Rihanna's Murder of Rapist in 'Man Down' Video: Empowering or Dangerous?

[poetic_pixie_13]

TW for rape, violence

Rihanna, who hit headlines in 2009 after being severely beaten by former boyfriend Chris Brown, has now come under fire for encouraging extreme violence in a new music video.

In the video for “Man Down,” which premiered on the BET network this week, the popular songstress is involved in an implied rape scene with a man she

Comments

[popehippo]

Um, why are we acting like this is something new? Let me think of some other examples of 'revenge murder' just off the top of my head.

(Ha, oh wait, because it's a black woman singing in reggae-style about it, of course)

[poetic_pixie_13]

Well, when nice, white country singers do it it's different, obvs.

[popehippo]

But of course, they're just singing about the things that exist in the real world, but POC talking about anger in THEIR songs, now that's just threatening DANGEROUS.

[shoujokakumei]

A+ comment

[poetic_pixie_13]

I fucking know, right?

[popehippo]

Seriously, god damn.

[dumpweeds]

seriously. I feel like no one gets it.

[muse_misery]

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..............................................................................................................................Seriously?

[apis_cerana]

Lol wut

[sauron]

are you being serious right now.

[evewithanapple]

“‘Man Down’ 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. Viacom’s standards and practices department has reached another new low,” Paul Porter, co-founder of Industry Ears and a former voice of BET, said in a statement.

Yeah, but Chris Brown's continued success and support by the mainstream music community is somehow o-

“If Chris Brown shot a woman in his new video and BET premiered it, the world would stop. Rihanna should not get a pass and BET should know better. The video is far from broadcast worthy.”

-kay.

[notacrnflkgirl]

I feel so much sympathy for all the rapists and other misogynists who are scared by the very idea of retribution against them. There, there, it's ok

Seriously, fuck this. The viewer responses to "Man Down" on her twitter put it so well, and each in 140 characters or less. A smattering:

http://twitter.com/#!/rihanna/status/76377660539928576
http://twitter.com/#!/rihanna/status/76133413530255360
http://twitter.com/#!/rihanna/status/76131152217391104
http://twitter.com/#!/rihanna/status/76130909996331008
http://twitter.com/#!/rihanna/status/76130108125093890

My love for Rihanna grows deeper every day.

[poetic_pixie_13]

Hot damn. I'm slowly turning into a stan.

[sillysallyfckup]

The viewer responses are amazing!

[salienne]

I think I might love her.