Gift for kuwdora by chaila (Transparent)

[fv_poster]

Title of vid: Fame
Recipient: kuwdora
Vidder: chaila
Fandom: Transparent US (2014-)
Music: Fame by Mree
Summary: "No one's ever seen me but me." Maura, Sarah, Ali
Content notes: No standardized notes apply
Signed length: 04:28
Signed URL:

Link to signed vid

Lyrics
Baby, look at me

And tell me what you see

You ain’t seen the best of me yet

Give me time I’ll make you forget the rest



I got more in me

And you can set it free

I can catch the moon in my hands

Don’t you know who I am



Remember my name

I’m gonna live forever

I’m gonna learn how to fly high

I feel it coming together

People will see me and cry, fame

I’m gonna make it to heaven

Light up the sky like a flame, fame

I’m gonna live forever

Baby, remember my name



Baby, hold me tight

‘Cause you can make it right

You can shoot me straight to the top

Give me love and take all I’ve got to give



Baby, I’ll be tough

Too much is not enough

I can ride your heart till it breaks

Ooh, I got what it takes



Fame, I’m gonna live forever

I’m gonna learn how to fly high

I feel it coming together

People will see me and cry, fame

I’m gonna make it to heaven

Light up the sky like a flame, fame

I’m gonna live forever

Baby, remember my name

Comments

[kuwdora]

OMFGGGGGGGGGGGGGG SQUEEEEEEEEEE -- I am going to be back with more detailed comments because right now my meds are fucking me up and I want to give you the appropriate amount of detailed squee of why this is a lovely, amazing vid. thank you so much and I'll be back later today!!!! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

[laurashapiro]

Oh, this was so, so beautiful. You captured everything I love about the show: all the fragments of people's shifting identities, the pain and joy of self-expression in a binary world, the love of the family. Priceless.

[chaila]

Thanks so much! These are absolutely all the things I loved about the show and hoped would come across, I'm so glad it worked for you! :)

[nicole_anell]

Wow, I'm not sure I can even be coherent about this vid, it's so beautiful and breathtaking. I love the song choice and how it ties to the idea of these characters wanting to be *seen* for who they really are. The visual parallels are just perfect, just one moment I loved was Maura and young Ali dancing around 2:55. Just an incredible vid.

[chaila]

Thank you! Yay yay, I know it's silly given the song but I really wasn't sure the whole aspect of them wanting to be seen was clear enough, or clear in the right way, with the right nuance? So yay, I'm glad you liked it!

[ghost_lingering]

This is haunting and beautiful.

[chaila]

Thank you!

[kuwdora]

this vid? is magnificent. where do I even start? the song choice. This song choice--this cover is layers upon layers of thoughtful awesomeness. The original is campy gay, 80s awesome--paired with Transparent would make this a VERY DIFFERENT VID. But omg, this cover is beautiful. I've never heard it before but the way that it alters the feeling and mood of the song is really emotional in a way I wasn't expecting. It ends up being more somber, melancholy, but still raw and fierce as hell and I love how that atmosphere of the music matches a lot of the fraught, conflicted feelings towards trying to be yourself and finding the happiness you know is just out of reach.

I love the construction of the vid, going from Maura to Sarah and Ali and back again. How it really does highlight how they're all still on their own journeys even though they all diverge wildly.

it's fucking heartbreaking, and i love the way that you've used the scene at the LGBT center as a grounding piece for the narrative because goddamnit, family, that was Maura's time to shine.

the juxtaposition between Maura at the cross dressing daycamp, dancing with the cool wife, and then the first time Maura shows her own wife who she really is-- omg it's amazing "baby hold me tight / because you can make it right" wanting acceptance and love for being who you are -- and the way it follows up with Alli dressing up for her hot date, omg, this is just fantasticcccccc all around.


pairing the girls lives when they're young and searching for love and happiness (alli on the beach with the dude in the overalls, Sarah on the bus with the girl) with Maura entering that room at the party with everyone dancing and finding that same happiness ! AUGH THIS VID IS GETTING ME THE FEELS RIGHT IN THE TICKER.

I also love that I watched the show recently enough to get the context of that final clip: where Mort decides to go by Maura, with the lyric remember my name -- SO FUCKING GREAT.

vidder, I appreciate the depth and nuance you have put into this. it is everything that i ever dreaaaaaaaaaamed of for a Transparent vid OMFG.

*clutches vid tight* this is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. thank you SO MUCH !!!!

[chaila]

Auuuuugh, THIS COMMENT, it made me cry when you left it! <3 I'm so pleased so much of what I was thinking and trying to convey came across. The song choice, YES, I loved it not just for itself (though it's gorgeous) for also for what it's a cover OF and how I hoped that added to the meaning of it.

the scene at the LGBT center as a grounding piece for the narrative because goddamnit, family, that was Maura's time to shine

I AM STILL SO MAD AT THEM. That whole sequence is just so heartbreaking, get your shit together, family! This show was so, so good at complex, nuanced emotions, like I'm so mad at the kids for their selfishness there and yet also love them all for all the ways they want to be seen and loved, and I want them all to see each other and connect and argh my feels. Maura's joy is so fragile, it's so happy and precarious, I cannot even stand it.

the juxtaposition between Maura at the cross dressing daycamp, dancing with the cool wife, and then the first time Maura shows her own wife who she really is-- omg it's amazing "baby hold me tight / because you can make it right" wanting acceptance and love for being who you are

I WANTED THIS TO WORK SO MUCH. So so happy it worked for you!

Thank you for taking the time to leave me such an awesome comment, and for being awesome. I am SO HAPPY you liked it! :DDD

[kuwdora]

I will be able to talk to you about this vid forever.

[cupidsbow]

This is so haunting and melancholy. So beautifully done.

[chaila]

Thanks so much!

[anoel]

Festividder, thank you SO MUCH for making this vid because it is everything I wanted in a Transparent vid and captures so much of what I love about the show. The song cover is beautiful and haunting and works so well for the source with the "remember my name" and Maura's name choice. I love how "look at me and tell me what you see" can refer to both other people and self-identity. I'm particularly in love with Sarah so the moments you chose of her with I've got more to me and you can set it free" and then later "too much is not enough" KILLED ME WITH FEELINGS. I love how you seamlessly blended these three women stories together while showing the love between them. I absolutely loved the moment at 1:30 with fame being Maura smiling happily getting her picture taken with her as she is, her joy came through so well. I really loved how you used the LGBT center dance and destroyed me all over again with sadness for Maura when her children aren't there to see her moment. I love how follow up that scene with her getting to dance with someone who accepts her and then going to his ex-wife to "take all I've got" which broke my heart at how much she wants to love. I also love the section from 3:20 with all the imagery of constructed gender identity (the shots of the two young girls was so perfect). The lyrics "I feel it coming together" was so perfect with the family shots of them coming together as a family both blood and chosen family. The shots of Maura with her grandchildren also really moved me and I love her putting away photos of her new life and taking out clothing of who she is now. THANK YOU SO MUCH for making this vid, it seriously is a dream come true and it's one of my absolute favorites of this festivids :D

[chaila]

<33333 This comment totally made me cry legit tears when you left it! I had been a little worried about it, but you got absolutely everything I tried to pour into this. Sarah is also a particularly favorite of mine (I swear, on every single show where there is a brunette named Sarah, she is my favorite) so I'm glad you liked her parts! Seriously, just all the specific bits you mention here--the picture taking, the dancing with someone who accepts her, the ex-wife, the blood family and chosen family--is all stuff I really really wanted to convey and I'm so happy you liked it!

I also love the section from 3:20 with all the imagery of constructed gender identity (the shots of the two young girls was so perfect)

Yay yay yay so glad that worked! Like it's probably silly to worry about whether it worked, I had no subtlety, but STILL! That sequence was something I had in mind the whole time, and I was really pleased at how it turned out.

Thank you so much for this lovely comment! :D

[sanguinity]

This is a stunning song choice, and you've built a rich, haunting vid from it.

[chaila]

Thank you! The song really is just too perfect. :D

[valoise]

This is so sad and hopeful and heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time. I've been meaning to watch Transparent, now it's going to the top of the must see list.

[chaila]

Thank you! I'm glad that mix of emotions came across; the show is SO GOOD at conveying and blending all of these emotions, making me devastatingly sad and joyful and many other things all at once. I highly recommend it!

[goodbyebird]

Such a terrific study of identity, wow.

[chaila]

Thank you! Yay!

[rhoboat]

Oh, wow. I love a good cover and you made AMAZING use of it here. I haven't seen the source but I was able to follow along and get a strong sense of emotion from this vid.

[chaila]

Thank you! I love a good cover, I was so happy to have this one. I'm glad it worked even without canon knowledge!

[kuwdora]

HI STILL REWATCHING AND LOVING THIS VID JUST SO YOU KNOW!

[chaila]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

[deirdre_c]

I love when a vid can completely and utterly inspire me to go seek out the source material. I AM HOOKED. YOU GOT ME. CAN'T WAIT TO CHECK THIS OUT.

Wonderful work.

[chaila]

HOORAY! Thanks so much! I'm so pleased it makes you want to see the show. I hope you like it if you check it out!

[franzeska]

I love your choice of music: the contrast of this cover vs. the version I remember combining with all the different contrasts in the vid.

[chaila]

Thank you! That is an excellent way to articulate why I liked this cover for this vid! Glad you liked it. :)

[felis]

I do not know the source, but the vid tells such a clear story, it had me from the beginning and kept me glued to the screen all the way through. Very touching and emotionally complex. The pace and the time you take with the emotional beats, the combination of lyrics/music/footage, all of it is just spot on.

[chaila]

Oh thank you! I'm always happy to hear it worked even without source knowledge, and especially that the emotional complexity of the source came across anyway.