What’s the point?!
As an artist myself, I’m pretty liberal when it comes to artistic expression. I like when things get shaken up. Art to me isn’t just entertaining your senses. It can be rebellious.
But there have been a few videos recently that make me really ask: What’s the point!?
Estelle for example. I had heard about her new video for Freak, people saying she was in blackface. I was wondering if folks were exaggerating, but you tell me…
I had to ask one of my friends who’s a stylist and highly into fashion, what is it about putting people in black make up these days? She didn’t even know…I mean just look…
I don’t know about the girl in the American Apparel ad on the left, but Lara Stone on the right is definitely a white woman. I guess I could dismiss the Black make-up if it seemed like there was a point to all this. Why put a white person in black make-up? Furthermore, why put a Black, dark skinned person like Estelle in Black make up and red lipstick, which are clearly reminiscent of minstrel images? Does Estelle represent the “Blackness” of space in the video? I guess…but her hair is lighter than her face and looks fairly nappy. Then a few seconds later, her hair is straighter, like she’s in a short cut wig. So…it doesn’t seem consistent…I don’t get it. What’s the point!?
I find it hard to believe that no one asked anyone working on that video, “Um…is Estelle in blackface?”
And then Beyonce and Lady Gaga…Just watch the video first.
Ok so….what was that?
She goes to a high fashion, weird jail…gets naked…kisses a girl…gets bailed out by Beyonce…they kill people…and then they’re Thelma & Louise.
So does the jail mean something? What does a Telephone have to do with all that? Did you see the random product placement?! What?! What the hell!? WHAT’S THE POINT!?
Please don’t tell me this is “female empowerment”. That’s like me saying I’m wearing blackface and cooning in my next video to dismiss stereotypes.
News flash: Ladies, if you want to bring more female empowerment, then being overtly sexual and exaggerating the objectification of women won’t work in your favor. If anything, you should go in the other direction. You can’t always fight fire with fire, you fight fire with water.
At first, I kinda dug Lady Gaga. I wouldn’t buy her music, but I liked that she was shaking things up and she (or her camp at least) was taking risks. She could sing, I dug her story as paying dues (that is, if her story is actually real). But since she’s come on the scene, it seems like being outlandish is trendy. It’s more of a way to be seen than to actually make a statement. As my girl Vashluv said about Lady Gaga, “What’s your message? What are you saying?…That’s cute, it’s creative, but what are you preaching?”. And Beyonce…It seems like she just mimics whoever she’s with. I’m actually surprised she decided to do a video like this. I’d figure she’d worry about it ruining her “brand”.
When we view a piece of “art” we’re not just looking at it for how it entertains us, but we are also reacting to a set of decisions. Why was the story told that way? Furthermore, what are you saying? What is your point?
And if you don’t have a point…
…then what’s the point?
UPDATE: The director of the video provides an explanation of the video here juxtaposed to someone’s reading of the “symbolism”. The director sums it up in the following:
“For us it was a little action movie with a made-up, crazy story,” Akerlund said. “You don’t have to be so deep about things. For me music videos are about entertaining and bringing out the music and the artist. The form itself allows you to be creatively free. I am a little weird and a little untraditional in how and why I tell stories in music videos. But I enjoy the fact that people go deep and see things in my work because it means the music got out there and got some attention.”
So basically, the video isn’t meant to have any special meaning, just quirky. *shrugs*
Mission accomplished.
well said sir. entertainment is just a cycle of bad crap as of lately. bad forms of extreme used to get the audiences attention because the content isnt as strong as it once was. sad. its going to take a long time to change. I just want everyone to stop jumping on the “pop” band wagon and to develop their own opinion and outlook on what major media is gagging us with…pure, hot garbage. As the great Spike Lee said…”WAKE UP!!!!”
I’m on the fence about this. I think every artist should have something to say or represent something that is unique or personal to them. Not necessarily a message, but a cohesive theme or story that means something, even if that meaning is absurdity.
With Gaga, I look at her the same way I look at the Alice in Wonderland books. They were highly criticized for being aimless, plot-free exercises in the absurd. But they fed a need for some people and went on to become classics because of the imagery and wacky ideas. Not to say Gaga will come to be regarded like a piece of classic literature, but hopefully you understand my point. In this video, they went out of their way to pay homage to grindhouse films, to the exclusion of the song lyrics. It’s effective for that, at least, even if the narrative seems random. None of this bothers me, but I don’t need to see this video again.
As for Estelle, it depends on how you define blackface. If there’s a specific set of attributes that explicitly define blackface and they cannot be deductively falsified, only then can we determine whether or not a black woman in darker makeup constitutes blackface.
There was an episode of America’s Next Top Model, cycle 3, where a light-medium complexioned Black contestant was painted to look like Grace Jones. No one, to my memory, so much as breathed the word blackface. Not anyone on the show, not the press, and not the viewers. Cut to last October, and contestants were painted in various shades of darker makeup to represent mixed races. This gave birth to the ANTM Blackface Controversy, chiefly because the women behind the paint were white.
Consider when dark-skinned Kimberly Reese on A Different World dressed as a mammy for a presentation. There was no paint, but it brought up the same themes and issues people have with blackface. Is it, then, blackface?
When it comes to blackface, is it the paint, or the skin behind it?
I think a lot of people cry blackface foul without really understanding the history behind it. Same goes for the people using it. The intention back then was to make a mockery of and/or villify the culture of the decendants of slaves during a time when any potential actors of color weren’t going to get any work outside of cooning it up if they did actually get work. However, I’m definitely giving anything a side eye when I can’t understand the intention behind using an appropriated, artsied up version of burnt cork. Estelle’s video probably had to do with the blackness of space as you said. Lara Stone…well, I still don’t understand why they didn’t just hire a dark skinned model. Sure neither of them were mocking the culture, but, as you and Vash say, what is the point?
As for Telephone…I’ll say that I liked it more than Video Phone (which I really, really didn’t like…at all), but I was confused as hell. I don’t get the point, I don’t get the storyline. In fact, I think this video was more referential than anything else. There are stories behind the people she used, the costuming, the locations, etc. So much so that I thought Quentin Tarantino directed it – and we all know how much he loves using obscure references in his shit.
Great post, Merc.
Annnnd, here’s the explanation for Telephone: http://tinyurl.com/yfc54mg
I’m still confused. LOL.
We can’t look to our Leaders, and it doesn’t look like we can look to our Artists either. Woe is us.
Wow. Just read the Explanation. Shoot me.
In the case of the Gaga/Beyonce video, and many others like it that are bizarre and have little or nothing to do with the song, I don’t believe that there is no “meaning” to the visuals. There’s too much money and time involved for them to be meaningless, especially for a mini-movie of a music video. What point they’re trying to make, I don’t know. But personally the videos from Gaga I’ve seen have all been disturbing at the very least, and this is no exception. (I guess at some point I’ll read the explanation Alicia posted, but I’m sure the explanation still won’t make any sense.)
As far as the Estelle video goes, I’m just as stumped as y’all are lol.
i agree with what Vash had to say.
nice write up Merc
I feel ya on how it can make you uncomfortable…at the same time – I like the idea of it being used subversively by black folk…. it’s the visual equivalent of the ‘N’ word, n’est-ce pas?
All I could do was shake my head. A lot of video’s are just strange. And some artists and directors get so caught up in being abstract and wild that they don’t realize that everything about the song gets lost. I watched a little of Estelle’s video and I was so distracted by the weird colors, makeup, lighting (or lack of) that I couldn’t begin to tell you how the song goes or what it’s about. I thought videos were supposed to add to the song, not snuff it out.
As for GaGa & Beyonce’s video. I give it a big fat YAWN. I’m not impressed by the overt sexuality nor am I surprised by it. Going over the top with sex in videos is hardly out-of-the-box these days. I’m suprised by Beyonce’s participation. But then again, maybe I’m not; as it seems that a lot of artists get to be such superstars that they eventually cross over into superweird, supercrazy, super-huh?. Mariah and Janet are prime examples. They just started acting out. Eventually they came back down, and got it together; or about as together as they can get.
As a purveyor of pop cultural memes, I am always been intrigued by the appropriations of said memes by artist today and yesteryear. America has always been a place where art loses its high brow aesthetic for immediate gratification, and instant shock its truly a basic premise of “art” here, i.e., Warhol. So we are at Blackface, again. It is one of America’s first and truly unifying pop cultural tropes, i dont understand why folk keep getting angry. It suggest the duality of existence that exist here. Suggesting a loss of place and inherent insecurity/existential crisis on the part of white folk (who blacken up). On the other hand, it suggest, as it always has, a willingness by black artist to comply with the dominate definitions of ‘blackness’ (also, you dont need to blacken up to be a coon.) That is the lens I see when I see blackface, a continued discussion refrencing WEB Dubois, something regarding warring souls. I’d expand it a bit to include a more varied mirror, something of a kaleidoscope w/ white folk in it as well.
excuse the ramble.
hmn, i did a poster on the subject they come in two.
http://magyombo.com/asablefool/SBLFOOL.html
BULLSHIT! are they serious? lol!
I got to the end of page 2 of the the Gaga video explanation link, provided by Alicia, and couldn’t take it anymore.
This is what REALLY happened with the video; treatment: uh, brainstorm, shock value, ratings, sales, and, like, what’s really really hot? Post-video: Um, explanation… brainstorm, try to sound intelligent, deceive the public.
I can appreciate some of Gaga’s music, but at this point I feel she is more focused on shocking listeners than anything. Gaga CAN sing AND play piano, but seems to rely less and less on these talents. After reading this article http://tinyurl.com/yzbhskk I seems apparent that Gaga had put her talents on the backburner in order to gain ‘the fame’.
Musicians don’t need to be plain and indistinguishable, but i believe many have left ART out of their act. It may not seem like much in today’s world, but when I watch programs like VH1 Soul I see true artist that didn’t have to sell shock (or their bodies) to sell records.
The black face… My feelings on this are very strong, I find it highly offensive, whether its on a black person or a white person. Period. It’s not some abstract form of art, it represents hate, bigotry, prejudice, stereotypes, racism, and still, a very painful past. I want the pre-braces Estelle back, smh, how disappointing. As for American Apparel, I’ve always felt something eerily-racist seeping from within that company, doesn’t surprise me.
Merc, great post! Vashluv, so true, My motto, “I stay woke” (E.Badu). In addition I feel a nice strong dose of Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled” needs to be administered to the Stepin Fetchit’s of today’s entertainment world.
YAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSS @Marqui! More people should see that movie. Really.
I just wanted to Add… becoming a Parody of Hate isn’t Art, and frankly it’s Fruitless. Don’t Judge it. Don’t try to Analyze it. Don’t become a Parody of it. REMOVE it. Women fighting for Empowerment by throwing their Cooch around isn’t Female Empowerment, and Black folk Subversely using Blackface to make it “Hip” isn’t Defeating Racism. When you want to Fight for Equality, you TRANSCEND the Concept. You add another Dimension. If yer a Woman showcasing yer Sexuality, give us another Dimension. Put Substance behind the Imagery. Same for Blackface. Otherwise, yer wasting yer Time.
“You can’t always fight fire with fire, you fight fire with water.”
Yes.
That summarized my thinking on the Gaga video perfectly. I felt much like you did; that she deserves props for her creativity. But now it just seems like she is a lot of noise. Why should I listen to her? Is she a child just screaming for attention or someone bringing attention to something in the world that I need to see?
I think Gaga is tremendously talented as a singer, artist, and overall visionary. It will be interesting to see how she uses her abilities in the future.
Y’all are speaking so much logic right now. I can’t lie though, I enjoyed the Telephone vid. What can I say? I’m a sucker for camp and fuckery. Somehow, I feel like there’s a master plan behind all she does, and in the “end”, the facade will be washed away and we’ll see how fame really “kills”. Did you know I’m also a conspiracy theorist?
Oh yah, but blackface? I just can’t. (No, really…I CAN’T. Have we learned nothing from the legacy of Bert Williams?!) We haven’t moved far enough beyond the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow to NOT be sensitive. Alla that was +400 years. We only been out of it for a lil +100.
At the same time, Europe’s legacy of slavery/colonization is a tad “different” (NOT justifying it at all). Did y’all know Santa still has a slave in the Netherlands?! Santa. Has. A. Slave. And his name is Zwarte Piet (Black Piet).
I’m already being too long winded, so I’ma leave y’all to google the blackface ridiculosity that is Zwarte Piet.
xx
One ‘mo thing:
http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=3423 <—this dude is KING of the conspiracy theorists. And he might be totally wacko, but I also want him to be right.
(Totally the opposite of my conspiracy theory, but his is fun-ner)
That Telephone music video is basically a reenacting of scenes from Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Deathproof. I’m really surprised Tarantino was okay with that. I mean, he must have been okay with it, they’re driving the Pussy Wagon. I don’t know, I guess I just expected a respected member of the creative community, when approached by some hack like Lady Gaga, to stand up for artistic integrity and say, “no, you can’t use this stuff I created just because you’re too vapid to come up with anything innovative yourself”. Then again, passive income is a pretty sweet gig.