ETA: The good-evil artist is quite old and not invented by Adam. It goes back centuries.
Yes, but the the genius of Adam's video is that it is not about good vs. evil, it is about light vs dark (without the moral evaluation attached to one over the other). Adam distinctly corrected one journalist who called his video good vs bad.
Good vs bad has been done forever and in thousand versions and ultimately is a basic concept of most religious belief systems, but Adam's characters are both valuable in different ways and are each incomplete if left unchecked by an alter-ego.
While light Adam may seem 'good' in the sense that he does not ruffle any feathers, does not set any houses on fire and is not as emotionally disturbed as the other one, he also is ultimately very self-absorbed (yoga, listening to music, reading, tea ceremonies, a bit of house cleaning, all very nice). But light Adam does not achieve anything, he is searching (looking out the window) and waiting.
Dark Adam does set houses on fire, in bad ways as well as in good. He does come across as bad to those who don't get him, but in the end he is the one who achieves something, dares to alter his existence, dares to both ask questions as well as do something about things. Ultimately he is the one who can save the other side. He is strong and he is interesting and attention getting.
It's dark Adam that had the guts to go onto idol against all odds, its dark Adam who dares to let the 'gay' shine and not tuck it away into the safe gay night club corner, it is probably dark Adam who now dares to stretch his wings and step in front of Moscow and UK audiences this summer.
I think if there is one thing that we fans can do to let Adam know that we have his back, is respect and value 'dark' Adam. Others (see RCA debate tonight) are asking for light Adam enough, want to avoid the risks that inherently are taken by letting dark Adam lose. Dark Adam is in the end the creative and innovative side of Adam, but yes, it sometimes can overdo things. That's why when he falls off the edge, his core fan base is there to stick it out with him (as the AMA round showed) until the dust settles and everyone moves on, because in the end it was just artistic expression, the cliff is not that deep.
If Carrie Underwood turned this into good vs evil then she understands nothing about what Adam had to say with his video. I have not seen her video yet, just going by what the journalist said, so holding further judgement until it comes out. But if it is true that she just turned this into rocker chick Carrie vs do-goody Carrie, then I don't even buy that duality about her, tbh.
I don't believe for one minute that this is the inner dialog that Carrie is really struggling with. Sorry, not buying it. Those are just two stage characters played against each other, that is not an inner monologue.
Adam's video fascinates so many people, because he really went there, visualized his own inner dialog, went to places where it really hits home for him and did not spare one side or the other. He made a very honest and very deep video that has now reached #2 in the MV i-tunes charts in the UK. Clearly it is catching somebody's attention.
No video that was just good vs evil or classy lady vs rocker chick would create that much excitement or be considered something so novel and utterly genuine. Adam gives both characters credence and allows them both to shine, but also exposes them both. Adam let us trespass into his personal monologue and while there may be literature that has gone there, I don't recall ever seeing a MV that did this in such a deep and also esthetically sophisticated manner.
This video could be used in psychology classes or even philosophy classes and probably will be, that is how good it is and people can see that.
A simple rocker chick vs good girl is totally not the same thing (an better not collect prizes that Adam would deserve much more).
Yup, that Britney example irked me too, when it happened, and that besides Lindsey Parker nobody called them out on that.
