lol
“Does anyone feel like he’s cosplaying Dylan?”
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Gilbert always delivers and his manual game is so sick. All the footage in his hometown and on spots made of knackered red bricks is always lovely to see. Quite a lot of b-roll but I think it worked because the colours of the HD footage married really nicely with the 16 and 35mm stuff. I really wanna skate that rooftop Euro gap. Only qualm was that I felt the song and his footage needed to be mixed… Louder?
Was expecting more from Justin Henry but the handful of tricks in there were great. Think the video would have benefited from a shorter but more fleshed out part from him as an intermission.
Me, of all people, can’t knock anyone for the look but Elijah went a bit beyond just the outfit. It’s the abundance of impossibles too (granted, most of them were crazy), but the school yard footage is what felt the most on the nose to me. Skating was insane though. Ender was a little sketchy but he did ride away from it on a snapped board.
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I remember Dill being interviewed talking about Dylan getting close to impossible noseblunts on a picnic table not long before he got sick, so seeing cosplay Dylan doing one felt off. No doubt it was a tribute but still. The songs are being played well, but they’re still someone else’s songs…
You could look at it as sweet and respectful that he’s doing what he’s doing albeit really creepy or you could look at it in that he’s really disrespecting a Dylan by hijacking his look because he knows it worked for him. Elijah is a good skater but does not have the personality to elevate him to the top so he’s stealing others, and really fucking weird that he chose a really loved dead guy.
I’m not in the most positive of minds right now but it just seems pretty fucked up to me. If it was less obvious and he spun it his own way but it’s not, he literally jumped into Dylans barely cold body.
I really enjoyed Elijah Berle’s part and thought he has good style but I can see what you mean about imitating Rieder. Maybe I’m alone in thinking it was a really rad part.
Haven’t watched this yet, but reading the comments sort of echos my feelings about Crockett and Berle. Crockett seems genuine in the look and style and lifestyle he’s into, he’s into what he’s into, and he’s been into it ever since he matured as a adult. Varying widths of trousers aside, that americana, classic tattooing, vintage look feels genuine for him.
Berle on the other hand has changed his look and style so many times its hard to get a handle on him. And as such its hard to buy into his personality.
No way that was sketch Faz haha
You could argue to a certain extent that there are equivalent issues in the edit itself (music choices, choice of B-roll shots) which strike me as a bit backward/morbid/fetishistic.
Ideologically speaking, it seems like the Vans™ brand is having identity issues because its central aesthetic (rugged-but-trendy blue-collar Americana) is becoming increasingly difficult to invest in at a time when US cultural/political identity is fundamentally in crisis.
from memory based on 1 viewing, this video contained:
- Factories
- 1950s gas-station attendant rockabilly stylings
- Old coins
- Link Wray
- a big-letters “CLASSIC” Roy Orbison song
- hound dogs
- A “baseball” game
Thinking from a consumer perspective, perhaps the American dream of big industry (even the later nostalgic romanticism of post-industrial landscapes) doesn’t feel so appealing nowadays with the massively present financial, health and environmental crises. There are possibly also some Trumpist/conservative overtones to the “true american” brand image, which become even harder to push now that he has lost the 2nd term.
In terms of choice of skaters: you could see Gilbert and Elijah as embodying aspects of the Vans brand (style conscious and classic American heartthrob). I feel very cynical and kinda bad saying this, but in that light the Justin Henry cameo does appear as slightly tokenistic (ie. as a way of tempering or offsetting the other very “White America” aspects of the edit). His presence in the video was more than a “guest trick”, but less than a section in itself. Neither does he appear as part of a wider team montage.
He’s a good skater and rides for both Vans and Quasi so it’s not totally random, but it does make me wonder about the extent to which marketing directives dictate aspects of the edit for these sorts of productions. I’m perhaps overthinking it.
Danny Garcia’s music on the other hand felt more integrated into the whole, and like a breath of fresh air in this context because although rooted in blues, it was different and open enough to suggest new possible futures.
To what extent are Vans (via Greg Hunt) clinging onto + over-egging a brand image that is becoming increasingly hard to get behind? How much implicit ideology is there in a simple skate edit, or is this just tin-foil-hat stuff?
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We have to remember that Vans are still new to the video game though, They never had an identity in that way but are the longest running shoe brand in skateboarding.
How do you even put something out for vans when they have such history but no previous visuals to go from.
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He has and it is a massive improvement. I really liked his line ending in the kickflip front crook, that was lovely.
You could also argue that Vans’ brand identity with skateboarding has always come from its riders. Unlike say Emerica or Es or Fallen who placed an identity on those that rode for it, Vans covers so many touchpoint outside of skateboarding (music, fashion, surfing, early skateboarding, cali americana, normies) that its easier to let the rider personalities dictate how we relate to the brand.
Anyway, i’m going to actually watch it now.
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That’s because Tom isn’t trying hard to have an image, he;s trying hard to make his skateboarding look and feel good for himself.
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It’s also why I love SK8Mafia videos so much, the edits are always a bit of a mess but they feel free and fun. Music choices don’t mean so much, styles are all over the place, huge friends sections with “unimpressive” tricks, and here’s no central concept to the vid beyond a group of mates having a laugh.
Even the name SK8MAFIA is a bit geeky and crap, but it clearly came from a stoner epiphany so it’s good vibes all the way!
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Loved Gilberts mack 10 heelflip nose manny down the banked ledge, and his arms on the 180 flip manny
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Still not watched it yet but that’s a shame. Good to know before going in.
Not at all, it’s good to know what kinda thing it is. All sounds quite contrived, but I guess that’s the nature of a company like that with dudes like them. I’m sure it’ll be playing in loop in their shops so they’re going to want as many regular people as possible to watch as much of it as possible. Regular people who don’t know about corny outfits / song choices / editing.
Very much looking forward to it though.
I have judged it on one line haha. I doubt i’ll change my opinion when I watch it all.
Haha, the cosplay Dylan comment is funny, but saying that you can’t do a trick on a bench because somebody, now dead, tried it and didn’t make it, is total crap! Henry Sanchez was doing/trying these back in 1991, should skaters stop trying them out of some misplaced sense of respect for a skater from back then, or because Rieder died a few years ago?
While I found it hard to look past the James Dean/Marlon Brando wannabe outfits which really isn’t my thing, that was a savage section. Full of power, speed, hard tricks, harsh spots, all done well.
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Exactly, the Rieder imitation is a little bit grating but I thought it was a really good part.
“Hey Johnny! What are you rebelling against?”
“Whaddaya got?”
What are you rebelling against? - YouTube
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