an amazing place. It remains true to its initial mission of being a means of communicating information. However, with the advent of the World Wide Web, it became a forum for the display of creativity in myriad forms. Much of what passes for "creative" endeavor on the web is dreck, of course. Nevertheless, every once in a while something pops up that simply puts a smile on your face in appreciation of the clever thought and talent (limited though it may be) to bring it to life.

Modern computers and digital media have given everybody the ability to do things with video that were the sole province of seasoned technicians only a few years ago. For those of you who appreciate both Star Wars and Magnum P. I. (and you know who you are), here is a clever little video clip that came my way this week.

One of the memes that has been running around the Internet of late is replacing the song lyrics from old music videos with literal descriptions of the action in the videos themselves. The golden age for music videos was the 1980s, which provides a rich vein to be mined of easily mockable hair and clothing styles, silly songs, and pretentious, often inscrutable art direction. The first of this genre that I saw was a reimagining of the classic one-hit wonder, "Take On Me" by the Finnish band A-Ha. The video actually was, and remains, a remarkable artistic achievement, which brought both MTV and the band well-deserved recognition. However, the story told to great effect in the video has nothing to do with lyrics of the song, so the folks who put together this literal video have some good fun with it.

As is the way of the Internet, as soon as one person comes up with a clever idea, a million copies follow. YouTube is full of them. Here is what I consider to be one of the better examples, based on the general cringe-worthiness of both the song and the video, and the sport the re-writers have with it. Fair warning: I have not been able to get this song out of my head all week. You're welcome.