{"id":5987,"date":"2011-06-08T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2011-06-08T08:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.badreputation.org.uk\/?p=5987"},"modified":"2011-06-08T09:00:15","modified_gmt":"2011-06-08T08:00:15","slug":"in-defence-of-rihannas-man-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badreputation.org.uk\/2011\/06\/08\/in-defence-of-rihannas-man-down\/","title":{"rendered":"In
defence of Rihanna’s ‘Man Down’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<p>
  Another week, another women-in-music controversy, and another hotly debated
  video from <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rihanna\"><strong
    >Rihanna<\/strong><\/a>. Having ticked <a
    href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uelHwf8o7_U\">domestic
    violence<\/a> and <a
    href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/verify_age?next_url=http%3A\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch%3Fv%3DKdS6HFQ_LUc\">sadomasochism
    <\/a>off the musical list, she\u2019s responded to recent <a
    href=\"http:\/\/www.wingfantasy.com\/rihanna-christina-aguilera-face-criticism-outrageous-outfits-xfactor\/\">accusations
    <\/a> of being a major player in the oversexualisation of pop by upping the
    ante, making her latest offering a blend of sexual violence and violent
    retribution. The video for
    <strong
      >Man Down<\/strong>, which opens with Rihanna shooting a man who is later
      revealed to have assaulted her after they dance at a club, has kicked up a
      <a
      href=\"http:\/\/www.ibtimes.com\/articles\/157962\/20110606\/rihanna-man-down-parents-television-council-ptc-chris-brwon-sexual-assault-rape-victim-feminism-bet.htm\">predictable
      <\/a> <a
      href=\"http:\/\/www.mtv.com\/news\/articles\/1665121\/rihanna-man-down-controversy.jhtml\">media
      <\/a> <a
      href=\"http:\/\/www.bet.com\/shows\/106-and-park\/news\/rihanna-man-down.html\">dustcloud<\/a>.
      It&#8217;s all a far cry from<a
      href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oEauWw9ZGrA\"> &#8216;Pon de
      Replay&#8217;<\/a>.<\/p>\n
      <p>
        <iframe width=\"560\" height=\"349\"
        src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sEhy-RXkNo0\" frameborder=\"0\"
        allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n
      </p>
      <p>
        Amid <a
        href=\"http:\/\/www.metro.co.uk\/music\/865073-rihannas-man-down-video-should-be-banned-say-us-pressure-groups\">calls<\/a>
        for the video to be banned, it&#8217;s interesting to see how much of
        the outrage centres on the murder, rather than the rape. Granted, the
        shooting and its aftermath is shown far more explicitly than the
        hinted-at assault, but commentary such as that of media watchdog Paul
        Porter:<\/p>\n
      </p>
      <blockquote>
        <p>
          \u201c\u2018Man Down\u2019 is an inexcusable, shock-only,
          shoot-and-kill theme song. In my 30 years of viewing BET, I have never
          witnessed such a cold, calculated execution of murder in
          primetime&#8230;&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
        </p>
        <p>
          appears to be divorcing the shooting from its context, concentrating
          on Rihanna as the agent and perpetrator of a crime, rather than as the
          victim of one. This wilfully ignores one of the video&#8217;s central
          messages, which is the ease with which these roles can be
          merged.<\/p>\n
        </p>
        <p>
          Sex and violence, and sexual violence, as themes in art and
          entertainment are as old as art and entertainment themselves. To be
          flippant for a second: maybe it&#8217;s just the use of the word
          \u2018Mama\u2019, but the chorus of &#8216;Man Down&#8217; put me in
          mind of that certain section of <a
          href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/irp8CNj9qBI\"><strong
            >Bohemian Rhapsody<\/strong><\/a> where the narrator, having just
            killed a man, ruminates on how &#8216;life had just begun and now
            I&#8217;ve gone and thrown it all away&#8217;. And while I
            don\u2019t think Freddie Mercury was ever actively described as a
            positive role model, neither was he castigated for encouraging
            cold-blooded cod-operatic executions among 1970s youth.<\/p>\n
            <p>
              Is Rihanna coming in for particular criticism because of the
              publicity previously given to her real-life encounters with
              violence? Those of you following along at home will of course have
              noticed that she didn\u2019t respond to her experience of <a
              href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/music\/2009\/nov\/04\/rihanna-chris-brown\">assault<\/a>
              by shooting Chris Brown on the concourse of Grand Central Station.
              Surely no one seriously believes \u2018Man Down\u2019 to be
              advocating that the victims of violence engage in violent
              reprisals &#8211; any more than that was true of <a
              href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0103074\/\"><strong
                >Thelma &#038; Louise<\/strong><\/a>, or <a
                href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0067800\/\"><strong
                  >Straw Dogs<\/strong><\/a>, or, to really stretch the analogy,
                  <a
                  href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Death_and_the_Maiden_(play)\"><strong
                    >Death and the Maiden<\/strong><\/a>? &#8216;Man Down&#8217;
                    is, on one level, a revenge fantasy which relies on the
                    dramatic and the sensational to get its message
                    across.<\/p>\n
                    <p>
                      Roger Ebert <a
                      href=\"http:\/\/rogerebert.suntimes.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20030314\/REVIEWS\/303140303\/1023\">wrote
                      of
                      <strong
                        >Irr\u00e9versible<\/strong><\/a>, whose backwards
                        chronology \u2018Man Down\u2019 recalls, that the
                        film&#8217;s structure makes it inherently moral &#8211;
                        that by presenting the vengeance before the acts that
                        inspire it, we are forced to process the vengeance
                        first, and therefore think more deeply about its
                        implications. Might the same apply to \u2018Man
                        Down\u2019? Throughout the lyrics and video, the
                        song&#8217;s protagonist may contextualise and explain
                        her actions, but she&#8217;s not free of regret, she
                        isn&#8217;t gleeful or exultant, and she acknowledges
                        her actions as a crime with implications for the rest of
                        her life. She calls herself a \u2018criminal\u2019 and
                        reflects that her rapist and victim was
                        \u2018somebody\u2019s son\u2019. The narrative
                        doesn&#8217;t glorify murder, but it recognises that we
                        live in a world where this kind of fantasy-vigilante
                        approach might often seem more accessible and plausible
                        than relying for justice on the state or the
                        police.<\/p>\n
                        <p>
                          Art and entertainment don&#8217;t exist in a vacuum.
                          Art will be asked to justify itself, particularly when
                          it touches on themes that are an everyday reality for
                          many of us and which feed into issues like the space
                          which women, particularly women of colour, have to
                          express themselves, and the perpetuation of negative
                          stereotypes versus the impetus, the desire, and
                          perhaps the moral duty, to openly discuss the
                          conditions under which we live.<\/p>\n
                        </p>
                        <p>
                          The complex intersections of race and gender hardly
                          lend themselves to being cleared up in the confines of
                          a blog post, but \u2018Man Down\u2019 has sparked
                          plenty of engaged and informative discussion online
                          \u2013 at <a
                          href=\"http:\/\/crunkfeministcollective.wordpress.com\/2011\/06\/02\/man-down-on-rihanna-rape-and-violence\/\">Crunk
                          Feminist<\/a>, <a
                          href=\"http:\/\/thebeautifulstruggler.com\/2011\/06\/rihannas-man-down-sparks-absurd-controversy\/\">The
                          Beautiful Struggler<\/a>, and <a
                          href=\"http:\/\/hellobeautiful.com\/hellobeautiful-original\/arielcrockett\/rihanna-man-down-video-double-standard\/\">Hello
                          Beautiful <\/a> for starters. I&#8217;m just glad
                          debate is happening and that we have a mainstream
                          artist who doesn&#8217;t shy away from instigating
                          it.<\/p>\n
                        </p>
                        <p>*<\/p>\n</p>
                        <p>
                          <em
                            >Rhian Jones also blogs at <a
                            href=\"http:velvetcoalmine.wordpress.com\">Velvet
                            Coalmine<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy
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                                                  <p>
                                                    Another week, another
                                                    women-in-music controversy,
                                                    and another hotly debated
                                                    video from Rihanna.
                                                    I&#8217;m just glad debate
                                                    is happening and that we
                                                    have a mainstream artist who
                                                    doesn&#8217;t shy away from
                                                    instigating it.<\/p>\n<div
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