Sometimes I shouldn't use words

Very true, vids can be very selective with their material but ultimately they're as bound to it as if one were writing an essay. I can't imagine there's any author who'd object to someone writing an essay on their work even though they might violently disagree with the result. Although one thing you notice with vids is how important the background music is in setting the tone. If they chose the right song could someone made a vid of 'The Body' that was all glutenous sentiment. Or maybe you could set it to 'The Funeral March' and make a joke of the whole thing.

I'd also agree the shortness of a vid does makes it a qualitatively different art form from movies or TV the way haikus are really very different from epic poems. I should check the fanthropology link but I'm not sure about the gender element. Jane Espenson is if anything even more supportive of fanfiction than Joss. I think JK Rowling has expressed concern about some fanfic, either the porny stuff or the Draco redemptionist tendency. And I've read that Christopher Golden has passed less than flattering remarks about fic authors. Then again he writes tie-in novels so that could be more the competitive than the mama bear tendency. More 'mine's bigger" than 'nobody touches my babies.'