Blur (Flash site, sorry) have a new single out on 14 April. The video, directed by John Hardwick, features a female sailor on board a US Navy aircraft carrier, with subtitles detailing a doomed love affair.
Now, I’m sure I’ve seen this footage before (CNN? BBC News 24? Sky News?) as part of a longer documentary, and the NME article linked above does say that it’s taken from a documentary. I have some questions, though:
Is this a “real person”, and if so is it a “real story” (or an artistic interpretation of the documentary)? Was permission sought (I’m assuming so), and if so, does anyone know anything about the woman in the video? I was slightly surprised that (a) the US Navy gave permission, and (b) that the woman gave permission to have a pretty sad story told (or made up about her). Who is she?
The Blur site wasn’t helpful in identifying source info (natch, or you could’ve found the answer yourself).
I think this is the case of the woman naval officer who was drummed out of the armed forces because she’d had an adulterous affair with a superior officer – a man who did not share her fate. I’m pretty sure that she was actually single; her crime was “adultery” because her paramour was married. She became a cause celebre to feminists and others in favor of reform of military censures in matters of morality and sexuality, of which there are many. If I’m right about this, this all happened, oh, I dunno, three or four years ago? I have no idea who or when. I’ll try a Google search and check back if I can find anything germane…
Mmm, not so sure. The documentary was recent – I’m thinking within the last 6 months – and it focused on her daily chores as some kind of deck chief on a carrier (I don’t know what her title would be - anyone?). Cheers for taking a look though.
Found it. I’m not going to download the Blur video, but I bet it’s inspired by the Kelly Flynn case. Zip half-way down for the most relevant paragraphs. Naturally, I got some of the details wrong… she was an Air Force pilot (not Navy); her lover was civilian, but married to another officer; she was ordered to end the affair by her superior officer, but resumed it and then lied about doing so; she resigned to avoid a court martial; etc.
Simultaneous postings, Crusoe. I don’t know if they were referencing Kelly Flynn or not, but I think we can agree on one thing:
that there aren’t enough music videos set on U.S. aircraft carriers, and anything that helps obliterate the Village People’s “In the Navy” video from our collective memories is probably a good thing.
FWIW, it’s definitely not Flynn. She wasn’t a pilot, but a Navy type responsible for flight deck ops on a carrier, and there was no hint of controversy. I think it was a “day in the life” style doc about people going to war, focusing on her because (a) she’s female, and (b) attractive. It surprised me to see it turned into a fictional (well, maybe) story, told through subtitles – I wondered whether she’d approved the telling of a story based on a genuine documentary, whether true or not.
It’s actually on the Blur Site, in the the news article dated 10/03/2003. Not the best site to navigate, but it’s there:
“The ‘reference tape’ that impressed Blur so much is based on a 60 minutes documentary made by director/producer Anthony Makin for the BBC correspondants strand. Filmed in Oct 2002 the film explores the lives of the men and the women serving on the warship. … drew out and cut together a moving story of a young female marine, separated from her partner (a Marine serving on another ship) and her young son at home.”
It’s strange, because I swear the woman is in the Navy (she’s shown working the flight deck, not in Marine combats), but every site I’ve seen does say she’s a Marine. Could it be the media getting it wrong?
