Kirsten and Natalie interlude: The music videos of Kirsten Dunst

(Kirsten and Natalie is a series tracing American womanhood as portrayed through the films of Kirsten Dunst and Natalie Portman. Read the introductory post here.)

I had fully intended to have the next full installment of Kirsten and Natalie ready for you today, but I have been swamped with working on other projects, so I offer up this interlude instead. Hopefully, the next installment will be ready for you Friday, but I also have to watch 13 Kirsten Dunst movies, several of which are no longer readily available, so... (I may just have to skip The Crow: Salvation. Sorry to all.)

So as an interlude, I thought I would quickly dissect the six music videos Kirsten Dunst has starred in over the years. Fully three of them were made between 1999 and 2001, the period in Dunst's career that I am covering next, which is how I got down this rabbit hole in the first place. They're all much, much weirder than I was expecting.

Savage Garden, "I Knew I Loved You" (1999)

This video is a standard entry into the late '90s "soft pop-alternative band makes video starring blonde starlet as the object of desire" subgenre of music video. (See also: Dominique Swain in the video for Shawn Mullins's "Lullaby.") Dunst isn't bad in this video as a girl on the subway that Savage Garden guy can't stop staring at, but there's not a lot to her "role" here.

Fun fact: When I first got together with my wife, I used to make Sims that I made of her and me dance together to this song.

Air, "Playground Love" (2000)

‎Most of the footage featuring Dunst in this video is from the major motion picture The Virgin Suicides (soon to be covered in this very newsletter), but I do like this video's occasional stabs at breaking the fourth wall when, say, Sofia Coppola turns up as the director of The Virgin Suicides. As such, this video accidentally works as commentary on the other videos in this post, which are all, on some level, about being aware that you are watching Kirsten Dunst do something. Bonus points for singing gum.

Fun fact: Roman Coppola, who co-directed this music video, used to be the regular music video director for the great Matthew Sweet. Rad!

Filter, "The Best Things" (2000)

‎No, you weren't the only one who had forgotten that Filter was ever big enough to have a music video starring Kirsten Dunst, Fred Ward, and Eric Mabius, among others. (Also in this video: a pre-fame Walton Goggins!)

Fun fact: If I had not told you when this video was made, you would have immediately guessed "2000." So extreme!

Akihabara Majokko Princess (2009)

‎After a nearly decade-long absence from music videos, Dunst returned to the form with this five-minute short film, directed by McG and masterminded by Japanese conceptual artist Takahashi Murakami, who invented a movement called "superflat," which is heavily influenced by anime and manga. (You may know Murakami from his design of the album cover for Kanye West's Graduation.) Anyway, in this video, Dunst dances around Tokyo and performs "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors. It was originally featured at the Tate in London, and I suspect if I were seeing it within the context of that collection, it would make a lot more sense than it does, stripped of all context on YouTube.

Fun fact: The director of the original music video for "Turning Japanese" also directed Highlander.

Beastie Boys, "Make Some Noise" (2011)

Dunst is barely in this cameo-laden video for the leadoff single to the Beastie Boys' final album, but she seems to be having fun riding in a limo and flirting with Seth Rogen.

Fun fact: Fake Beastie Boys ranked by how good they are at lip-syncing the Beastie Boys' very particular flow: 1.) Elijah Wood, 2.) Seth Rogen, 3.) Danny McBride.

‎REM, "We All Go Back to Where We Belong" - Kirsten Dunst Version (2011)

This video is a fascinating conceptual art piece that brings us full circle, back to the videos Dunst starred in earlier in her career, as it's literally just a single shot of Dunst seemingly reacting to the lovely REM song that is playing. She seems to be having a good time. I quite enjoy this video, while admitting that it likely wouldn't work if I didn't have such affection for REM or Kirsten Dunst. But I do have that affection, so it does.

Fun fact: A companion video featuring poet and Andy Warhol compatriot John Giorno was also filmed. That one is somehow even more poignant. The song's melancholy works in concert with his aging face, and it's just lovely.

‎"Did Natalie Portman make any music videos?" you ask. Yes! And not just the ones for her Lonely Island sketches. But those videos came much later in her career, so maybe we will circle back to them when I need to throw together a newsletter in an evening.

We'll see you again on Friday, hopefully!

Episodes is published twice per week. Mondays alternate between a free edition on various topics and a subscriber-supported edition where I recap TV shows of interest. Fridays offer pop culture thoughts from freelance writers. The Friday edition and the biweekly recaps are only available to subscribers. Suggest topics for future installments via email or on Twitter. Read more of my work at Vox.