Perhaps 1999 was a more tolerant year to mock those types confined to “loony bin life.” Surely before the advent of Bush and the staunch post-Obama PC police, groups like NSYNC were allowed far more freedom to express themselves in a music video—even if it meant poking slight fun at a certain sect of the “subculture.”
Directed by Tim Story, the video for “I Drive Myself Crazy” is set inside a vibrantly-hued mental hospital (this is still a pop song, after all) wherein each of the five members of NSYNC reflect on the relationship that landed them there. For Chris Kirkpatrick, the cause of his “insanity” stems from neglecting his girlfriend by talking to someone else on his cell phone. Irritated by his lack of consideration (even though “phubbing” is considered commonplace today), his girlfriend, in her distinctly pre-2000 garb, walks angrily away from Kirkpatrick, whose frustration with her can’t be taken all that seriously whilst he’s wearing decidedly Dawson’s Creek-inspired apparel.
Elsewhere, Justin Timberlake goes “crazy” as a result of giving his girlfriend a necklace that she promptly rejects (maybe because it’s a cliche heart pendant) and then runs over to her new boyfriend instead. We then see JC Chasez being forced to remember his own trauma when a Maury-esque talk show appears on the television in the main room and rehashes how his girlfriend lured him onto it to confess she was cheating with another man.
Lance Bass has a tamer, shorter scene in which he removes petals off of a flower and attempts to have his girlfriend join in, only to have her leave the scene abruptly. The brevity of the backstory (which each NSYNC member came up with all on their own, clearly) makes sense now when taking into account that Bass has zero interest in women. Finally, we have Joey Fatone being slapped by Clueless essential Elisa Donovan (a.k.a. Ambular) after another girl kisses him in front of her, through no fault of his own. For some reason, this event leads him to wear a Superman costume in the asylum, which apparently arouses his female therapist, who tries to make sexual advances on him during a session. Just another retroactively uncomfortable scene that trivializes mental illness.
Acting perhaps more autistic than “mad,” each member of NSYNC portrays a “crazy person” in a way that’s offensive at best and egregiously stereotypical at worst. Sure, we get that the band is trying to convey all the ways in which jilted love can make us non-functional, but the extremism in their “artistic” decision to go the booby hatch route seems unnecessarily over the top. And then there’s the conclusion of the video to consider. Tinged with subtle sexism as the five men walk out and their exes are forced in, the message turns from one of lamenting unrequited love to taking vengeance against any woman who would ever deign to leave them.
All in all, it’s “fortunate” these boys just made the cutoff for “avant-garde” videos (let’s not forget that 1999 was also the year of Britney Spears’ “Born to Make You Happy,” Nas’ “Hate Me Now” and Eminem’s “Role Model”). Not so fortunate that such avant-garde videos haven’t stood the test of time. And yeah, NSYNC cohort Britney Spears also had “(You Drive Me) Crazy” come out that year, but at least she possessed the good sense to set the video in a “club.” Maybe only because Justin had already told her about their idea for the mental institution…
[…] he shot at, Mark Devereaux, was nicked in the cheek by the bullet as he drove by blasting “I Drive Myself Crazy” in an ironic […]