I used to be a huge fan of the TV show "24" for the first couple of seasons. I was able to enjoy it as a guilty pleasure, in spite of the ludicrous plot holes, the physics-defying ability of people to run around full-speed without having slept for more than a day and a half, and yes, in spite of the torture scenes (which weren't too gratuitous for the first couple of seasons).
And then the news broke about Abu Ghraib.
And all of a sudden, "24" wasn't enjoyable for me anymore.
I couldn't enjoy it on an escape-from-reality level...because one aspect of the show was no longer an escape from reality; it was reality. In fact, reality was proving to be worse than the show, since I don't recall there ever being any prisoners being raped by CTU (then again, Jack Bauer's wife was raped by one of the bad guys in the first season, but it wasn't done as an "interrogation" method).
Anyway, from that point on, the whole show became unwatchable to me. It didn't help, of course, that in the 4th season (which I tried to watch, but became more and more disgusted with each episode), the writing, acting, cast and pacing became exponentially more terrible even without the ramped-up torture-for-no-particular-reason scenes.
I dunno...maybe it was just the torture factor which colored my view of the rest of the show's aspects, but for whatever reason, I've never been able to watch an episode again, even of the earlier seasons.
Why do I bring this up?
Well, "Weird Al" Yankovic has just released his long-awaited new album, "Alpocolypse", which features a typically perfect parody of Miley Cyrus' brain-candy pop hit "Party in the U.S.A."
"Weird Al's" version is called Party in the CIA.
I think you can guess where I'm going with this--and where he went with it.
Understand this: I've been a "Weird Al" fan for decades. Everyone loves him. He's brilliantly creative, has impeccable production values, and actually has a better voice and sense of rhythm & timing than most of the artists he parodies.
He's also, personally, considered one of the genuinely nicest guys in the industry. I can't recall him ever being involved in any of the usual tabloid crap that most musicians (and comedians, for that matter) occasionally find themselves in (speaking of which, the new album also includes a great Taylor Swift parody called "TMZ"). I've even met him backstage at a concert in Michigan; he's just a great guy overall.
In addition, I'm well aware that many of his past hits have had lyrics about terrible things happening to people; hell, "One More Minute" pretty much consists of nothing but descriptions of maiming and horrific torture.
And yet...
For some reason, the video for Party in the CIA just struck a nerve with me. An uneasy, disturbing, not-funny-at-all nerve.
Oddly, the song itself--listening to the lyrics--doesn't bother me; it's the accompanying video that does it.
Take a look yourself. As a parody, it's pitch-perfect, but from a cultural zeitgeist standpoint, it just depresses the hell out of me.
Don't get me wrong--I own every one of his albums, still think he's a genius, and, unlike "24", will continue to listen to his stuff in the future. It's just...man, this video just really gets to me.
And no, I never thought I'd see the day that I'd be using the "Weird Al" tag in a dKos diary.
Update: Edited title to be more accurate; it's not the song itself that bothers me, it the video version. For some reason adding the visuals just leaves me cold.