Mia McKenzie addresses this point in her blogpost This is what Rihanna’s BBHMM says about black women, white women and feminism: “White women have been unapologetically violent towards black women for centuries. She then describes Rihanna thusly: “I’m actually starting to wonder whether she might not have some kind of medical condition which prevents her from keeping her legs – as well as her stupid trap – shut.” She, like others, was also quick to note that Rihanna, first seen dressed in “some sort of voodoo fashion” in the video, tortures a rich, blonde, white woman, but is never punished for her crime. Among the more egregious criticisms came from Sarah Vine of the Daily Mail, who called the video “repulsive” and said it featured an “endless stream of filthy, violent and downright misogynistic images”. I was reminded of that scene over the weekend while reading through all the tweets ( #BBHMMVideo), thinkpieces and commentary about Rihanna’s new video for Bitch Better Have My Money, mainly from white women who felt the video was either anti-feminist, misogynistic, or both. Patsey is at at first stunned, then distressed, and then utterly shut down. The act itself happens in a moment, but its impact is unending. White women have been unapologetically violent towards black women for centuries…So, for many of us, kidnapping the white brother or the white wife is all the same.There are many horrifyingly poignant scenes in the film 12 Years a Slave, but among those that have stayed with me most resonantly is the scene in which the white Mistress Epps (played by Sarah Paulson) abruptly lashes out and scratches the face of her slave Patsey (played by Lupita Nyong’o) with her fingernails in a grotesquely accurate demonstration of white female privilege so ingrained that it has become instinctive. The harm done to us by white men and white women isn’t vastly different to many of us. But here’s what white feminists don’t get (and what has them fucked up): black women often see white women as the same as white men. Because they understand that revenge fantasies wherein women hurt men are pushing back against the harm men do to us. “Imagine if instead of kidnapping the accountant’s wife, Rihanna and her crew kidnapped his brother? Would White Feminists™ be so upset? I doubt it. On the other hand, a piece by Mia McKenzie on her Black Girl Dangerous site interprets the backlash from white feminists as hypocritical while saying the video offers a vision of black female empowerment: Not only is reversing gender roles very pat and tired, BBHMM doesn’t even follow through properly.” “Moreover, just because, in Rihanna’s musical sphere and beyond, there are misogynistic male artists, this doesn’t automatically give her the same ‘privileges’. A piece in The Guardian argued the latter while questioning who’s allowed to embody misogyny in pop music: While some might not find the imagery to be all that intense, the video has already inspired debate about whether or not the imagery is empowering or misogynistic. Almost resembling a grindhouse film-level of lurid imagery, the video features the singer and two accomplices kidnapping the wife (played by model/” S1m0ne” actress Rachel Roberts) of Rihanna’s accountant (played by “Casino Royale” and “Hannibal” actor Mads Mikkelsen) and taking the wife on a “Weekend at Bernies”-meets-“Saw”-esque ransom trip before killing her, and returning to kill the accountant. Although this isn’t the Barbadian singer’s first brush with infamy based on her music videos-2011’s “ Man Down” featured a sexual assault survivor murdering the perpetrator, while the same year’s “ We Found Love” depicted a turbulent and explicit relationship with a man who was a dead ringer for her ex-boyfriend and abuser Chris Brown-the new seven-minute longform video (co-directed by Rihanna) takes lurid imagery to a new level.
Only four days after its release, Rihanna’s video for her latest Kanye West-produced single “Bitch Better Have My Money” (which you can watch above) has already inspired controversy.
0 kommentar(er)
