Thursday, December 30, 2010

How many dead women can Kanye fit into his latest video?...

Answer: A LOT!Utter disgust...Check out his latest single "Monster"...

**Trigger Warning**



It's incredibly disturbing to see popular music has gone from scantily clad dancing women, to scantily clad dead women hanging from ceilings or as severed heads in the hands of Kanye. Jay'z is no better with his highly controversial lyric: "I rape and pillage your village, women, and children" as a woman lies nude and dead behind him on a couch.

And Nicki Manaj, hip hop's woman of the year, trying so hard to be one of the boys. I totally get that her scene is more of a play on the dual roles women are expected to maintain. For Nicki in particular, one persona is a stereotypical pure/innocent woman and the other is an animalistic/evil woman who is able to roll with the boys by downplaying her femininity (weakness) and emphasizing her masculine traits (power). Can she use her popularity and celebrity for good? Would it be too much to ask her to help empower women out there, rather than playing being apart of a video that blatantly dehumanizes them? Establish a new par in terms of sexism, and let male rappers rise to your level...please? In the very least, at least her scene was a just some bondage/kink rather than murder...

Certainly there are women that are also depicted as being murderers, but their status is no where near the powerful men rapping in front of the camera. Instead they are shown as animalistic "blood-suckers" that will drain powerful men of their money.

When did music become this...Kanye's a "Monster" indeed

2 comments:

  1. While I agree that the portrayal of dead women as sex objects is a dehumanizing and violent trend in pop culture, writing off the song "Monster" as sexist and disgusting misses out on the very themes of the song.
    An analysis of the actual lyrics these artists are singing/rapping shows a more complex relationship of sex, race, and power. The paradox these artists are illustrating is how the pursuit of power is such a universal human impulse, yet acquiring power is in itself dehumanizing- turning one into a monster, someone who sexualizes dead women particularly because they cannot empathize with human emotion.
    Though the sexualized dead women are certainly being used to turn a profit for this music video, it's sad to dismiss the implications of the song itself, which criticizes such objectifying media manipulation.

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