Back on my blogging tip, I have been reading many blogs about Erykah Badu’s window seat, which I love btw. You probably have heard all the critiques:
“Oh no, she went too far!” “Dang, her booty is huge! :O (Shocked face)” or “This is wonderful!” Most of the sentiments that I have read reflect either one of these three reactions.
I want to delve into why such a simple music video is deemed controversial. Cinematically it is simple in many forms, and while the message is complex the entire video really shouldn’t be that problematic for society. We have all seen worse! I would like to explore the ownership of black body and the appropriation of that ownership which is why I think so many are uncomfortable with this video.
"She stripped on camera!"
I think many people are upset with Badu because she takes ownership of her body. There was no form or fashion neither style nor grace. However, there is a sense of freedom and spontaneity, a sort of “in the moment” feeling. I say “in the moment” because Badu used guerilla style-shooting, which is based off of guerilla performance popularized in 1960’s. In guerilla theatre people would come on stage and act, do what they wanted. There was no set script or guidelines. Guerilla theatre emphasizes the “moment”, with its spontaneity and surprise performances in public spaces. There is no rehearsal, or no chance to think things through. Its improv without the comedy.
Guerilla performance is an art form. Within this genre Badu presents her body as a work of art. She dictates it as artwork, not as an object. Badu doesn’t allow you to objectify her. So is this what makes people uncomfortable? Does our inability to objectify a black woman make us uncomfortable?
What makes it so uncomfortable to watch Badu strip? We can neither speed up how fast she strips to get the moment over, nor slow it down. In essence, we as viewers cannot control what we see. Often time’s guerilla acts were performed for unsuspecting audiences; often time’s audiences were unaware of when the performance stops or when the curtain closed. In the same manner, the viewer could not control when or how Badu performed. Cinematically, she uses a hand held camera. Hand-helds are the cameras often used to express a point of view and the movement is often shaken and uncontrollable. By using a hand held from the outset Badu is stating that “this is my point of view,” which you cannot control or filter. Also the shakiness and movement of it renders the viewer even less controllable: there is no sense of order. Despite what people like to think, we love order. We love it in film, TV, and in our everyday lives. Imagine a comedic romance. Let’s say Katherine Heigl and Orlando Bloom are the protagonists and at the end of the film Heigl doesn’t get Bloom. No love scene at the end, no crashing the wedding and taking the groom. We as viewers would be very much upset!
So the simple fact that we cannot control what we are looking at or we are unsure of the presentation makes up uncomfortable.
Similarly, we cannot control Badu’s body within a familiar space. This familiar space is music videos. In music videos today there is a sense of ownership of the woman’s body. In the videos, the women belong to a man/thug and outside the videos the women belong to the music label. Let me pose a question: we know how black women are supposed to be in music videos, right? They are supposed to be dressed scantily, gyrating to the music, bobbing their heads and lip-singing lyrics like “smile for me daddy/she a bobblehead.” Oh the joys of disempowerment **sarcasm**. In many commentaries Badu is compared to Beyonce. No matter how predictable Beyonce is my concern is not woman vs. woman, but color vs. color. I'm curious, was anybody shocked when Lady Gaga in Telephone was stripped naked or doing that dancing scene in a thong showing her butt? I haven’t heard much about that. O wait! I know!!! It’s okay for Gaga to do that; it’s okay for her to do what she wants with her body in any space. I mean, for all intensive purposes, she is white. White people have the freedom to do what they want; their boundaries are rarely policed in any spaces. But Badu: “How dare you!?”
You see, Badu takes ownership of her body which, historically, hasn’t been hers for centuries. Centuries ago, African Americans were property: they had no control over their bodies. Centuries later that sentiment remains. Just look at Rhianna for example: I love Rihanna’s style and dress, but she doesn’t dress herself nor comprise her own image, which is sad. Badu steps out to break this idea that the black body still belongs to society. You see, Beyonce does what is dictated and typical for that space, for music videos. But Badu not only takes ownership of her body, but she takes ownership of her sexuality as well. We are not able to label Badu as a Jezebel, Sapphire, or Mammy. Badu doesn’t claim that she is a refined “ho” or a matronly maiden. I think that is why some people are upset. Badu takes real ownership of her sexuality. Not pseudo-ownership like Beyonce. By pseudo I mean claiming to own your sexuality, but then conforming to every stereotype of femininity and hypersexuality dictated to you. Badu simply says “No.” As a black female, she did things her way.
"She used the site of JFK’s assassination!"
I really don’t understand why people are upset that she did this at Kennedy’s assassination site. Yes it is a historical location but, at the same time, it is a public space. There have probably been some bums who have had their fair share of Badu moments at the midnight hour. I took a class once on race, space, and culture. It was about how the appropriation of space was often dictated by race ---this was not the entire objective of the class, but one of many---. With that, I really think that people are upset because in essence, they feel she “dirtied” a pristine presidential figure. “How dare you do such a thing?!” , “She sullied the park!” When people think of a monument or historical figure/place they often view it as untouchable or even saint-like. Just take a look at any reference or dialogue to Abe Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, or George Washington. --- (Remember how upset people were when it came out that Thomas Jefferson may have been black? Lol) --- So this historical place in conjunction with a black woman’s naked body (mind you one that historically doesn’t hold any value i.e. Sarah Baartman), only brings the value of that place down. Furthermore, Badu does the exact opposite of what people are expected to do at those monuments. She does not outwardly revere or submit this historical figure. And in the viewers eye’s she did not pay her due respect. I don’t think Badu doesn’t respect him.
I think, for the purpose of the video, she does pay him respect. You see, Badu could have picked anywhere to shoot, but she chose there for several reasons. First and foremost I think she pays respect to him because she revisits a historical place and its historical impact. By bringing it back Badu reminds us of how far away we have gotten from what JFK and Martin Luther King wanted for this country. It is not hard to imagine that we are back to the post civil rights society --- (Just take a look at unemployment and the browns and blacks in jail) ---. Maybe Badu chose this location to remind everybody how far progress has gone: not very far at all. African Americans are less employed than they were pre-Civil Rights Movement. Progress cannot be made if everyone is conforming and thinking the same way, hence the assassination of groupthink. I dare say that Badu pays homage to the message of JFK by revisiting this memorial. The reason Kennedy was assassinated is, by and large, because he did not think like the rest of the country at that time and some people didn’t like it. Badu takes ownership of this message.
I think Badu pays homage not only to JFK, but to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X: the individuals that challenged us to be progressive thinkers.
However, today’s society is still not ready for an individual like that. If we were, we wouldn’t be so quick to publicly assassinate Badu and her image. (She gets fined! Among other things)
I address the group to THINK…
Out!
