{"id":911,"date":"2015-11-12T09:31:18","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T17:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/?p=911"},"modified":"2023-03-06T06:29:50","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T14:29:50","slug":"duran-duran-all-she-wants-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/duran-duran-all-she-wants-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Duranalysis: All She Wants Is"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Know you\u2019ve got to save some for the shoeshine boy\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll She Wants Is\u201d was the second single off of Duran Duran\u2019s 1988\u00a0Big Thing<\/em>\u00a0album. The video was directed by acclaimed photographer\u00a0Dean Chamberlain<\/a>,\u00a0who first became acquainted with the band through Nick\u2019s then-girlfriend (now ex-wife) Julie Anne Rhodes, and who previously worked with Nick and Simon on Arcadia\u2019s video for \u201cMissing\u201d*. As with \u201cMissing\u201d, \u201cAll She Wants Is\u201d was created using a visual technique in which individual frames were exposed for long periods of time, which, when combined with a moving light source, enabled Chamberlain to \u201cdraw\u201d on the film with light. To add an extra layer of difficulty, the video was then pieced together one frame at a time to create a\u00a0stop-motion\u00a0effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\u201cMissing\u201d is a gorgeous video. It won\u2019t ever be Duranalyzed here, even though I\u2019ve done prior analyses of\u00a0three<\/a>\u00a0Arcadia<\/a>\u00a0videos<\/a>,\u00a0because it doesn\u2019t feature any of the Durans anywhere in it. No\u00a0Durans, no Duranalysis; that\u2019s a hard and fast rule around these parts. Still, for fans of Chamberlain\u2019s light painting technique,\u00a0\u201cMissing\u201d is well worth watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick, Simon, and John sit at a dining table. It\u2019s fancy: white tablecloth, multiple forks and spoons, balloon goblets filled with red wine. They\u2019re noshing on fish. Just fish. Nothing bearing any resemblance to a side dish of any kind is in sight, which maybe makes all those soup spoons and salad forks a tad redundant. In the chair opposite them, a beautiful young woman slumps over the table, asleep or unconscious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not going to lie: The stop-motion effect used in this video is an acquired taste, and I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve acquired it yet. Stop motion is customarily used to make inanimate objects appear to move in a lifelike manner (think: claymation), but here, it\u2019s meant to do exactly the opposite, i.e. make animate objects\u2014Nick, John, Simon\u2014appear unnatural and lifeless. It\u2019s jarring and disconcerting. It\u2019s supposed<\/em> to be, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s pleasant to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young woman sits up, then stares at the camera while panting seductively, pantomiming the rhythmic female grunting and panting on the audio track. I appreciate \u201cAll She Wants Is\u201d more now than I did twenty-seven years ago, but it\u2019s never going to break into my top, say, fifty Duran Duran songs. All the panting and grunting on the track makes me feel claustrophobic and annoyed, like I\u2019m trapped on a crowded subway train while some lady has a loud orgasm right next to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The action moves to a living room, where Nick sits at an old-fashioned typewriter, typing his merry way through reams of paper. He appears to be typing \u201cALL SHE WANTS IS\u201d, over and over, like he\u2019s starring in a glamorous musical version of The Shining<\/em>. I can dig it. Were Nick a novelist, I imagine he\u2019d be borderline homicidal and very dramatic<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

John talks on the phone, while Simon\u2019s big disembodied head peers in through the window. John juggles with balls of red light, which he hurls at the poor young woman before chucking an entire globe at her head. Nick, for his part, begins throwing wadded-up sheets of paper at her. He and John disappear through the window, taking Simon\u2019s big head along with them. They\u2019re bad houseguests, those Duran Duran boys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They look\u2026 odd. For most of the remainder of this video, the roles of John, Simon, and Nick will be played by mannequins wearing latex masks modeled on their actual faces. The rationale behind this had less to do with artistic vision and more to do with reducing wear and tear on the Durans: The band members didn\u2019t have the time or inclination to undergo the long, grueling hours it would take to film the complete video in stop-motion, so they substituted mannequins in their places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(There\u2019s an\u00a0amazing<\/em>\u00a0short clip on YouTube<\/a>\u00a0in which Simon and Nick hang out in a hotel room together while watching some of their old videos and dissolving into giddy hysterics. Here\u2019s what Nick had to say about this mannequin business: \u201cI had this\u00a0idea,\u00a0because we had to move things one frame at a time, it\u2019d be much easier if we weren\u2019t there to actually\u00a0do<\/em>\u00a0this.\u201d Simon, giggling almost too much to speak, cuts in: \u201cNick often comes up with these labor-saving ideas. \u2018Oh, yes, let\u2019s have dummies in the video instead of us!\u2019\u201d It\u2019s not clear where this footage originally comes from, but it\u2019s charming and delightful.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alone in her house\u00a0at\u00a0last, the young woman answers the doorbell, only to have the doorknob turn into a grabby gloved hand. Angry red light seeps in around the door frame. In a burst of blinding red, the mannequin versions of the Durans reappear in her living room. Mannequin-Nick plays cat\u2019s cradle with\u00a0light,\u00a0then shoots the light beam through Mannequin-Simon\u2019s head; Mannequin-John catches the beam in a glass and pours it out to form a mirror. Apparently, this video took\u00a0weeks<\/em>\u00a0to film. It\u2019s not hard to see why, nor is it hard to see why the Durans were quick to embrace Nick\u2019s labor-saving idea about using mannequins. For the poor model, the filming process\u2014one frame at a time, long exposures on each frame\u2014must have been mind-numbingly tedious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The young woman looks at herself in John\u2019s mirror, captivated by her reflection. Considering her meaty role in a fairly high-profile music video, there\u2019s a shocking lack of concrete information out there as to her identity.\u00a0On the official Duran Duran website<\/a>, the band members themselves, when grilled on the subject, could only summon up a hilariously vague and fuzzy idea that her name was maybe, possibly, something along the lines of Marla. A forum member on a\u00a0now-defunct Russian Duran Duran fansite\u00a0claimed the model\u2019s full name is Marla Kay; while this claim is uncorroborated, it might well be accurate. There\u2019s precious little information out there online on her, but I managed to scrounge up this tidbit:\u00a0The first episode of MTV\u2019s\u00a0Andy Warhol\u2019s Fifteen Minute<\/em>s<\/a>, which aired in 1985, features an appearance by a model named Marla Kay:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pretty sure that\u2019s her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young woman dances and strikes meditative poses against a background of cool blue. The angry red light\u2014which signals the arrival of the Durans, obviously, but which also probably represents the (panting, grunting) passion that keeps wreaking havoc on her quiet life\u2014oozes in once again and takes over everything. Next thing you know, she\u2019s lying on her bed in a garish pink bedroom, beneath a terrible wall display of high-heeled shoes. She\u2019s changed out of her virginal white dress and is now wearing a clingy hot pink number, her hair teased out into big curls. She writhes around on all fours and strikes provocative poses while the mannequin versions of the Durans hang out in her bedroom and impassively watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Oh, hey, the non-mannequin versions of Nick and John and Simon are back, thank goodness. This is not Nick\u2019s most flattering hairstyle, really. He\u2019ll tweak it slightly\u2014shift the part off center, lengthen the bangs, add some fabulous smoky eyeshadow and black lipstick\u2014for the \u201cDo You Believe In Shame?<\/a>\u201d video, and it\u2019ll look\u00a0worlds<\/em>\u00a0better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Simon\u2019s hair, on the other hand, will not improve between this video and \u201cDo You Believe In Shame?\u201d They all still look gorgeous, but 1988 was universally a hard, hard year for hair, and Duran Duran did not escape unscathed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The young woman investigates the contents of her refrigerator. It\u2019s filled with Catholic accouterments: grapes, fish, rosary beads, crucifixes, statuettes of the Virgin Mary, the usual. A crucifix flies toward her of its own volition. At a guess, I\u2019m thinking this video is an exploration of the whole virgin\/whore dichotomy: She\u2019s trying to be chaste, but her sexual side keeps busting through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The poorly-behaved Durans, who represent the \u201cwhore\u201d side of the aforementioned dichotomy, obviously, pop up from behind her refrigerator door to taunt her and leer at her some more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When next we see her, she\u2019s only a light-drawn outline of her former self, which is consumed in flames until nothing remains but a pair of bright red lips against a black background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While visually striking, it\u2019s an awkward and faintly disconcerting video, so I\u2019m going to end this on an awkward and faintly disconcerting note: On Duran Duran\u2019s official website,\u00a0it\u2019s mentioned<\/a>\u00a0(in\u00a0more than one<\/a> <\/a>place<\/a>, actually) that this video won \u201can MTV award for innovation.\u201d The Wikipedia entry for the song expands upon that a bit (\u201cThe clip won a 1988 MTV Video Music Award for innovation\u201d), though it cites only Duran Duran\u2019s website as a reference. I came across this bit of trivia\u00a0multiple<\/a>\u00a0times\u00a0in<\/a>\u00a0various\u00a0places<\/a>\u00a0while researching this video; it\u2019s even mentioned in\u00a0Between Stillness and Motion: Film, Photography, Algorithms<\/em>, a 2011 book by Eivind R\u00f8ssaak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had no reason to doubt this statement. It sounds very plausible! Thanks to Chamberlain\u2019s sophisticated techniques, \u201cAll She Wants Is\u201d is an innovative video by any standard. As undisputed music video legends,\u00a0the boys are no strangers to the Video Music Awards\u2014hell, MTV gave Duran Duran a freaking\u00a0Lifetime Achievement Award<\/em>, for crying out loud. When writing a Duranalysis, though, I like to double-check my facts, so in the interests of completion, I double-checked this. Thoroughly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you starting to sense where this might be going?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it turns out, all available evidence suggests \u201cAll She Wants Is\u201d\u00a0didn\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0win an MTV Video Music Award, in 1988 or in any other year*. MTV\u2019s website maintains comprehensive archived records of past VMA winners, and\u00a0Duran Duran had no wins or nominations in 1988\u00a0(or in 1989, which would make more sense, since this video was released in November and the awards ceremony was held in September). \u201cInnovation\u201d is not a VMA category, now or at any point in the past. The snippet on the band\u2019s official website doesn\u2019t specify the VMAs (\u201can MTV award\u201d is pretty nebulous), but after doing a deep dive on this, I could find no record of MTV ever giving a special award for innovation to Duran Duran or anyone else. A search through the archives of MTV\u2019s international branches didn\u2019t help. MTV Europe didn\u2019t have an awards show until 1994; MTV Asia didn\u2019t have one until 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried with this one, I really did, but it all came to naught. I searched the Los Angeles Times<\/em> archives. I searched the New York Times<\/em> archives. I searched through records of past winners of the Grammys and the AMAs. I watched grainy YouTube footage of the 1988 VMAs. Nada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does this mean? Not much. I could\u2019ve easily missed something. Online records of events hailing from the pre-Web era are notoriously spotty, so it\u2019s very likely the award exists, in some form or other (for example, it could\u2019ve been an award given in a private setting instead of a fancy ceremony). I trust Duran Duran, more or less, by which I mean I trust the good folks who run Duran Duran\u2019s official website. I don\u2019t necessarily trust the Durans themselves\u2014Simon and Nick, bless their beautiful and glamorous hearts, strike me as compulsive fabulists\u2014but I remain convinced there\u2019s a germ of truth buried somewhere within this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if not? Hell, that\u2019s even better. I sort of adore the idea that some member of Duran Duran\u2014looking at you, Simon\u2014might\u2019ve invented a goddamned award out of thin air, and everyone just took his word for it. After all, it\u2019d be a very Durannish thing to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Edited to add on April 25, 2016: The award is 100% real! And yes, this video won it! So much for my quasi-scurrilous speculation. Huge thanks to the great Dean Chamberlain for telling the story behind this. Quoth Mr. Chamberlain:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHi Morgan Richter \u2013 Interesting name. Are you related to Gerhard? I hope so cause he\u2019s one badass artist. And you are one badazz funny trapeze artist writer. I\u2019m glad I found this revved view of the video that took 14 days just to do all the things through the camera.<\/em>But that\u2019s not interesting. What\u2019s interesting is your woven web of words. I do like your slice and dice whilst making funny alla prima style. I\u2019m not being massochistic when I say this video deserves the slaying you effortlessly slew.<\/em>As for the breathtaketh and giveth effort to make it we did laugh a lot. I recall Nick and I in a taxi in Paris bemoaning how \u201cMissing\u201d, the music video not being able to be shown on televisions due to contractual blahblahblahwhatblahblahblah. We ere sad because it really surprised us in a good way. Then and there in that taxi we vowed to make a video that would win, a, yes, yes, say it, an MTV Breakthrough Video Award. And vowing is not all that we did. We, I should say I won exactly that. We went to MTV offices, that is Elizabeth Flowers, producer marvellioso, and myself, where we met Tibor Kalman and David Byrne who also won a Breaththrough Video Award that day. I even have a photo somewhere to prove it. Tibor put his statue award on his head for the group photo with lots of smiling MTV execs and I put mine on my head. David is looking at Tibor not exactly seriously yet seriously. Tibor and I doing, \u201cLook Ma, no hands!!\u201d and laughter from execs won the day.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s all. I\u2019m going to click on your photo now to see if your face is like you\u2019re writing. Then I\u2019ll click on your complete profile.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and Marla was a major trooper. Thank godness for her. Even when we put the giant spider under the sheets on day 10 of 14 and understandably she lost it, man she just came back with More. There is one other scene I\u2019ve still to make up to her about. I haven\u2019t forgotten, Marla.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Know you\u2019ve got to save some for the shoeshine boy\u2026 \u201cAll She Wants Is\u201d was the second single off of Duran Duran\u2019s 1988\u00a0Big Thing\u00a0album. The video was directed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-duran-duran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1543,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911\/revisions\/1543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}