"Everybody know I'm a
muthaf-cking monster" he says with a mixture of pride and bravado.
In an earlier scene, the women's hands are all over him. In another, they
push against a closed door to get closer to him.
The implication is unmistakable: Monstrous men -- the ones who treat women as inanimate objects -- are sexually attractive, which means that, by extension, monstrous behavior on the part of men is sexually attractive, while, for women, what's sexually desirable is passivity, lifelessness, and death.
Seem farfetched? Consider this photoshoot from America's Next Top Model or this Jezebel expose on the fashion industry's preoccupation with death. West is merely copying an established trend. All he adds is a certain misogynistic nonchalance.
The video finally gets interesting
at the 3:37 mark. Here we finally see a woman capable of independent thought.
It's a fanged Nicki Minaj brandishing a dominatrix-style riding crop,
alternatively interrogating and seducing a pink-blond version of herself. The
scene switches back and forth between suggested sex and violence, effectively
intertwining them. On the one hand, it is yet another instance of equating sex
with violence, but finally there is also something more. The pink-haired Minaj
is neither helpless nor lifeless. To the contrary, though she's tied up, she is
uncowed. And when her hood is lifted, she confidently defends both her singing
career and her so-called "Barbie" style.
In this scene, Monster works on two different levels. On one level, there is the surface sexual tension between the dominatrix and the submissive. On another, there is an internal struggle over issues of identity and public image. The video gives us a window into a young female performer who is aware of her image, aware that it has been and continues to be financially lucrative for her, while at the same time recognizing that it is fake and shallow, and therefore both unflattering and incomplete. There is another side to her that she wants us to know about, a wild, dangerous side that simultaneously loves and wants to destroy the "Barbie" version. Unlike West's self-indulgent complaining about female fans who both love and hate him, this is compelling drama that is actually worth watching and discussing.
The above neither justifies nor excuses the earlier misogyny. But one of the defining characteristics of monsters is that they don't have redeeming qualities. The moment we begin to like or sympathize with any part of the monster, it is no longer a monster but a flawed being. From this perspective, West's video isn't monstrous; it's just deeply, deeply flawed.
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