Meandering Around

The other night I caught the season finale of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which I hadn't watched up till now - it wasn't bad, but the scene that mostly stuck with me was one that made very effective use of Johnny Cash's 'When the Man Comes Around' *

The song got stuck in my head for a couple of days, and I went looking it up, which, since all roads lead to Youtube, eventually had me looking at the vids some people had made to it. These started with the fairly obvious evils-of-human-history montages made from old and recent news footage, the 911 tributes, and the more zombie-oriented machinima apocalypses. Apparently a lot of people discovered this song through the Dawn of the Dead remake; which is probably why Thomas Horn used it for the short Bigfoot horror movie he made for school. Actually this is probably the same reason the makers of The Sarah Connor Chronicles used it, albeit with a great deal more skill.

Then it got weird. John DeVito's When the Man Comes Around - A Tribute to Monsters! is a slideshow of posters and stills of mostly old-movie monsters. At first it seems as though some attempt has been made to match the words with the images we're looking at:

the sound of Thunder = Dracula poster with storm in the background;
Then one of the four beasts said, 'come and see' = Frank the Rabbit from Donnie Darko
...on a pale horse... = Heath Ledger's white-pancaked face as the Joker.

Then, as the guitar starts up there's a red cadillac - it took me a moment to think "Christine." Jason Voorhees might possibly work as "a man goin' round takin' names," but, but -

There must be words to describe hearing Cash intone 'and he decides who to free and whom to blame,' while looking at a poster for Attack of the Crab Monsters, but I can't think of them right now. Full points to DeVito, however, for following a picture of George W Bush with one of Gojiru.

Then there's this, in which the song accompanies footage of people attempting high-speed stunts of various kinds and failing. I'm not sure if it's meant to be funny or not, but the most recent comment posts include

ronnieredlinemax:
makes you think johnny cash knew something that most people dont know ?
devilmaycrydude:
this song kinda creeps me out because the first time i ever heard it was when i saw dawn of the dead

ben22l337: whoever that retard in the huge wave was, is fucked
TheReapersToll: no he made it an inspiration to us all

PitajTatu: It's only a commercial for beer... Don't lose your head :)

The Happy Tree Friends vid, while definitely comic, matches image to lyric more carefully than any I've come across yet - that's what makes it so funny.

*spoiler alert
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Oh Come On, Shakespeare Could Have Called This One

Remind me never to become the leading figure in a sex scandal - far worse than mere gossip is the humiliation of being "explained" on national tv by pop psychologists who've never met you. That said, when every interviewee expresses astonishment at this turn of events, I can't help thinking they're really astonished at life so perfectly imitating the cliché - I mean, the crusader against corruption who is leading a sleazy double life is what, Trope Number 8?

Add - There also needs to be a law, akin to Godwin's Law, to the effect that "in any discussion of prostitution, anyone who mentions Pretty Woman must automatically concede their argument, whether for or against."