Profound social commentary or misguided romanticizing of les banlieues ? Sympathetic or racist? Or is it really just a brilliant/desperate plea for authenticity from a group that's become too beloved by the mainstream? A host of contradictions in Justice's video Stress. Even Le Monde weighs in.
Change a few things (mostly notable, delete the cameraman) and this could be any number of American hip-hop videos from the last two decades. Yet in France it seems to have provoked quite a controversy, perhaps because Justice is a couple of (now very wealthy) white boys. The video is certainly more about white people reacting to the urban underclass than the urban underclass speaking on its own terms. Sort of like Michael Moore meets Burgher's Daughter at an electronic dance party. Self-indulgent white liberal guilt? Sure, but that's what makes it interesting.
3 comments:
W says you are tres pompeux. But he retracted it when I told him I would post it here.
If it's too "pompeux" for him i guess he doesn't need an invitation to le chateau this summer!
Let's clarfiy something: that's not the "urban underclass", it's a group of pathetic thugs. Since when did a group of jackasses become a voice for the poor and oppressed?! I think the rest of the 'poor and oppressed' would reject this form of Justice, and the stereotype associated to them courtesy of these morons, with offense.
You say, "white liberal guilt", I say "apologists for senseless violence". My suspicion is that anyone calling this Justice has never felt a fist connect with their face. They may also have failed to notice the violence targeted at women, who remain the real underclass, making up considerably more than 50% of the urban (or any) poor.
As a side note, at what point did wearing matching coats become "authentic"? Vomit.
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