Taking Control

Muggers, you wouldn't want to run into Lynsey De Paul down a dark alley. With a video cover that at first glance could be mistaken for a straight to video kung-fu actioner starring say Cynthia Rothrock, Taking Control is actually a women's self-defense video starring, produced and scored by LDP. Designed to teach women how to combat attacks from rapists, muggers, and men who aren't too nice in general, its clearly something of a personal cause for DePaul, rn: Lynsey Monckton Rubin, who authored a book of the same name and was at one time being pestered by an obsessed fan- apparently a green grocer- an incident that its fair to assume may have been the catalyst for LDP's need to kick butt.

The theory part of the tape sees LDP sitting behind a desk and with the demeanor of a glamed up schoolteacher, quoting various American sociologists and home office findings. The central message of Taking Control is for women to 'unlearn' being ladylike and act as vocal and aggressive in times of crisis "if you're attacked don't be a nice girl" and offering up a fairly convincing case for this stance. Even if some of LDP's advice seems fairly obvious at times "making deals with crooks is making deals with liars".

The second part of the tape could be subtitled "John Suffers for his Art", - in this the practical side of the tape- LDP acts out various mugging scenarios and having according to the film's notes received "instruction from two sixth Dan Black Belt Ju-Jitsu masters and an American Crime Prevention Officer with 20 years in the Police Force" demonstrates how to get out of them. Her partner/pseudo mugger for this is John, billed as an instructor and self defense consultant but looking every bit like a heavy from a Cliff Twemlow production. An average moment in Taking Control sees John playact the role of an aggressive drunk, staggering around the set, grunting "come ere", and failing to heed LDP's warnings of "back off this is not funny" and "no, no, no and no". Given the sweet, late night cuddling nature of her music, Dancing on a Saturday Night, Sugar Shuffle, etc, etc it seems surreally out of character to see her head butt, chinning and eyeball poking her way though the video. The basic law of women's self defense appears to be "for a quick escape go for in-between the legs ladies". Well LDP doesn't put it quite that bluntly but John seems to get punched, kicked and in one painful instance grabbed in the groin around a hundred times in the videos brief running time. An on screen caption reminds us "the instructor is wearing a protective box" and as if taking this advice too literally John reappears several times in the video wearing full Michelin man protective gear. Not even this cunning ploy can match the mighty DePaul however, and in one memorable instance Michelin John ends up face down on the floor and receives a few further punches in the groin for his troubles.

A pity, given its usefulness towards its target audience and curiosity value for fans of her music, that Taking Control is so blandly made in the manner of an infomercial or an industrial. It does warrant a mention though that due to several costume changes LDP does wear some fetching blue, purple and red leotards in the video, now if only she'd had the foresight to wear a yellow one she could have laid a claim to being an influence on the Uma Thurman character in Kill Bill.