Kanye West’s ‘Monster’ track gets controversial responses
By ANIMonday, January 24, 2011
MELBOURNE - Rapper Kanye West’s new video clip for his song ‘Monster’ has received controversial responses from critics, fans and commentators, with some saying its awesome, while others called it creepy.
The nearly six-minute clip featured an onslaught of depraved scenes, with hanging models dangling from the ceiling on chains, and West rapping while casually holding a woman’s severed head that is still dripping blood
The clip is the work of Jake Nava, the mastermind behind Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’, Kelis’ ‘Milkshake’ and Usher’s ‘Burn’.
Social commentator Melinda Tankard Reist has denounced West’s work and started a petition against it, partly sponsored by the Coalition Against Trafficking Women in Australia, which has sought to ban the official release of the video.
“The music industry’s portrayals of women’s pain, suffering, abuse, objectification, and victimisation as valid forms of entertainment are not acceptable,” News.com.au quoted Reist as writing.
“The clip is not only interested in fetishizing female bodies it revels in fetishizing female pain, female passivity, female suffering and female silence.
“The ultimate female is the quiet, passive female a mannequin who accepts violence, abuse and suffering while remaining hot and sexy,” she stated.
Others, however, have interpreted West’s video as a twisted fairytale that skewers the cult of celebrity and the baseness of those attracted to fame. (ANI)
