Thursday, December 30, 2010

Monsterous



So...I used to RIDE for Kanye.. I can not ride for this video and frankly for his lyrical performance on the album. But, that's another post.lol.

Aesthetically there were some awesome things about this video, but I can not accept women dead and hanging in the first 30 seconds. Some male rap artist often show their blatant disregard, contempt, and subjegation of women in videos and songs, but this video has taken it to a whole other level. I know some will argue it is in the name of art, etc., which in some cases I can get down with. The different interpretations of a monsters in the video, shown by the portrayal of vampires, zombies, even the allusion of violence in the form of Rick Ross going into the room with a chainsaw; those images are a lot for something not on cable, but for better or worse they are now a very ingrained part of our pop culture and entertainment.

Yet, I don't think I will ever be ready to see a woman, any woman, but especially a black woman hanging as an artistic statement or to see a bed with two dead women being played with like dolls. It's been interesting and somewhat disturbing to see the reactions to the video, mostly by males who seemingly didn't even think to critique the video from any sort of lens, besides an aesthetic one. Besides Clutch(http://clutchmagonline.com/newsgossipinfo/kanye-drops-trailer-for-‘monster’-what-do-you-think/)

I haven't seen any woman bloggers comment yet. Also, Nikki Minaj's part was actually not bad, but I know the argument could be made that she condoned it because she was in it. I can't say that because I don't know her and the way things are shot, maybe she didn't know about the particularly disturbing parts. In any case, I think women must speak up in many ways, not just with our words, but in our actions and associations.

In the name of "art" which is up for interpretation; I feel like some people have excluded the blatant,violent misogny on display here and in other mediums. It needs to be critiqued and spotlighted because if not; as we already contend with in our lives, it doesn't just stay in our "art" it bleeds into how we treat and interact with each other.

We have enough real life monsters to contend with as evidenced by the recent news of the "Grim Sleeper" http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/lonnie_d_franklin_jr/index.html?scp=1&sq=serial%20killer&st=cse and

Thoughts?

3 comments:

wrenagade said...

Thank You!
i found some of this shit really disturbing. I think the saying something is done for the sake of "art" is a way of getting away with shit for shock value because people can always take the argument "anything is art." But even art has parameters it goes by so my chellenge to music artists (especially male rappers) is to work with in the parameters of not portraying hella ridiculous objectifying or horrific images of women in the videos and still do some shocking shit to get everyone to see your video

Unknown said...

some of the women from the clutch said it for me:

"Joanna_Ivee
DECEMBER 30, 2010 AT 3:52 PM
^^^^and a woman was dragging a mans dead body

and two other women were feasting on the insides of another man

and nicki tied herself up.

Please chill out on pressing the misogyny button… theres a reason why no one listens anymore – the card is overplayed.

Love the video – i appreciate the artistry.

Cant wait to see the finished product."

and Abby Dobson
DECEMBER 31, 2010 AT 1:05 AM
"It’s definitely a conversation piece! I’m still wrapping my mind around it. The images make me uncomfortable, but I think that was the intention. Kanye is very creative and is an artist above all else, including being a rapper. He takes risks and is trying to go beyond the same ole same ole. It’s titilating. It provokes thought. It is not, however, uplifting or transformative upon first viewing."


so i agree with the before comments....but let me say this we have the luxury from being from the bay this eclectic little bubble of artsy fartsy conscious artists whose 9-5 are probably teaching youth, working at a non profit, and working at helping the community/world in a better way.

Main stream artists for the most part are not activists..their art is not activism...although it may dibble n dabble from time to time. .NOT THAT IT SHOULDNT BE,THEY CA DEF STEP THEIR GAME UP,YA KNO ART FOR LIBERTIONS SAKE.

Kanye is a creative guru...i love him...but the man is no scholar...i will not be looking at him for intellectual inspiration...we've seen the man do some really stupid stuff..and yet we have these expectations fro him to be enlightening. i dont expect kanye to be pac or talib he's kanye...or nicki to be lauyrn,kay?

on another note i think its frustrating as an artist myself n for all artists for every piece of work you do to be so deeply scrutinized.not everypiece of work is subliminal...take it for what it is, art.like it or not is up to the viewer.

every poem i create will not be liberating...itll be reflective of the 3 dimensional human which is not always good n uplifting,but complex.

as i woman i do have a critical eye of how we're portrayed in the media...but i don't have time to look for every image that could possibly be sexist...or whatever.some stuff is blatantly so but this piece is reflective of the album....n my god the song is called monster after all.


ps listening to his music kanye def has women issues but im a notorious male basher...we all have some growing to do

siaira said...

respect your comments Tiara, but I think I outlined my feelings in the post. As an artist you can do what you want and every moment is not hella deep. But, also as an artist as soon as my work leaves my mouth, my head, etc. it is open to critique whether I like it or not. Kanye purports HIMSELF as being some sort of musical, artistic, and aesthetic genius and so EVERYTHING he does DOES have meaning behind it. I am not perfect, but I am not a man nor woman basher, so as we are all growing I can put my request for respect and maturity out there.

There were a lot of images in the video I was not offended by, I outlined the particularly disturbing part.

Having an particular ideology and foundation that I live and make my art by is not just a Bay thing and I won't feel bad about it. I am not asking him to be a activist, nor do I want him to be stagnant in his evolution as an artist, but the past Kanye albums, where he was talking about real life and some of those songs happened to be uplifting or what some could consider political and social commentary;they just so happen to be in my and many people I've talked to, better than this album by far.

(sorry, you caught me in a writing mood.lol)