My presence is a present; kiss my ass!
– Kanye West, “Monster”
Kanye West has released the designed-to-be-controversial video for his single, “Monster”, and it puts Lady Gaga, Rihanna, etc. – heck, it even puts Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie – on notice, that anything they can do, he can do sleazier.
It’s all about shock one-upmanship in the music biz these days, and shock is what Kanye and his buddies and co-creators of the video are out to do. If you haven’t seen it – miss it twice.
If you have, then you witnessed a lot of white womens’ bodies. And I mean, bodies. As in lifeless bodies. It seems that Kanye likes corpses. He likes to have them in bed with him. He likes to play with their lifeless limbs the way little girls do with Barbie dolls. He likes them swinging from the ceiling. He likes only parts of them. And he likes them to be white. Now, ordinarily, I wouldn’t make a big deal out of that, but this is Kanye West, remember? The guy who pointed out that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” in the aftermath of Katrina. The guy who made it obvious, by bounding up on stage and grabbing the microphone from Taylor Swift, that he felt that racism was the reason why Beyonce didn’t win the award for VMA “Best Video”.
Why aren’t some of the corpses in his video African American? Well, I guess I could be like Kanye and assume it’s because he considers white women more expendable.
But, of course, I shouldn’t think that way. After all, at the start of the video a disclaimer runs that says, “The following content is in no way to be interpreted as misogynistic or negative toward any groups of people. It is an art piece and it shall be taken as such.” Silly me! Now that Kanye has done me the honor of telling me how I am to “take” his “art piece”, all doubts have been removed.
He’s not misogynistic or prejudiced. He’s not a monster, either.
He’s just an asshole.
That video was hilarious. “Look at me, I’m dark and edgy!”
ZAXTLY.
THANK YOU.
The original spoofed itself without anyone else having to.
But hey, we’re children, and the grown-ups are telling us we’ve been brainwashed and desensitized or some such nonsense. How in their day things were so much better… besides the segregation, lynchings, etc. You know, stuff in REAL life. Damn kids and their hippity hop and such. Get off my lawn.
As far as a horror theme goes though, I like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Heads will Roll better. Now that’s actually more artsy and doesn’t lampoon itself like Kanye. The problem with him, among many, is he takes himself to seriously.
And thus, in summation, that video was friggin’ hilarious, not offensive – except to good taste.
I suppose that I’m included in your list of grown ups being as I took offense at the “get off my lawn” reference, but I don’t consider anyone aged 30ish a child. By the age of 30 I had lived in 3 countries, been married for 6 years, been pregnant twice and started our own business. So no, I don’t think of you as a child or anyone over 20 as one either. Again, in case I didn’t make myself understood, my disgust with this creep’s video has absolutely nothing to do with my age or my interests, but has everything to do with disrespect to women worldwide. Just wanted to clear that up before I get too busy, and to tell you that I felt exactly the same way as I do now in my 30’s about disrespect to women. I can even go back further to my 20’s, so that strange isn’t it?
Hey, Khirad, I’m old but I don’t go back as far as lynchings! Oh, I take that back, there were lynchings in the 50’s and 60’s by rasist aholes in the south. But, hey, I was a Hippie before it was hippity hop. They felt about our music in many of the same ways. We just didn’t have the music videos to put so much in your face. I mean they wouldn’t show Elvis below the waist on TV. Let alone making the Stones and the Doors alter their lyrics on the Ed Sullivan Show. (Although Jim Morrison didn’t) But, we did make some good music in my day. Will you give me that much?
Khirad, where is this quote about things being so much better? I may be wrong, but I think you’re doing a little reading between the lines here.
Most doddering remnants from the olden days tend to cling to the hope that things are supposed to evolve to a better place, don’t you think, wts? Not to the impossibility that anyone can go back to “when everything was so much better.” (Things never were. That was never said.)
There are a couple of reactions to appalling things, depending on how recently one attended high school. One is to denounce it. The other is to laugh at it.
Both seem to be saying the same thing to Kanye: “Heads up, pal. This vid sucks.”
Another thing I did notice is that you never brought the generational angle into your argument. It’s something of an unfortunate distraction in an otherwise interesting discussion.
Hi Kes,
The thing is, things can get both better AND worse; such is the complex nature of our world. For instance, for thousands of years, people could look up into the sky and see an incredible light show of stars. But recently, that is withheld from the majority of people living in major cities. But we have electricity, and so our lives are both more and less than our ancestors.
So it’s kind of just an old saw to say, “oh, yeah, things were SO much better in YOUR day” and then bring up some of the horrible things that happened in the past.
That’s. Not. What. We. Are. Saying.
I agree. It’s become a stupid game of one-downmanship.
WTS – I’ve never seen one thing he’s done or heard one word he’s uttered, but it sounds utterly disgusting. I’m pretty sick of the media world’s exploitation of women or anyone else. But mostly I’m sick of the “I’m an artist because I SAY I’m an artist so worship my product even if it sucks” attitude.
I have no idea whether you’re judging him too harshly or not, but I do think if he’s grinding out images of brutality against women that it does need to be called out, so thank you. Based on your descriptions, I can’t think of a single thing that would make his depictions OK. I’d boycott his work except I already am de facto.
Indifference may be the best revenge.
Thank you, c-lady. I feel exactly the same way; there just isn’t a single thing that makes the images okay.
Kanye should be ashamed, as should anyone who degrades women. But we have a culture that HAS no shame and is totally cool with womens’ bodies being used as the pin cushion of choice for “artists” desperate to get our attention.
wts, I’m finding the range of reactions to your piece very interesting. Some of them seem to be based on the (I believe false) assumption that you would censor this video into non-existence.
I don’t think you’re saying that. (Correct me, please, if I’m wrong.) I think you’re expressing your opinion of this “work of art.” Your reaction to it. That seems totally legitimate.
What strikes me as really odd is the notion that anyone who objects to “art” like this must be: a.) a prude, b.) old, c.) both
Of course, in American culture, the worst thing that can be said about anyone is that he/she is/acts old/prudish. (Well, maybe “fat” would trump “old,” but even that’s up for debate.)
We have a Congress full of liposuctioned and hair dyed/plugged politicians who are completely aware of how quickly they’ll be flushed down the electoral crapper if they let themselves go.
I like the fact that you and Kalima can offer a perspective that’s based in part on your residence in Japan. I’m sure Japan is not immune from any hint of ageism, nor do the Japanese uniformly espouse feminist ideals, but I think there’s a level of respect for…well, shall we say — respect?…there.
As Kalima’s links to stories of violence in the ME demonstrate, this is not a world is which it is easy/safe to be a woman or a child.
Making a buck off of that fact seems somewhat creepy. But I guess that’s a value judgment and doesn’t factor into what some demographics regard as entertainment?
That said, I don’t think either of us are pushing for censorship.
Hi kes,
exactly right; I’m not calling for censorship. I think the work is vile and misogynistic, and I think the fact that there are even more vile things out there, thus rendering this video “tame” serves to bolster my belief that our cultural norms are truly out of whack, and don’t serve us.
I also think that in this particular case it is fair to call out West about the women’s whiteness, because of former actions/statements of his.
This is an opinion piece – plain and simple. I value all the comments people have made here, but let me be honest and admit I value the comments from the women more in this particular case, since it is women who are being degraded by this trashy video.
Sure West seems to be a narcissist but I don’t know him personally so I really can’t fully judge the man. I’m a bit surprised by this judgmental attitude coming from you for someone you don’t even know. I judge and we all judge people in the spotlight but I hope I qualify it with “seems” or “appears” to be more often than not because like I said I don’t know them.
KQ, I am attempting to illustrate the adage that glass houses and throwing stones don’t mix. After all, the title of this piece is a variation on West’s own words.
Truthfully, I have no idea to what degree West is racist, just as he has no idea to what degree Bush’s attitudes toward African Americans influenced the U.S. (inadequate) response to Katrina. If he had said, “George Bush doesn’t care about poor people” it would have been different, obviously.
It is West who – continually – chooses to perceive things through the prism of race, and therefore he deserves to be “judged” by the same standards.
I put the same question to you I put to audadvnc: If Eminem, or Kid Rock, had released a video that showed scenes of exclusively black women hanging from the ceiling, and them engaged in necrophilia with dead black women, what would your outrage level be?
From Lou Reed’s song, “Good Evening, Mr. Waldheim”, sung to Jesse Jacskon:
“If I ran for President
and once was a member of the Klan
wouldn’t you call me on it
the way I call you on Farrakhan?”
As a fan of Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, and others
I have to say that was one of the tamest things I’ve ever seen.
This is what’s controversial now a days?
Jesus Christ people. Snoop ACTUALLY KILLED SOMEONE. They even made a video about it.
Yeah, Jesus Christ people! Stop getting upset about depictions of necrophilia, beheading and murdering women! That stuff is so TAME!
Get lives!
Thank you! I’ve been telling people that for years.
ha ha, well, actually you probably realize I’m being facetious. Seriously, I respect you and your opinions, but still see humor in the fact that you and I are poles apart on this subject. I hope you did too.
That happens sometimes, different opinions. It is good when you can accept it and not be to critical. Humor always help especially when someone gets it besides you.
you know what they say…humor is in the pie of the beholder!
Of course wts. Everyone has a limit to what they consider decent.
I have yet to find my limit though.
Um, so, yeah. Kanye is an ego, I’ve never particularly thought he was that talented, but if you’re offended by this, than you’d hate one of my favorite movies, Blade, and such.
It was just lame. We’re getting a little too PC and reading oh so much more than Kanye could ever read into it. I also wonder if he wasn’t attempting to be a little tongue in cheek (though not convincingly).
I remember there was another nontroversy about Rihanna’s “bondage song” months back. That was among the stupidist, most uninformed faux outrages I’ve ever heard.
No, it’s not shocking at all. I’m sorry, but you’re all sounding a little “get off my lawnish”.
Would I want tweens viewing it? No. But really, my bigger concern is that they’re just being exposed to someone who isn’t even talented in his own genre, let alone one that I prefer. But as far as that genre goes, this was tame as far as misogyny goes. You might call it a step up.
As far as fetishization of death, well, let’s go back to Bram Stoker. Let’s crucify Nick Cave for Murder Ballads, etc.
I will always protect the crap, even stuff far more vile than this total lameness. Because if they can come after the crap, than they can come after earnest, real art exploring taboo subjects.
Pretty dead white girl.
[img]http://www.artunframed.com/images/demuth/millais47.jpg[/img]
I’m not saying he can’t continue to produce his crap. I just think that far too many “artists,” rely on shock value to sell their crap. It’s a cheap trick and really shows a lack of real talent.
Khirad, I hardly think that the fobbing off of comments of other members as being knee-jerk “get off my lawn” reactions, serves any purpose, in fact it’s a bit over the top. Just because they are a little older than you, doesn’t mean that they are not allowed to speak of their own moral standards to just to have them dissed as being “old fashioned”, out of touch. or angry. I always associate the “Get off my lawn” with grumpy older people, isn’t that the case?
Your generation has seen pretty much nothing else. People who have no real talent turn to the extremes of shocking other people, or wanting to shock people. I don’t think the guy has a very good voice anyway, nothing memorable. A perfect example would be Madonna, another one without much of a voice, who tried to regain her sagging popularity by publishing the trashy book “SEX”, the highlight of which was supposed to show her newly acquired muscles, and a shot of her “fagina” in the reflection of a mirror she was squatting over. For most of us, it was as ridiculous as it was pathetic, for her fans, I don’t really know or care.
My feeling is that if an “artist” has to go to these length to sell a song or an album, by shocking saner people, then their careers are already in the toilet. No one selling well would have to resort to trash like this.
Advice for Kanye, either go into therapy or hire a voice coach.
You think it’s ok, most here don’t, that’s ok too, but blaming it on the age difference is in my opinion being dishonest, when the appreciation of art, music, poetry and books is that of individual taste, that has little or nothing to do with how old a person might be.
People here find the display distasteful and have the perfect right to voice that distaste.
The fact that there is no video, didn’t see me running to youtube to watch it either, now or in the near future, and should it come to my tv screen, I can press the off button any time.
If I misunderstood the meaning of your comment, then I apologize in advance.
“Get off my lawn” is old fashion? Gee, well, whip my butt and call me Granny. If you saw how many of my neighbors dogs take a crap in my yard, you would yell it too. In tune or not. 🙂
I live in Tokyo, have no lawn, and dogs crap on my doorstep.
Exactly! You know I was kidding, right? Would you believe that I have neighbors that clean up after their dog and leave the plastic bag on our sidewalk. Nice. Not. I guess I should take it to their house and light it on fire on their doorstep and yell, “FIRE!” Won’t work, its plastic. They never ask, “Paper or plastic?” before leaving it.
Sally – if it’s the same people all the time, I think a flaming bag of poo would not be amiss.
Or mailing it COD – return to sender…except you’d have to send it to the people because dogs don’t have pockets and thus no money. But it wasn’t the DOG that left the bag either.
I’m pretty much with you here.
I agree, Kalima. If it’s fogey-ish and outdated to find the images in “Monster” repellant, then I submit that it is a far superior thing than being “hip” enough to be nonchalant about it.
I think most women would actually agree with us, regardless of age. Camille Paglia can always be counted on to stand up for stuff like this. But then she’s nuts about Sade, and once said she is “dying to see” a snuff film.
I suppose it all depends on how much respect you have for women too, his poor mother might be turning in her grave. I despise anything that demeans women, women have it hard enough just staying alive in other parts of the world, just read my three links in today’s MB about women in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia to see that. We are not inferior humans and should never be depicted as such. This theme of video just teaches weak kneed people that’s it’s ok to abuse and disrespect women, who the hell could be fine with that?
I’ll stick with my higher moral standards thank you, and if that makes me look like a prude, then so be it, it’s better than being without any, and pretending that anything goes in this day and age.
Oh, and before I forget, I wouldn’t kiss his arse if it was dripping with diamonds, but he can wash my feet.
Being “hip,” is wildly overrated. Really, it is belonging to a certain herd mentality. It is collective thinking as opposed to individual thinking.
There’s a great line by Peter Sellar’s character in “I Love You Alice B. Tokeless.” Sellar’s girlfriend accuses him of not being hip enough and Sellars replies….”I’m So Hip It Hurts!”
KT – Really good point about “hipness.”
Khirad, thanks for showing the beautiful painting, but I’m sure you’ll admit that there are at least Seven Degrees of Separation between it and the “Monster” video.
You’re basically arguing that if they can ban smoking, they can ban broccoli as well.
Khirad, is that the real name of that picture? I have never seen that before. Also, Khirad, Bram Stoker is a good example along with Mary Shelly, Edgar Allen Poe, and many others. But, why not include the Bible? There is all kinds of violence in it.
It’s called “Ophelia”.
Nymph, in thy orisons
be all my sins remembered.
SallyT – This beautiful painting came from the hand of John Everett Millais, one of the Pre-Raphelites. He was a tremendously talented painter, and I wish I had half his skill. A high resolution detail of this particular painting can be found here (toward the bottom of the page:)
http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=77&page=4
Thanks, Buddy and Audadvnc. I hadn’t seen it before and it is pretty. Buddy, thank you for the link.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for saying it wts. It kills me he can be making millions, living the life of total luxury and still find time to say they he is the victim of racism. I was going to ask, what does he want, but apparently he’s already told us. He wants us to kiss his ass.
I wouldn’t kiss Beethoven’s ass, let alone a no talent, mentally disturbed pop star. When a so called artist has to use “shock value,” to sell his art, then it isn’t very good art. If it’s even art at all. What a douchebag!
I have never listened to Kanye in my life. In fact, I admit that I don’t much about any of the current crop of singers/rappers, save about 2 or 3. However, I disagree with you that because someone is rich they can’t be a victim of racism. I don’t know anything about Kanye. But I do many black men, wealthy or not who can’t hail a cab in the wee hours of the morning. I don’t know one single black man my age and younger who hasn’t had some encounter with a cop – driving while black. I realize that I know very, very few black men compared to the millions of men. I have heard well known entertainers, including Oprah speak about the racism they experienced. Oprah talked about what she experienced on her road trip with Gail. She also talked about being followed around in a very upscale boutique.
Just saying……….
Sabreen you are right about even rich people being subjected to racism. I guess I was thinking, oh gee, another unhappy multi-millionaire. For him, his race isn’t really an obstacle to his success. It’s part of it. And I do think he uses the issue of racism to further his “career.” I think he himself is a racist.
Thanks for the comments, KT. Though some here have hastened to call the video “tame” and “not shocking”, I hardly think that speaks well OR ill of it. I think that’s beside the point, actually. IF we can just yawn and dismiss scenes like those in the video because we’ve seen much worse, what does THAT tell us?
As for me, I have written repeatedly on this subject, particularly in “To Censor Or Not To Censor”, “Sade and the Body”, and “Selling Gingerbread”, so I’ve already made my own thoughts clear on the matter.
I wish more young people would read some of the great thinkers of the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. Writers in those centuries had so much vision and eloquence. They wrote about what really matters in life. I wish I had begun to read them a long time ago. For me, they aren’t easy reads, and more often than not, I have to really put forth an effort to read and understand them. But maybe young people aren’t concerned with the “old values,” of long dead thinkers. I think that is probably according to Nature. I also think materialism in today’s world is greatly overrated and harmful to our society. Sure, we need a certain amount of “things,” for a relatively comfortable life, but there is so much crap being shoved in our faces hundreds of times a day, by advertisers. It can’t be escaped, unless one lives in a cave. How unfortunate.
Heck, I just wish people wrote letters like in those days.
That is so true, Khirad.
One of the most sarcastic things that I’ve ever written was a letter of apology to a substitute teacher that everybody in the class had to write.
Naturally, no one read it.
But, did you feel better?
Of course. Collective punishment is idiotic.
Punishment?
Making everybody write an apology letter because a bad teacher couldn’t deal with two people at the back of the class is collective punishment.
OK, thanks. I wasn’t sure what you were referring to.
Their letters were good examples of their wisdom and eloquence.
I yawn and dismiss it because I see REAL LIVE SCENES of horror and carnage in videos from the middle east – which you never get numb to, because it’s for real.
THIS IS FAKE.
THAT IS NOT.
Seriously, get some perspective, in all due respect.
I love ya, but we will always disagree on this.
I can separate the make-believe from the real world. Period.
I already have a perspective, Khirad. It is one that is quite different from yours. Others here seem to share it, at least in some respects.
So if by “some” perspective, you mean “your” perspective, I must decline.
So we will always disagree on this, what’s the big deal? I love ya too. But I hate misogyny. I hate it portrayed and I hate it acted out in the real world, on real people. If I could only choose one, of course, I, like you, would choose the portrayed variety over the real one.
Just like I would choose a skin rash over a third degree burn. But when I get a skin rash I’m still gonna bitch about it.
I haven’t seen the vid, wts, and it’s not too likely that I’ll go out of my way to catch it.
But from your description of it, I have to speculate that Kanye spends more time thinking about white women than someone who was totally indifferent to them would. In other words, white women seem to claim a fair amount of ownership in the neighborhood of his mental real estate.
To spend time fantasizing about the death of what you love/hate is still to be owned by it, to the degree that it obsesses you.
Maybe he should strive for an attitude of indifference. It would be better for us women. And maybe better for the culture in general.
After all, there’s already more than enough of the “hate-sells” influence on FOX.
Oh, and don’t you find the wording of the disclaimer interesting? It’s one thing to say that something is and art piece and should be taken as such. It’s quite another to demand that it shall be taken as such. Are we a bit grandiose today, Mr. West?
Grandiose is what West does, Kes. I quoted the disclaimer because I find the wording so smug and phony. “…is in no way to be interpreted…..”
Sorry, Kanye, but you can’t dictate how people interpret “art pieces”.
Imagine a TRUE artist, like Dali, telling viewers how they could, and could not, interpret his paintings.
wts, are you Sure Dali could tell his viewers how to interpret his paintings??
Some of his art makes me wonder if He knew what it was when he woke up! 😉
jkk, that’s my point, that Dali WOULDN’T do such a thing. If someone interpreted one of his works as misogynist, he might have said that he didn’t intend that when painting, but he wouldn’t have told the person they were not allowed to interpret it that way. Those are the rules, when you make art.
Grandiose and smug is him to a T.
His real crime here in my opinion was trying to be pretentious again.
He tries too hard, and always falls short, because he isn’t the real thing. He just wants desperately to be.
I like that – trying and failing to be pretentious! I mean, jeez, of all the things to fail at! You’d think he could reach a little higher…:)
What, no link? Here’s the Key of Awesome parody:
Well, it is called, “Monster”, not “Cream and Cherries” (though I bet a video with that title would also be outrageous). And really, is it any worse than John Lennon’s “Run For Your Life” (for its message of violence against women)?
“Run For Your Life” IS a terrible song, but I don’t really get the comparison. I think you’d be on firmer ground with Warren Zevon’s “Excitable Boy”, or maybe something by Nick Cave. But to me, a better comparison is hypothetical: if the video showed Eminem with a bunch of dead/murdered black women, how okay would you be with that?
I dunno. It’s a music video, a fantasy piece for hormonally jacked up boys. No real wimmen were murdered – they even got paid to be in the video. Should I be okay or not with it?
My stepson (the one with the brain damage and reconstructed skull) plays first person shooter games for hours every day. He turns the difficulty level down to “easy” and just massacres them. He even brags about what a stone cold killer he is. I dunno if I’m okay with that, but his mom says it’s fine, so who am I to say it’s not?
Well, I feel that it’s a real sign of social illness that we have come to so thoroughly fetishize the bodies of murdered women.
I bet there would be a lot more outcry if the bodies had been of dogs, or horses.
Social illness in the modern world, displayed in the media.
Unlike the good ol’ days of Hitchcock, for instance… or even farther back, when public executions were the norm.
yes, and of course when I write “social illness” I am only referring to the last twenty years. What a clever mind reader you are!
Audadvnc, don’t forget Tar and Feathering. Although a sticky situation, it was a hot thing back in the ol’ days. There are all kinds of ways of public execution without a dead body, just ask Weiner.
Thank you! You are absolutely correct about that. Remember the outcry about the rabbit killing scene in “Roger and Me”? GM slowly slaughtered countless lives, but people were revolted at the bashing of bunnies. I was revolted, too – but not MORE so than at GM’s CEO and his utter indifference to the men and women he discarded so heartlessly.
Same with the horse’s head in the original Godfather movie. The violence in general was much discussed, but if anyone, talking about the movie, mentioned “That Scene”, there was little doubt about what they were talking about. It really hit a nerve. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing at all. I just wish we had our nerves hit more by the trashy, depraved way that women are so often depicted in the media.
wts, that scene in “The Godfather,” wasn’t really about gore, it was about power. The power the mafia had to get to somebody who crossed them, or were perceived to cross them. And as the story shows, it worked.
Uhhhh – I’d take note, were I you. That does not sound good.
This morning he said, “it’s just a video game. I’m a total pacifist in real life.”
Audadvnc, okay, I never would have watched this on my own but since you gave the link, I did. I can see where WTS has a problem with it and I can see how you see it. I don’t know if it about dead white girls as there was black girls, too. In the bed was white and black. Anyway, from an old white lady’s point of view, I didn’t get it at all. But, in all honesty, I haven’t got this music for years. With age, I hear a lot slower and I can’t follow the lyrics. If it is art, I would have to file it with other art works I don’t get, like Picasso depicting women with 6 boobs and limbs all distorted. Music, well, I like more actual music and lyrics that repeat in the chorus. However, I know that the more you make of it, the more popular it will get. Youtube has over 3 million hits so far. Like you said Audadvnc, there are many things out there depicting violence besides the music. And, WTS, I saw that guy at the VMA Awards and thought he was a Jerk/asshole. The video doesn’t change my opinion either way. I just have to tell you that I am sitting here laughing because WTS and Audadvnc got me to watch this “thing”!
Sally, what audadvnc posted was a parody of the video I wrote about, not the real thing. That group, “Key of Awesome”, creates some of the cleverest satire on youtube. I think they are connected to “Barely Political”, who gave us the Obama Girl (who also appears in the Kanye parody vid above).
I’m NOT going to post the link to the real vid, because I recommend passing it up, but if someone places it in the comments section, I have no problem with that.
Where, there you go, WTS, I don’t know a fake from the real thing. That is why I don’t buy artworks for investments.
🙂
Lennon’s “Run For Your Life?”
{edit} Nevermind.
But, it’s the BEATLES! I love that song. I just thought it was about a jealous boyfriend saying it was the end (breaking up) if he caught her with another guy. I guess he could have shot her, too. But, that is what John gets for listening to an Elvis song, “Baby, Let’s Play House”. I think one of the lines in that song is “I’d rather see you dead little girl, than to be with another man.”
Lennon doesn’t actually say he’s going to kill her. And the notion that he’d rather see her dead than with another man, to me, just means he’s a fanatically jealous man and madly in love with her. I surely don’t think he was promoting violence against women.
Killgore, in 1965 or was it 1966, anyway, the year it came out I was 15/16 years old girl that just heard it as a jealous boyfriend saying he would break up with her if he caught her with another guy. I didn’t hear “killing” either. But, in those days, Killgore, we didn’t have music videos showing how we should hear it or give us ideas that we might never have thought of. We had to use our own imagination. Of course, I was much more innocent then. And, they didn’t put as much in your face in those days.
Eh – ask a woman. It creeped me out. BTW the “Police” (I think) in “I’ll be watching you” is also the theme song for stalkers. Equally creepy.
Sure, I can imagine.
KT, replying here because we ran out of space below. I agree with you about what the infamous Godfather scene was about. But I am referring to the visceral reaction that first time viewers had/have to it. I think most people would agree it’s the most memorable and disturbing. It was certainly the most talked about when the film came out.
You probably know this, but Coppola used a real horse’s head, obtained from a slaughter house, for that scene.
Well at least there’s no necrophilia in that Beatles’ song.
“Turn me on dead man”.
That’s an urban myth.
Yes, Kanye is just an asshole.
But that video was not shocking in the least. It was just stupid.
It’s kinda funny, as if it weren’t for the disclaimer, those thoughts wouldn’t have even crossed my mind.
I would have just thought it sucked (vampyric pun not intended).
I agree it’s stupid, but I think the only reason it doesn’t shock is that almost nothing shocks anymore. We are exposed to so much crap entertainment that our shock barometers are out of whack.
And that’s how I think a lot of people will take it.
BTW You didn’t let our Rosie see it did you? She shouldn’t be watching that kind of stuff!!! 🙂
ha, no, Rosie’s eyes have been shielded by yours truly!
[img]http://planetpov.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/rosie-scared.jpg[/img]