Enjoying the TIHTY video makes us voyeurs

[Lara Croft 2,151]

 

...It's a powerful message for sexual assault victims that reaches out to a broader audience. Lady Gaga is talented and lends a persuasive voice to a project with a message of love and solidarity. The purpose of the video is to raise awareness about the ubiquity of rape during college life and to showcase the aftermath of it on the individual.

But there's a problem.

The problem is merging music (which actively pleasures us with its beguiling foot-tapping rhythm) with violent rape. The aesthetic cinematography further  confounds the issue. On one hand we want to enjoy the beat, but then we see someone being raped and  become complicit.The cool aesthetic and the disturbing message are at variance.

How can we enjoy the song for its musicality and sensual audial pleasure knowing that the context is about violent degradation? Either you enjoy the beauty of the song, or you recognise the abhorrence of the rape scene. One does not help the other. They're morally and artistically conflicted and the incompatibility is in bad taste.

There are lots of rapes in films. Visual representation of rape is hardly new. Think of SVU: Law & Order, with its spectacles of struggling woman and overpowering threatening male. When films and series take on the horror of rape or murder, they borrow the filmic language of reportage or dramatisation.

The video genre of Lady Gaga's clip has a different language. It's intrinsically built around audiovisual pleasure and entertainment, which is why we enjoy the beat and the climax, even if the climax is meant to signal the psychological triumph over rape by the victim. If it were just the song, we'd be more detached and the music could let us contemplate the pain and indignation without becoming voyeurs. But because the video confrontingly depicts rape, the harrowing message is confused. The lyricism is misplaced.

Just by watching, we relish the repeated rape spectacles, deriving pleasure from the aestheticised abjection. Through audiovisual pleasure, we're complicit in the torment of the victim. As voyeurs, we become part of the experience. The clip gives rape a thrilling beat and a sense of escalation and climax. Instead of making rape more revolting, it dresses it up in aesthetic appeal.

At the end, we're exhorted to protest against violence toward women and a US helpline is given. These good messages compel agreement, of course; but they don't legitimise the cinematographic voyeurism. In condemning violence toward women and other gender minorities, it isn't helpful to fold sexual violence into a ritual of enjoyment.

Source: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/lady-gaga-video-makes-us-rape-voyeurs-20160307-gnd4dt.html

Found this news article published by The Age today and I'm honestly a bit intrigued by what's been said. Personally I don't agree and think they've missed the mark entirely, but I'm curious to hear people's opinions on the matter.

[Azor Ahai 18,861]

THE REACH 

What's next? Watching movies with murders make us sickos?

 

[Supersonic 49,376]

???? What a reach. None of the clip is pleasant, it depicted rape incredibly realistically in all its abhorrent nuances. If you get a voyeuristic thrill out of watching it (like the author appearently), you are probably a sick and disgusting person to begin with. Til It Happens To You is not a song with a "beguiling foot-tapping rhythm" ...like at all. If it was, it would probably be way up higher in the charts and feature more electronic production, less pauses and a four-on-the-floor beat. This is probably up there as the biggest reach in pop music history, right next to Madonna stans saying Rebel Heart didn't flop.

[DrewStevens 5,249]

This is a pile of bullshit. You don't have to enjoy something to watch it or appreciate it. This video is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable so you take action on the matter. 

Edit: The title of the article is "Lady Gaga's new video glamorises rape". We all should know the article is idiotic by just reading that title.

[Pacify Him 9,073]

She may be a pop singer but this isn't a pop kind of song.

[SarahYuko 1,002]

Lmao  I can't even take it seriously. Gosh, these people will write anything to get readers.

[Frankenztein 1,172]

The actual headline is "Lady Gaga's new video glamorises rape" which is obvious shameless click bait. The article is a total reach. Every sentence of it is nonsense. Paraphrasing what Gaga said in response to Demi Lovato after the Swine performance "people are just looking for something to bitch about." 

[nativenewyorker 1,190]

I disagree 100%. The music doesn't take away from the horror of the violent rape scenes whatsoever. Hearing a story about a person being raped playing over clips of rape cause you to think about the victim and what they must be feeling. The song is really sad until the triumphant ending, which by then the video is showing them as survivors in the aftermath. There is no happy, sing-along dance music playing as a soundtrack to the rape, it's Gaga's raw, vulnerable vocals on a song that pulls on your heartstrings with every note. 

The fact they even suggest that this is glamorizing the rape is disgusting and pathetic. If watching the video with that emotional song playing doesn't make the writer of this article wanna cry and help the victim, maybe it's their problem. 

[NewYorkCity 10,536]

If you feel pleasure when you watch that video, you probably have some mental issues. Because I don't enjoy watching it, it makes me suffer. So...