Man Down

Peggy Orenstein did a wonderful piece on her blog about the complicated (and colorful) reactions to Rihanna's new video for the single "Man Down."  I have been thinking about the video since I first saw it last week - not least because the song itself is powerful and catchy, and features some of Rihanna's best singing yet.  Her Bajan accent blends beautifully with the lazy, reggae rhythms, and that rolled-r rum-pum-pum-pum is to-die-for.  But it's not her voice that has critics all worked up; rather, it's the video's strange, hazy message, which has left fans struggling to decipher it.  The song is a woman's apologia for killing a man ("oh mama mama mama/I just shot a man down") but the lyrics offer very little in terms of a backstory.  The video, on the other hand is crystal clear: a man mistakes the artist's flirtations and rapes her.  She retaliates by shooting him dead.

The ensuing debate has been heated and, because it's mostly taking place on the internet, not particularly politically correct.  Some fans take offense at the suggestion that Rihanna-the-character was entitled to take the law into her own hands, while others feel free to opine that her coquettish behavior in the video - wearing a skimpy outfit, smiling cutely at her eventual attacker - invited the assault.  I think it's obvious by now that I side with the no-means-no-no-matter-how-short-my-shorts-are camp but that aside, it's interesting to me that "Man Down" has, to this point, evoked even more backlash than her "S&M" video - which features the lyric "sticks and stones may break my bones/but whips and chains excite me".  Yes, YouTube requires viewers to sign in to view "S&M," due to explicit sexual content, but the video hasn't incited the same kind of enmity as "Man Down."  Most likely, it's because "S&M" hasn't been framed in the same kind of heated political conversation - but why not?


It's clear that both videos seek to challenge some kind of taboo about female sexuality and get people talking.  But compared to "Man Down" - which presents itself as almost photo-journalistic - "S&M" looks like pure bubblegum: I'm a barbie girl in a whips-and-chains world.  Interestingly, both videos position Rihanna as empowered, though in "Man Down," that empowerment comes at a significant cost: guilt, tears, legal trouble.  My suspicion - though I have to think more about it - is that "S&M'" is easier to swallow because although it shows a woman taking charge of her sexuality, it's in a culturally acceptable way.  Rihanna is still being cheeky and sexy for the camera.  She's singing about her own pleasure, but the video is shot for the pleasure of the audience.

My inclination is to watch "Man Down" in terms of its storytelling, and not as Rihanna taking a position on whether or not women have the right to act seductively, to take revenge on an assailant, etc.  But I think it's hitting a nerve not only because these questions are so complicated, but also because a female pop star - known for her good looks as much as anything else - is asking them.