Monday, April 11, 2011
Watch "Monster" by Kanye West, then read Latoya Peterson's "Black Monsters/White Corpses: Kanye's Racialized Gender Politics" and assess Peterson's reading of the video. Do you think that she's correct in assessing that "Kanye is...upholding the ideals of white supremacy" or is she tailoring the video to meet her own expectations? Clarify and support your answer.
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Wow. I am almost speechless after having watched this video; except of course to say that this may be the worst song that I have ever heard. I would assume that Mr. West intentionally and consciously made the distinction between the dead white woman and their live, black counterparts. However, I do not believe that Kanye is upholding the ideals of white supremacy, nor do I believe that was his intension, but I am basing this on no prior knowledge whatsoever of Kanye West. If I saw this video on television I do not think I would even notice that the dead women were all white, and if I was required to draw a conclusion from that aspect I would think that maybe he is criticizing or critiquing the varied roles between women of different races in America. Perhaps he is implying that white women only have to be attractive, while black women have to go out and fight for recognition. This is not my opinion in anyway, I am just grasping for straws so I can finish this blog post. The video most glaringly degrades all women; and since this occurs very frequently throughout rap music I would assume that an argument would start there. Nevertheless, in regards to the race question I suppose an argument can be made that Kanye would rather have two dead white women in his bed than an entire group of dark-skin monsters outside his front-door. Yet, I disagree with Peterson’s depiction of the dead white women as “worthy of love, tenderness, and [the] starring role in male fantasies.” Personally, I found them creepy, and their portrayal is not very flattering. Furthermore, it seems as though the black women are placed on a higher pedestal than the white women due to their functionability. Nicky Minaj’s sequences delivers the perception of a strong woman; both representations of her. The one dressed in black is the aggressor, while the one dressed in white is not afraid of her impending doom. Due to the fact that Minaj is the starring female presence in the video, I disagree with Peterson’s statement that “brown women are relegated to the background,” because she is definitely not. I also did not know that this video “provoked such an outcry,” I have actually never seen it until twenty minutes ago; and if someone from another planet watched this video, I think the gender issue would be noticed before the race issue, but I could be wrong (though I doubt that I will ever be proven so). I am sure that Shannon Winnubst would have a field day analyzing this video.
ReplyDeleteAfter six minutes of unbearable noise that could be consider as music, I could hardly agree with Paterson that Kanye West has the intention to uphold the ideals of white supremacy when screening this video. The white women of this video are presented as dolls, which can only play the role of the beautiful girls Kanye West wants to have in his bed. On the other hand, brown women are consider in this video as those who have to fight hard in order to gain recognition and became famous in every industry they work in. I will argue that probably Kanye West wants to demonstrate the differences between white and brown women and the difficulties the later face in maintaining their careers. However, on the grounds that rap music rarely support women’s role in society and most of the times it is offensive towards them, I could say that Kanye and his monstrosity follow this pattern. The presence of the female figure, with their nudity standing out, definitely underlines this statement that rap music usually present women as the more fragile ones. However, for Kanye this is a characterization only for the white ones, because brown women in this video are fighting between their good and evil self and in the end is the evil that wins in order for them to survive in the society. The monsters in this video clip are behaving as vampires and the white “victims” as zombies, reminding the ones from the Night of the Living Dead, waiting for the doors to open. The presence of the female figure
ReplyDeleteThough I had heard the song before, this was my first time actually watching the video for it, and I must admit that I was seriously disturbed by most of it. Kanye West is certainly known for his ostentatious and provocative behavior but in parts of this video he is simply pushing it too far. With regards to Peterson's theory, though I do see the logic in her reasoning, her approach to the video differs from how I perceived it. As a white woman, I viewed the video and was immediately struck by the fact that women were dead, it was only after I read the article that I went back and saw that indeed the corpses were all white. Though I do not think that this was entirely unintentional, I would not go so far as to say that West was attempting to place the white women above the black women. If anything, the white women are passive and lifeless, while the black women are alive and active. I agree with Sean's statement that the white women are not portrayed in a flattering light. They are simply accessories and a part of the background.
ReplyDeleteA picture is worth a thousand words but sometimes it prevents one from focusing on the implied message and leads us to conclusions which may be far from realty. I do not think this video or the accompanying lyrics support Latoya Peterson's assertion that "Kanye is...upholding the ideals of white supremacy". On the contrary, I think this black / white symbolism has simply been used by Kanye to differentiate himself (black) from the people engaging in rumourtrage.
ReplyDeleteI think the genesis of this video dates back to some earlier event (which I am unaware of). Throughout the video, Kanye makes a number of points (which I have listed below) which in concert build up his case against people who bad mouth him / gossip behind his back / make fun of him / try to monetize his fame. In order to make the difference clear, he depicts them as the dead white females. It has nothing to do with any notion of white supremacy.
In many respects, Kanye West’s 'Monster' is very similar to Lebron James's 'Rise' Commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdtejCR413c). In both cases, the protagonists (Kanye West in the former and Lebron James in the latter) are ranting against certain people who criticize their actions.
Below I have listed few quotes from the music video as well as my understanding of what is the implied message:
1. Negative image of him in people's minds.
"I’m a muthaf-cking monster"
2. Compares coldness of the death to the coldness of people's attitude towards him
"There you go again, ain’t nobody as cold as this"
3. Expresses his frustration at being scandalized. He feels betrayed as some of the people whom he helped in their careers are now out to get him.
"Love I don’t get enough of it,
All I get is these vampires and blood suckers,
All I see is these n-ggas I’ve made millionnaires,
Milling about, spilling there feelings in the air,
All I see is these fake f-cks with no fangs,
Tryna draw blood with my ice cold veins."
4. Kanye is saying that these people have projected him as the monster. They gossip and spread false rumors about him just to retain media attention which in turn helps them in their careers.
"Gossip gossip
N-ggas just stop it,
Everybody know (I’m a muthaf-cking monster).
...
Profit profit, n-gga I got it."
Seems like Latoya Peterson has received Kayne West’s message in reverse. “It’s fascinating to see who is interpreted as ‘monster’ and who is interpreted as ‘woman’,” Peterson claims. Her premise is base d on the video’s depiction of white women as dead and of black women as alive and hence monstrous. If to recall District 9, Blomkamp turned Zimbabwean refugees into barbaric prawns to expose the biased attitude of South Africans to them. Kane does the same by presenting black women as monstrous, along with Kayne himself sarcastically uttering “I am a m*****f***** monster”, which he clearly thinks he is not in reality. As a matter of fact, him appearing with dead white women as a backdrop resonates with Winnubst’s argument that “white male heterosexuality” arises as the subconscious norm for our conceptions about race. Kayne chooses such depiction of himself to turn the video into an expose of racial prejudice that identifies black males as potential rapists of white women. Drawing on stereotypes, the video depicts black women in a similar fashion – the y are monstrous, different from white women; they are recklessly careless and overly sexual like Nicki , who wears revealing closing and assaults her other self in a provocative and violent manner (her graphically split personality might be reflective of media perception of her as bisexual – another bias revealed?) Therefore, the video’s message is then that in reality, the racial stereotypes do not hold true, as much as white people would like to think otherwise. Also, white women hardly pass as better off then black women in the video. White women are dead and very similar. In their undifferentiated mass, they are the dead “hyperwhites” that Bakke describes. They are mere cultural dupes. Consequently, black women arise as antithetic to white women. Black women are alive, and their seeming monstrosity, as conceived of by conventional wisdom, translates into their animated individuality opposed to the bland and deprived of any individuality white women. Ultimately, Kayne’s video bashes rather than upholds white supremacy. Examined against the literary discourse on the cultural role of monsters, Peterson’s claim does not hold.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the monster video of Kanye West and others, I do not seem to identify any negative racial connotation to it. Surely it is a video with a multiracial cast but that is all. Therefore, I do not agree with Latoya Peterson who seems to be giving her own understanding of the video. Those are just her personal views. I have come to the conclusion that West and Jay-Z are two angry men who have problems with certain people in society and are just ranting about their problems. They have a podium and so they use it. Kanye West is upset about what people are saying about him. Recall that in the song he referred to people ‘gossiping’. In fact, for a while people were talking about how repulsively he acted at an award ceremony. Kanye has to know that if one does terrible things in public, well, people are going to talk about it and he cannot stop that. Therefore, I surmise that in the video he is trying to let people know that he is a vicious monster and he is capable of killing and eating their flesh like monsters do. He is just trying to intimidate people who care to talk about him.
ReplyDeleteJay-Z, on the other hand, is upset because he thinks that people around him do not show enough gratitude or appreciation for what he has done for them. He thinks that they are ungrateful. Maybe, he is expecting the people who work for him and with him to fall at his feet because he has changed their financial status or changed their lives. This is my assumption. I know nothing of Nicki, this is the first time I hear about her.
Therefore, there is nothing racial about the video. I think the producers just used a multiracial cast. Why do people have to put race in everything? Are we not just human beings? I do not see why there is so much controversy about race. I hope that I am not too naïve. I realize that whenever blacks and whites are involved in anything there is always someone to put a racial spin to it. Come on, people, get a grip and stop this racial stupidity.
After watching Kanye West’s video, I do not think Kanye is “upholding the ideals of white supremacy” in the same way that Latoya Peterson does. In “Monster” when Kanye calls himself a monster, he is using the word monster as an analogy referring to how big he is. Basically he is saying he is a force to be reckoned with. He is at the top of his industry and this is a very cocky way of saying you can’t touch me no matter who you are. The lyrics say, “Profit profit, n-gga I got it,” The best living or dead hands down huh?” and talk about being so huge he can murder blocks and avenues. According to Kanye, there is no one better than himself.
ReplyDeleteKanye then takes this arrogant attitude and applies it to women. The video gives the impression that women are commodities with the sole purpose of pleasuring men. The lyrics to “Monster” prove this. Statements like “Less talk more head right now huh?, Have you ever had sex with a pharaoh, I put the p-ssy in a sarcophagus, Now she claiming I bruise her esophagus, and Head of the class and she just want a swallowship” are very degrading to women in general regardless of their skin color.
In the last verse Kanye says, “I crossed the line and I’ll let God decide.” At the same time he is saying this images of what I assume to be a church altar are shown in the video. On the side of the altar that is illuminated there is an archangel and on the other side there is a figure that cannot be made out because it is hidden in the shadows. I see this as the figurative line that he has crossed between light and dark or good and bad. Kanye is arguably one of the most successful rappers of our time. He is a monster in the sense that he is a huge force to be reckoned with. He gets what he wants when he wants it. Money, women and power are all things that he possesses. While these things may be good in this life, God will decide if they are bad in the next life.
Kanye ultimately is still “upholding the ideals of white supremacy.” The reason, I believe, is because he can! He is Kanye West and according to Kanye he is better than everyone including the white man.
My quarter is long over (we're in an entirely new set of courses now), but I've been following this thread with a significant amount of interest, so I hope Prof. MacDonald is generous enough to allow me to butt in. Sean and Luba, I'd like to build a bit on some of your ideas, which I think are right on, but to digress briefly first. And I have to post in two comments, as I’ve rattled on for quite awhile.
ReplyDeleteMany people do not see why there is so much controversy about race, Audrey. So much the better. But, and this is a big but, to ignore the racial implications in cultural artifacts is to pretend that the problem doesn't exist. And that's why stuff like this is worthy of debate in those particular terms. There are still *lots* of people who believe interracial marriage is wrong, lots of people who believe blacks are inferior, lots of people who believe that blacks need to "just get over" slavery. The first position is obviously ridiculous, but the second and third are imbricated in the culture because of the persistence of discrimination. It's obviously not as much of an issue in NYC as it is, say, in Ohio, where I teach. I live in Cincinnati, where there were race riots merely 10 years ago in response to the 11th unarmed black man being shot by police in a couple-year span. The city is also quite segregated, and our student population is not representative of the population at large, partly because the university shut down funding for a center that helped (predominantly) African-Americans who went to the poorly-managed, segregated high schools in Cincinnati a chance to develop before entering "regular" college classes. These are pretty obviously issues in which race is clearly at stake. Again, in NYC, it may not be such an issue, but given that white people have the luxury of never thinking about race, because they're not coded as inferior, or sexually voracious potential rapists, or criminals, it's important to address the "transparency" of whiteness as well.
And the fear of black men's sexuality, especially when it's aimed at white women, is still a dominant theme in American culture. I think many of you would benefit from reading some passages of Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's _The Anatomy of Prejudice_, which is a psychoanalytic profile of prejudiced society "types." The "hysterical" prejudice that she identifies primarily focuses on the marginalized group's sexual appetites as a sublimation of the oppressor group's "savage impulses," which tends to take shape in the marginalized group as an enhancement of the seuxal element of identity, and to take shape in the oppressor group as an aim at annhilation of the marginalized group's sexual organs (hence the frequent castrations during the Lynching Era).
ReplyDeleteI see this as being interesting complicated in this particular video in the palpable misogyny, which Young-Breuhl refers to as a "narcissistic prejudice." The narcissistic prejudices tend to either minimize difference or to exaggerate difference. For example, by minimizing difference, it's pretty easy to hear "yes" when a woman says "no," because how could her desires possibly be different from his? On the other hand, if difference is exaggerated, it's pretty easy to think of women (or, say, homosexuals) as sub-human--they're so different that they're unrecognizable.
In any case, I see West working within these prejudicial paradigms, possibly critiquing/parodying, possibly buying into them wholesale. My essential read on this video is that West is partly critiquing and partly indulging in the stereotype of black men's rapaciousness, while simultaneously incorporating race, on one hand, minimizing white women's difference to the point that they are incapable of saying "yes" or "no," and exaggerating black women's difference to the point that they are rendered monstrous. OR making white women completely inhuman, dead, so that they are *not capable* of consent or denial thereof, and making black women similar in the monstrosity West claims as his own. The depiction of black women as monstrous *does* engage in some well-worn stereotypes in the white community, but depicting white women as *dead* engages in some well-worn stereotypes in the black community as well. White women are often figured as more compliant [than African-American women] in stereotyped language. My husband gleefully laughs at this idea, of course.
The monstrosity of the black women in the video is pretty well explored in the article. But the deadness of the white women ties into both this idea of compliance, that white women are "not as demanding" as African-American women, and also, the idea that their consent is not important. Violence being mapped onto the white female body is essentially naturalized here, in a way that is jarring for many white viewers, as it's commonly mapped onto the white female body in the presence of a white assailant. Violence against the white female body by a non-white assailant is generally only used for consolidating the national identity.
I've probably gone on a bit long with this tangent, but I'm fascinated by your responses. Thanks for the break from class planning for the current quarter.
Latoya Peterson says in her article, “its interesting to watch Nicki add another element to her performance – not only is she tormenting herself, she also acts against herself sexually, fulfilling a long held trope – female suffering is sexy. By writhing and grinding on her captive self, Minaj is playing into the visual imagery that has fueled horror movies for quite some time – a woman in peril should also operate as an object of sexual desire”. I don’t think anyone would argue that this is, as Peterson says, a “long held trope”. I don’t think anyone would argue, either, that fantasies of sexual violence are portrayed in this video. The question of why (some) men find this attractive is one that I can’t answer, so I will leave it alone. Here is the focus of my inquiry….. “Nikki adds another element to HER performance”…. “SHE acts against herself sexually”….Why do women allow themselves to be portrayed in this way? I am fully aware that I am a reverse-sexist. I don’t expect that much from men in terms of morality. I know that this is wrong and that I need to work on it. I do, however, expect a lot more from women than is apparent in this video. Why would someone allow themselves to be portrayed in this fashion, to perpetuate something that is obviously a problem in our society? So, rather, than talking to the men….Women, be better!
ReplyDeleteWhile watching this video I was struck primarily by its depiction of gender, not of race. Of course, I realize that to an extent I’m projecting my own opinions onto the video, but I actually think that there is more evidence to support this than the race argument that Latoya Peterson makes. While she is right that there are no dead, black women shown, I disagree with the conclusions that she draws from this. She uses this to argue that there is a clear line between the white and black women drawn here, which there is not. There are white, alive monsters and, as Professor MacDonald pointed out in class, there appears to be at least one dead Asian woman. Really, the only way a racial division is shown is that there are no dead black women. I think that this actually has more to do with white being seen as the default race, as I believe was argued by Bakke (I’m sorry, I couldn’t find the quote and am now not sure that it was her). White, heterosexual males are the norm and the audience really only notices race, gender, or sexuality when it deviates from that. In this respect, I do not think that the fact that the dead women are white is particularly important. I actually think that, contrary to what Peterson argues, dead black women might be even more controversial. As we discussed in class about Bakke, if movies portrayed a white man fighting off legions of black zombies, it would be viewed as racist. However, when the zombies are white, their race is seen as default, and not a social commentary. I feel that the race of the dead women is a result of this, and not an argument on white supremacy.
ReplyDeleteAs for the issue of gender, I once again disagree with Peterson. She claims that this video is overly sexual and violent. Although I certainly agree with this, it’s not really worse than any other music videos. Sexualized violence is a prevalent trend in both movies, like the torture porn genre of horror films, and advertisements, as Peterson points out. This raises the question of what exactly about this particular video really crosses the line between controversial and acceptable. Peterson claims that the answer is the sexualization of the women in the video, but she ignores the similar treatment that the men receive. Jay-Z is shown dressed in a tuxedo, which is at least intended to be attractive, and Kanye is repeatedly shown partially dressed and being caressed. This is no better than Nicki’s “writhing and grinding on her captive self.” I agree that this level of sexualization is disgusting, but I do not think this video is a particularly egregious example. At worst, this is no more than “the usual amount.” However, at best, I would argue that the video’s message might even be positive. Yes, there is a lot of violence, death, and sexualization. The dead women are beyond objectified; they are literally turned into lifeless possessions. Yet the whole song is about the perpetrators calling themselves monsters for this behavior. Rather than perpetuating these ideals, it seems that the artists are openly condemning it. In that way, this is a huge step up from similar portrayals in other works. While we usually see this violence for its own sake, here it is being used as a condemnation. While this might be giving Kanye West, whom I generally think of as completely arrogant and shallow, too much credit, if his intention was actually to criticize this trend instead of perpetuate it, this video can be seen as progressive.