Ke$ha Brings The War Home

Cailey Hall forms a theory about soldier music videos (several examples at the link):

These videos may not be as "real" as the shaky camera footage of embedded reporters (most recently on view in Restrepo), but they somehow feel more immediate. Yes, movies like Restrepo and The Hurt Locker make a concerted effort to depict soldiers in their down time, goofing offbut there's the inevitable Heisenberg effect. Being acknowledged observers, we change the dynamic. But watching these videos, we get to be in on the joke. It's the closest many of us get to being allowed into the soldiers' world. And so watching a group of camo-clad soldiers pop, clown-car style, out of a Porta-Potty and lip sync to "Ice Ice Baby," while waving around AK-47s and dancing against the bleached, barren backdrop of their concrete-enclosed compound becomes unexpectedly compelling.