Katy Perry's 'California Gurls' video is a festival of candy -- and sadness?

As a rule, I am generally in favor of the following: Board games and candy. So when the video for Katy Perry's summer pop confection "California Gurls" opened with a nod to vintage children's game Candy Land, there was reason to hope that the clip could elevate the ultra-shiny dance pop cut to something with a bit more camp value.

Alas, Candy Land is entirely dependent on the chance flip of a card, and there's something about this explosion of colors, sugar and flesh that ultimately rings a bit sour. It's not the parade of "buns," or Snoop Dogg's tossed-off rap, but rather the underlying sense that this California-boosting anthem plays out more like propaganda than a celebration. 

Championing our state's glitz, beach parties and fit bodies is a part of our history, and no doubt one of Los Angeles' biggest tourism sells. Yet "California Gurls" fits in with a Perry tradition that she began with "I Kissed A Girl." It's a tease, and one that's more empty than fun. 

Set in a cloud-based world that's half Wonderland and half Super Mario Galaxy -- admittedly one that's lovingly and playfully created with detail by Motion Theory's Mathew Cullen -- Perry and girl pals dance with Gummi Bears, lick giant lollipops and squirt frosting out of their bras. Perry rescues her trapped friends as she moves around the game board and frees them to become real-life figurines -- some sort of sexual playthings that may or may not be maneuvered by Snoop Dogg. 

Look, it's catchy, corny and no doubt Perry looks like she's having fun. Yet there's never any sense that the rest of us -- those outside of Hollywood's prim, rich and tan bubble -- can play. Perry and her friends run wild in a world that's an open bar overflowing with free cookies. No doubt that world exists in Los Angeles, but I can't shake the sense that watching "California Gurls" is simply a reminder that most of us aren't part of it. 

-- Todd Martens

Comments

[Jimmy]

Katty has no singing talent. Her voice is autotuned. I wish Katty would sing the National Anthem live someday. I think she would know better than to do that and make a fool out of herself.

[Here Here, Todd]

Excellent comments and balanced review.

For those of who work everyday and toil indoors on breathtakingly nice days like today, the "Candyland" side of LA is best left to music videos, like this one!

Candyland was the bomb, though. I think I played that game until I broke the board.

[Sammy]

I found the video to be fun. I just don't think things need to be so obvious.

[Lulina]

Fergie, anyone? Check Fergalicious and think again if Katy is really talented... she sucks badly.

[vegasgirl]

Perry, IMHO, seems to actually have some talent. Too bad she squanders it on garbage like this.
(Oh, and Katy: It's blasphemy to rip off the Beach Boys when it comes to song titles, especially with the moronic spelling of "girls.")

[LadyLady]

One of your fellow writers has another opinion -
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2010/06/katy-perry-california-gurls-video-.html

[Anthony]

Katy Perry's music is like her video: candy-coated, sugar that seems delicious, but leaves you empty.

Gaga is art.

Perry is fluff.

[pril]

wow. This is some kinda lame.

[Carol]

Um, surely being a member of Candyland isn't at the top of your bucket list? I like some of Katy's work, but dislike stuff like this that perpetuates the myth that California consists solely of the vacuous and superficial. That said, visually it's kinda fun.

[Jay]

Seriously, you need to stop looking so deep into this video. The song is fun and right now is on the top, and the video is starting to mirror that. Who cares if its "fluff" or whatever, stop being so critical when most of you have no talent anyway.

[James]

As a "writer", and quasi-critic(?), it benefits you financially to find SOMETHING wrong with EVERYTHING you write about, no? You're almost certainly not allowed to enjoy, fully, anything you're charged with critiquing. I just hope you understand how fatiguing it is to read through your laboriously wanna-be, above-it-all observations. Have you ever stepped back from one of your own articles and felt how totally joyless they are? I'm guessing no.

Look, I'm no huge, foaming-at-the-mouth fan of Katy Perry, or anyone else for that matter, but your review just reeks of self preservation. This song is number 1 on many a chart right now, not that I care or have a stake in it, and to dismiss the video so casually just highlights your false disdain for the world created in the video. WE KNOW it's not real, you're not saving any of us from some cruel realization. But thanks for trying, I guess.

[Ronnie C.]

Katy is talented in many ways and this video features ideas that not many people can understand. But i still like her candyland theme and it was fun to watche. She is a person who likes to break rules and push buttons so don't judge her against the tradition standards.

[jimlbak]

My!!! My!!! My!!! its a music video, not a State of the Union Address. It will play well to the audience it was intended for, which by the way I am not part of.

[typeogirl]

That sense of being an outsider to what you are viewing in the video - attribute that to Will Cotton, the contemporary artist who assisted Matthew Cullen.