My Favorite Things: 2wo - I am a Pig Video directed by Chi Chi LaRue

"I am a Pig" is a song by Rob Halford's ill-fated attempt at industrial rock known as 2wo. It was released in 1998 on the bands sole album titled Voyeurs. It was also the only song that managed to get a video. And what a video that was - it was directed by Chi Chi LaRue of all people. Hooray! (if you know what i mean).  

For those of you who don't know Chi Chi LaRue - he's a porn director extraordinare. He's a big figure in a drag community and usually works in gay and bisexual genres. And he's not a usual porn director who just turns the camera on and captures the thing - far from it. His films are one of the few really engaging experiences because of the ways he uses long takes and tricky editing to evoke excitement. He is actually trying to tell stories through physical intercourse - something akin to pro wrestling ring psychology. I guess he is the only person in porn who actually tried to do the film according to Soviet Montage Theory heavily leaning on Eisenstein's Montage of Attractions and Kuleshov Jedi Mind Tricks... Well, i did my homework. Ok? 

While the video for "I am a Pig" is commonly perceived in mainstream as a some kind of a "sleazefest" - it is basically just some stuff that usually happens at the fetish parties presented in a digestable form of a highlight reel. You get "this" and "this" and "this" and also "that" and "that" too "if you want". It is a riff of traditional cock rock videos. But it is subversive in a very different way than it seems on the surface

As Halford said in the interview back in the day - the song was about public and private sides of personality and the video was intended to show it in a tricky manner. But there's nothing outraging even if your overthink it - just people hanging out and having fun. You have somebody in a cage; midgets with whips; people with their mouths gagged; pals in the gas masks; scenes of foot fetish; someone's getting tickled probably; LaRue doing whirling around; some boot licking; temptation resistance; oh, hi Janine Lindemulder (no ice dildo though), nice to see you; threesome flirting; i guess there must be some edge play hidden somewhere; some sweat licking; dancing of course and some people just staring at others who do something. And then in the very end of the video - there's Our Man Rob looking like Nosferatu with the saddest eyes in the world for some reason - he looks at all this with that particular uncertainty that you might get if you're puzzled enough. 

But it's the editing that makes this video work. LaRue gives you the basics - the flow of images, parts of something without revealing the whole thing - and your brain does the heavy lifting and fills the gaps. The effect depends on performance but it is designed to make you think of something arcane and potentially obscene via association. Or not. It is most non sequitir - it can go anyway you way. In fact it is not as much a viewing experience as a momentary thought experiment - how far you can take it. There is so much visual information to chew and it is edited in a way to achieve some sort of sensual overload. It goes way too intense - you gotta adapt to perceive it. It bursts almost a DADA level of visual noise.

It breaks away from any form of narrative into semi-abstract realm - it's like Len Lye or Stan Brakhage or Joseph Kornell shapeless inert flicks - just with other kind of images.

Yes, and i've been overthinking all the way.